Technology Autobiography

I believe that many educators fall into one of two common traps when trying to make use of technology in the classroom. Some mistakenly believe that technology is unnecessary or even detrimental to learning. Others buy whole-heartedly into integrating technology into their classroom, but are so caught up in the “gee-whiz” factor that their equipment becomes gadgetry rather than a meaningful tool for education. A large percentage of teachers are truly neutral on the subject and will make use of the technology a school district provides them with and common applications, but not invest time or money into additional equipment or newer and less common applications. A very small number will recognize the true potential of the technology they could be using as well as the pitfalls.

Is technology really a necessity for learning? Isn’t it truly just a crutch, so students don’t have to apply their minds? It is true that humans have been thinking, inventing, and discovering far longer than computers have been around. However, new technology has always been evolving and its use has opened new doorways to knowledge.

In “teacher-speak”, technology means computers and microchip driven electronics. I believe this definition came about due to the language of government funding for classroom computers. Technology really has a much broader definition referring to newly invented tools and processes. I remember a conversation I had with an interviewer for a teaching position that was before I had any teacher training and realized that the narrowed definition existed. He asked me what technology I would purchase for my science classroom if I was given funds to spend. I stated that I would purchase much better microscopes for my students than the ones I usually observed in classrooms. He scoffed that microscopes were not technology; they had been around for as long as he had been alive. I thought it better not to mention how much longer than that they had been around. I continued that I would like to have a videoscope, so I could point out microorganisms to the entire class at once. “Ah yes! That’s technology!” I quickly considered what would happen if I stated that closed-circuit TV had been around as long as I had been alive.

Once upon a time, microscopes were a new technology. Their invention allowed people to view organisms that they never before knew existed. Because of this, humans eventually came to realize that germs cause disease. Before this invention, much of medicine was conjecture and philosophical argument. What if the learned people of the time had dismissed the microscope as a toy or distraction. What if they had said, “My grandfather got through just fine without ever looking at his spit through a tube and I will too!” What would have happened if civilization had dismissed television, radio, telegraphs, the printing press, or even the alphabet. That sounds absurd, but isn’t our current computer technology really the next step in that progression of information sharing tools?

Often when someone says, “Oh, you don’t really need to know that stuff” don’t they really mean that they don’t know about the stuff and don’t want to take the initiative to learn it. My grandmother never learned to use an ATM. She said that they were confusing. There was nothing confusing about reading a yes/no question and pushing the button adjacent to the appropriate answer. She simply dismissed it because it was unfamiliar to her. I have had similar experiences myself with technology. I have cursed at many inanimate computer screens when I could not get the result I wanted. For a time I tried to avoid having to use computers rather than learning the basics of getting them to do what I wanted. I quickly recognized the futility of this approach. New technology really does create new abilities, provide access to new information, and expand our horizons.

I see powerpoint presentations used in classrooms all the time. They are great. I say this because I recognize an easily stored, easily reusable, easily sharable, easily adjustable teaching tool. It serves as notes, simple lesson plan, and visual aid all in one package. I know too many instructors though who are intrigued by a powerpoint presentation for its glitz. It’s so much shinier than the chalkboard and just watch how the words look like they’re flying onto the screen! Perhaps the teacher is enthralled, but to the students this is old hat, big deal. I guarantee that a live rabbit in a box or blowing bubbles with a soap solution will garner much more student attention than a flashy, cute powerpoint show. The real power of technology is in what a teacher can do with it, not how it looks. I’ve observed teachers in classrooms who spent more time fiddling with and doodling on their smartboards than teaching their subject matter. It’s all in how it’s used. Such teacher misuses of technology lend credibility to the first argument that it is a waste of time and gets in the way of true learning.

I have no problem with the teachers who use common computer applications and the equipment they are provided with, but go no further. This moderate stance on using technology in the classroom is actually a good balance. It isn’t a resistance to change or a world-of-tomorrow gadget show. These technology neutral teachers are using tools that are fairly “tried and true” with most of the major bugs worked out. These teachers’ classrooms may not be on the cutting edge of technology, but they are utilizing technology none the less. When I was in college, geographic information systems careers were supposed to be the next hot job market. Within a decade the students who had focused on these systems were struggling to find good jobs in the field. Why? It was because GIS programs had become so user-friendly and commonplace that a one hour tutorial could teach a novice what these professionals had learned to do over four years. A little bit of technological lag isn’t always a bad thing.

Then there are educators who are using very new technology and using it in appropriate and very pragmatic ways. Honestly, I have no experience with teachers who are using technology as creatively as a few I have read about. I do though see teachers that have used technology for sharing information with students, parents, and other teachers and also for creating some really neat virtual models for science use.

I am excited about what I hope to learn in this class. I am not embarrassed to say that I am as excited about much of it so I can learn to use it personally as well as in my classroom. I have many ideas that I believe are pretty creative regarding how I might use some of the technology for teaching, but I don’t have enough experience to judge how realistic my ideas are based less on the limitations of the technology than on the limitations of a real classroom teaching situation. I am always somewhat disappointed when I read about something really outstanding that an educator is doing, only to find out at the end of the article that the teacher is at a special, experimental, advanced magnet school for exceptionally gifted prodigies. I am feeling cautiously optimistic that there are educational applications of the technology we will study that will be outstanding with more general audiences as well. I feel like I am in that general audience category myself.