Technology in Education

As an educator, it will be my job to oversee technology usage in the classroom. How will I encourage students to use their devices in an educational way and remember not to get distracted? Will I be the type of teacher that allows kids to keep their phones even when it is distracting them? Or will I be the type of teacher who takes the phone away and keeps it in a little box in my desk? There are so many questions I have thought of in terms of technology as it is being more and more incorporated into the classroom. I hope to be able to find a way in which I can involve technology during learning time so that my students are able to recognize what a wonderful resource they are fitting into their pockets.

Kids Learn from Watching

Children learn from repeating. Right from the beginning of their lives. Why do you think most babies’ first word is “mama” or “dada”? It is because that is what their parents have been repeating to them for the past nine months or so. Children continue to copy for quite a while and some people even take this trait into adulthood. My point is that if their parents spend all their time on their phones there is a good chance the children will do the same. So this is quite the dilemma we as a new generation of educators are in. Technology is one of the best resources you can find but also one of the most distracting things you can bring into a classroom at this point. So, the question is: Will I allow technology in the classroom? Watch this video and find out.

So the answer is that there is simply no choice. Technology is ever growing at a rate we will never be able to keep up with. The job we as educators must take on is teaching students how to manueavre technology in safe, resourceful ways. We must also think of our classrooms as safe spaces for children to learn when and how technology should be used in professional settings.

I think most teachers’ main argument about allowing technology into the classroom is that it will distract from learning. This is true, it most likely will distract students. My rebuttle to that is: Since you aren’t allowing technology into the classroom do your students now just pay attention 100% of the time? The answer is no. No matter what we limit children are always going to be distracted at some point during lessons. The earlier in life we teach children how to be responsible with technology in professional settings, such as a classroom, the earlier in life they will learn to be responsible with it. We as adults must teach our children to use their phones in moderation just like many other things in life. If students see their teachers using their phones in resourceful ways and in moderation this sets a good example. All we as educators can hope for is that each students’ adults are doing the same and encouraging the use of technology in educational ways. For example, I recall some kids I worked with this summer telling me all about how if they were good that day then when they got home they would be allowed to play an hour of this game called Prodigy. Prodigy is a math based game which helps kids work on their math skills while playing video games. To these children this was a very exciting reward.

So to me that is the goal as an educator. I want to be able to find a way to make learning with technology so much fun that the children are left just hoping they’ve been good enough to be allowed to play the game.

Another game used for educational purposes that kids absolutely love is the classic Kahoot. If you haven’t seen this viral video yet, it perfectly explains how much kids live for Kahoot.

This video was found on Tiktok from the account @g_unit24

So Kahoot is a simple question and answer game which allows students to login from their own personal devices to answer questions that the teacher displays on the board. After each question has been answered by all students it displays bar graphs showing how many students answered each multiple choice option. I think it is a wonderful way to check the understanding of students without them being embarrassed if they get the answer wrong. Using resources like Kahoot gets the kids engaged and simply makes learning fun.

I believe that if we as adults can incorporate technology into the classroom in a fun and educational way then overall the benefits will most likely out weigh the drawbacks of technology in the classroom.

What does our New Job Entail?

The first step will be to go over some ground rules with the kids on how, when, and where technology is used in the classroom and in all professional settings. This is going to be a big job. Although school is where kids go to learn it is also where they go to socialize and interact freely without their parents watching over them. School is the first place kids have to themselves separate from their lives at home. So of course the kids are going to want to share the use of their devices within the classroom. Outside of school their devices are used mainly for connection and entertainment. I believe this will be the biggest task that comes along with technology.

Something else we as educators will have to think about is what our students are seeing on their feeds. The algorithm that comes along with all media will lead our students to many different places on the web. Something we want to be able to do is give them the tools to direct their personal algortihm in the right direction.  The issue with algorithms is that you are shown what you want to see. Sometimes to be able to evolve as a society we need to be shown what we don’t want to see. Now I am not saying we need to be directing children to the nasty political side of Tiktok but I am saying we need to be directing them somewhere where they will end up asking themselves questions and where they will find new resources to help them learn and grow.

Lastly, I think it is mainly just our job to help kids find their way online. We need to make sure they know things they shouldn’t click on, make sure they know how to differentiate between real information or fake information, make sure we teach them how to fact check, and make sure we teach them how to use technology in a way that will keep them educated and safe.

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!

Featured photo by Austin Poon on Unsplash.