Steering students with technology
Teaching and Technology in the 80s
I started teaching in 1987 — when teachers checked Apple laptops out of the library. Laptops that must have weighed five pounds, and which needed a 4×4 floppy disc to save material. In those days, I became close to the business teacher so that I could use her computers whenever they were free. That way, I could use them to teach writing to my students. Technology steered my students toward learning how to be better writers on their own.
The best teachers give their students center stage
Floppy disk
When I started teaching, I thought that teaching meant standing in front of a classroom and telling the students what I knew. That wasn’t teaching, and it certainly did not promote learning. After a disastrous first semester, I trashed all of my self-centered lesson plans. I started to guide my students in earnest. My students took charge of their learning by making choices about what they read and wrote. By providing them with the tools they needed, they became proficient readers and writers. I used technology to help me guide them.
The fundamentals of teaching
The fundamentals of teaching and learning haven’t changed much in the past century. As a result, many teachers still believe that a teacher-centered classroom, where the teacher pours her knowledge into her students, is an active practice. In the past three years I have taught in the US, Mexico, in a refugee school in KL, and online to Vietnamese English language learners. I have also worked with teachers in Malaysia to write e-learning content. In all of these situations, the teachers insist on putting the teacher front and center instead of the student.
It’s not the technology. It’s the delivery
The teacher-centered classroom
Teachers use technology to teach, but the delivery still relies heavily on the textbook and the teacher. Teaching this way is not teaching, it is spoon feeding. Spoon feeding education to students does not create problem-solving creative thinkers.
Today’s teachers are wary of giving their students the reins, despite the fact that the Internet puts so much at their fingertips. Teachers count their students’ mistakes instead of valuing what they get right. Teachers know less than their students do about what is on the Internet.
Strong learners manage their learning
Effective teachers teach students to manage their learning. When students play video games or want to learn something from the Internet, they don’t need a teacher to scaffold the material for them. They watch You Tube videos, chat with friends, join a forum, and use the cyber world to learn what they need to learn. They problem solve.
It is not enough for teachers to say that they use technology in the classroom. They need to use it in such a way that the students manage their learning, have a sense of ownership, solve complex problems, and understand the learning process.
Technology cannot do it alone
Technology gives students a solid base from which to learn, but it cannot do it alone. We don’t know what careers are waiting for our students when they graduate. Nearly half of what students learn in their first year of technical school is outdated by the time they graduate. With technology, teachers have a tool to provide the structure and guidance that their students need to learn how to adapt to a rapidly changing world.
As a veteran teacher of 24 years, I should not be the person telling you this. Using technology to connect our students to outside resources for learning should be standard practice. It is time to go beyond saying that we use technology in our classrooms. It is time to say that our students use technology to problem solve, connect to, and navigate the world.
Navigate the world