Monday, January 21, 2013
When I think about teaching with technology....
What does teaching with technology mean? Different people may have different answers for it. It can be blackboard and chalks being replaced by PowerPoint and projector, or face-to-face discussion happening online. No matter how, new communication technology changes those traditional manners of teaching in a profound way.
However, change does not always trigger absolute improvement. History has already taught all of us the lesson that every step that we human beings made had both pros and cons. Therefore, when thinking about technology, we should not be too optimistic for technology is also a two-side sword. To see more clear about the pros and cons of teaching with technology, we probably need to start with a clear understanding of the ultimate purpose of teaching----learning.
What is learning? From my point of view, learning is a cumulative process. And at the bottom line, it is a process that takes time and requires concentration. Nowadays, our learning environment has been changed tremendously by the industrialization process in which tons of different things compete with each other for our time and attention. While technology changes the way we communicate, it also changes the way we kill our time. Or to be more frank, it directly kill our time almost in an unconscious way. Therefore, teaching going online is an inevitable trend not due to the fact that technology has become a more helpful tool for both teaching and learning. Instead, the main reason is that our audience, or students, have already been attracted by technology and are being caught online. They spend most of their time in front of their laptop or their smartphone. They pay most of their attention on browsing Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and different websites. Whatsoever, they use technology for all reasons other than studying and they spend their time with technology for all reasons other than learning. It just becomes part of their life, consumes most of their time and mental capacity, and leaves a very tiny space for learning.
If it is the case, as a teacher who wants to integrate technology, especially those online stuffs, into teaching, he/she has to aware the conflict between learning and the use of technology among the tech-savvy generation.
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I definitely agree with you on your points. Technology, as good as it can be to strengthen the learning experience, there is the fact that many students will use it in other ways. The internet, along with all of the social networks out there tend to distract students from the actual learning process. Though, there are many who also like that teachers are incorporating this type of this and often, it will motivate the students to actually pay attention and participate in the class work. There is a double-edged sword for sure when it comes to incorporating technology into the teaching process.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of asking students to integrate the technologies they enjoy with the learning process. It's not always straightforward how we can do that, but it's worth keeping in mind. We can also just ask them - does technology help or hinder your learning process?
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