In reading these articles, I have learned that the digital era has come to a new beginning. Having electronic devices and digital media available to students "changes the traditional roles of teachers and textbooks as the primary sources of content knowledge. Technology enables them to discover, create, and use knowledge in the real world. (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014)" Nowadays, in the classroom, you hardly see pens, pencils, paper, or notebooks we see more of laptops or tablets/iPads. We have introduced students to the power of the internet. They are used to typing more now than using their pencils and pens to write on paper. Most students are not even able to write in cursive. Even though we see that students use their devices more than the normal handwritten items, we see that the integration of the use of technology helps with engaging students and enhances more learning in the classroom for students as well as teachers.
When the pandemic, COVID-19, hit the United States, education made a turn for a change. Many were affected in different ways. My two sons were sent home from college because the colleges had to close. They had to learn to adapt to the schoolwork online process. This was a struggle because they were used to instructions in the classroom as well as doing assignments in the classroom not by just reading the assignments online. There were times when they struggled and did not have the instructor there when they needed help. There are new ways of learning being developed, so we as teachers need to be able to utilize the programs and technical devices to help the students succeed in their studies. If we do not deal with the new challenges of technology, we may not be able to succeed or help the students be successful with their education and real-world situations or problems. So, in reading the “Adoption Process” (Rogers, 1963), complexity is a characteristic that I would say my two sons had to deal with. “Complexity is the relative degree to which an innovation is difficult to understand and use” (Rogers 1963).
After reading the articles, I have learned that there are different perspectives on education and technology. All of them come to an agreement that we all need to be educated in the use of new technologies. Being able to understand the use of technology would not only benefit the teacher but also benefit the student. In Kuhn’s “Learning & Leading with Technology”, he says “when used correctly, educational technology gives new meaning and utility to long-established educational paradigms” (Kuhn, 2008). In my current position, I am not an educator but have been required to use technology to complete my daily tasks.
References
Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (2014). A rich seam: How new pedagogies find deep learning. London: Pearson. Retrieved from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-dot-com/one-dot-com/global/Files/about-pearson/innovation/open-ideas/ARichSeamEnglish.pdf
Kuhn, M. S. (2008). Connecting depth and balance in class. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(1), 18. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Kuhn_Depth_Balance.pdf
Rogers, E. M. (1963). The adoption process II. Journal of Cooperative Extension, 1(2), 71. Retrieved from https://archives.joe.org/joe/1963summer/1963-2-a2.pdf
Geraldine I completely agree with you that the digital era is in a new beginning. It is being relied on more and more. Like you said with your sons during the pandemic I had to completely change how I did instruction. This was hard because I think most if not all students, especially in seventh grade, need to have someone with them in order to receive proper instruction. I would find myself getting frustrated because I would make these informational videos and the students wouldn’t watch them. So like you said technology is changing how we receive the content knowledge. I recently did an assignment on a Ted Talk and it was talking about how our roles as educators are no longer tied to the content because students can get it at their fingertips. Rather our roles are to teach them how to get the content effectively and facilitate their critical thinking skills in the process. I have only been teaching for six years and so much has changed in the area of technology already, and I really believe that the pandemic sped up the process due to technology being the only way to teach. I enjoyed your blog post and reading the insights you got from the readings! :))
ReplyDeleteI agree that the digital era provides so many opportunities for students. My school became a 1:1 digital device school k-12 over ten years ago. We have earned national attention through the implementation of devices and free home Internet. The most important thing I learned during the process is to balance traditional instruction with a digitally rich environment. You are correct when you say technology presents new challenges. Thank you for sharing.
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