Our current approach to Educational Technology

" Educational technology historian Paul Saettler (1990) said "Computer information systems are not just objective recording devices. They also reflect concepts, hopes, beliefs, attitudes" (p. 539) from Roblyer & Doering (2013).

How are these "concepts, hopes, beliefs, attitudes" reflected in our current approach to educational technology? 

Technology, and hence educational technology, is very much a part of our lives in the 21st century. The rapid change in the use of technology over the past 20 years means that there is a diverse population of education professionals in terms of their experience of, knowledge of, and motivation towards the use of technology in the classroom. Todays businesses also have a range of experiences amongst their executive, and with this comes a range of concepts, and beliefs about the use of technology. Students also have diverse skills, needs, expectations and beliefs about the role of technology in their own lives. This leads to constant discussions and theories about how the education sector responds to technology.

The world is ever-changing, and our access to technology is changing at a fast pace.  Our beliefs change, our attitudes change, our hopes change as new hardware or software become available.  We are becoming more accustomed to  this change, and are more and more aware that the world we are preparing our students for will have many things that haven't even been thought of..... (The University of Sydney, 2011)

Gilbert (2011) asks the question "Why do I need a teacher when I've go Google" in his book of the same name.  He points out that knowledge used to be fixed and a teacher's role was, in part, to provide information.  We were the educated ones!  Today, the internet is the source of information for students, with the internet being the most populous community in the world (Glibert, 2011, p. 22). The role of a teacher has dramatically changed from years ago, so that now our role is to help students find information, assess information for its appropriateness and application, assist students to use this information, develop ethics, communication and creative skills, and guide them into a rapidly changing world where learning is changing before our eyes.

I hear many teachers say that we need to integrate technology, and also that this if often challenging for a number of reasons, including lack of resources, lack of time, and lack of commitment throughout the school.  For my part, I think that the integration of technology is certainly worthwhile, and important, and as a teacher, I still have to do a number of things - I have to prepare students to eventually move on from education and into the world of work; I have to ensure that my students have a comprehensive and well-balanced education; and I have to ensure that the education that my students receive fits them. There are individual learning styles, and there are also important concepts and skills  that students need as they move on through school and work. These are dynamic and require us as teachers to constantly re-evaluate the needs of students and how we will meet these needs.

So, computer information systems are certainly not objective recording devices, they reflect different things to different people, and this certainly happens within the education sector. They are the tools for communication, information and collaboration in our dynamic world, and our attitudes and responses to these tools is ever-changing.

Gilbert, I. (2011). Why do I need a teacher when I’ve got Google. Abingdon: Routledge.

Roblyer, M. D., & Doering, A. H. (2013). Integrating Educational Techology into Teaching (6th ed.). Pearson Education.

The University of Sydney (2011). Linda Darling-Hammond: Lessons from the US [video]. Retrieved from http://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/professional_learning/resources/2011_video.shtml

Starting to Think about Technology

In the podcast entitled "21st Century Education" (Australian Broadcasting Corporation [ABC], 2012, 8:01), Greg Whitby says that focusing on the technology that we need to use for education detracts from the real issue, which is the quality of the teaching that is taking place.

I agree with Greg in his comments that we need to focus on the learning that is happening in schools and equipping students for contemporary learning. If we focus on the teaching and learning that is important in today's world, then we are more able to provide opportunities for students to use the tools and resources that are available to them.  It means using what we have to enhance learning, rather than looking at the tools and trying to fit in our teaching and learning to accommodate them.

As teachers, we are constantly looking at how to engage students in a way that is meaningful for them.  Gardner (as cited in Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p. 44).
 I think we focus on technology because it is dynamic, interesting, and there is more and more potential with every new piece of hardware and software. We are fascinated by every new thing that we learn of, and so we want to try it.  I suspect that we also feel, as teachers, that we want to keep up with our students, and we want to engage them, and so we think that we need to use the latest technology to do this.  I'm not sure this is the case, as there is much that students need to learn about managing the technology they have at their fingertips.

Welcome to my Blog

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Maligayang pagdating sa aking blog

 (with apologies to any fluent Korean and Tagalog speakers out there)

Classroom technologies.  These two simple words, not so long ago, increased my anxiety level and simultaneously prompted a sense of inadequacy within me.

The thought that I had to be proficient and knowledgeable in all aspects of classroom technology was a driving force behind these feelings. It always felt like such a big job, to have to introduce as much technology as possible into my classroom, and to be able to manage this alongside all of the other things I had to do......

Taking time out, transferring to a different country, different culture, different school system, away from full time teaching to substitute teaching, brought with it a chance to look around, see what was being done and see the potential for technology use in a classroom, especially with good support.

Transfer again to another new country, return to full time work, counsel myself to aim big, but achieve small, and I feel like I am, at last, finding my way slowly but surely, through the CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY minefield.  Along the way, I am discovering that it is not so much a minefield as a world of endless possibility.

I can't possibly learn, do, discover every aspect of this technological world, but I can carefully sift through the options and take what I think is useful out of these, without feeling that I have to see or use everything.

And do you know what I have discovered......

People notice little things, they are even impressed with little things, and are encouraging of what I can do.  I can help students to learn to be wise in their choice of tools, whether technology tools or more traditional tools - this is what we have always be about as teachers.

So, now I don't feel so inadequate.  Sure, I realise that my knowledge and expertise are not the same as many and that I may not be EdTech teacher quality, but I'm quite happy with that (and who knows....perhaps....).  I know that what I have chosen to use has been useful (or not..... and so I don't continue using it), I am becoming more confident in trying new things, and every experience is a learning experience! My previous subject (EMT501) was an amazing help with this confidence.

I am looking forward to learning much more, in this subject, about how I can wisely use technology resources to build my students' learning, and how I can teach them to be wise and careful in their use of technology.

......and I can now find many more things on my own - I just took 10 minutes to change the time zone for my blog..... and I did it!!!!