Technology and Teaching

Teachers have a lot to worry about. The state of Michigan has identified a vareity of grade level and high school content expectations. The Michigan Merit Curriculum requires a lot from all students.

Where does technology fit into all of this?

I agree with Larry Magid, a technology writer, who suggests that those of us in education need to embrace technology. Instead of trying to clamp down on it and eliminate it from our schools, we need to find ways to become familiar with it and use it to enhance instruction.

Embracing technology in the classroom would serve at least two purposes. First, it might serve to engage students in learning in meaningful ways. Students might be more willing to learn the content of a class if technology was used to help them get access to the content. Secondly, since it appears that technology is becoming more ubiquitous we need to make sure that students understand the benefits and the risks associated with using it. Helping students learn to navigate through the promise and the peril of technology seems like something with which schools should be able to assist.

My concern, however, is how to do this. How do we manage to teach our content, use technology in meaningful ways, and teach students how to be responsible with technology all at the same time?

The only way that I can see this successfully happening is if we - the educators - begin to see technology like we see textbooks and paper and pencils. That is, if we begin to see technology as just one of the tools that we use naturally then we have a shot at making technology use meaningful.

If we see technology as an add on, something else to do, another thing that will take valuable time away from the content, then we have no chance at using technology in ways that will encourage students to use technology. It would be overwhelming instead of empowering.

Yet how do we - the educators - have time to figure out how to use technology well?

Maybe we don't have to. Maybe we could enlist our students - the ones who know and use technology effortlessly - in identifying for us how technology could support or enhance or change learning.

I know that technology is not going away. My concern is how are we going to figure out how to incorporate it in powerful ways without all of us becoming technology teachers?