Saving the Dinosaur: Adapting Your Conception of Education to Meet the Flip, Part Three

If you decided to stick with me through the first two parts of my diatribe on the need for a more appropriate and effective use of technology in education as it exists today, I'll assume you're with me and believe that best practice teaching must include sound, creative and thoughtfully implemented technology. The simple fact is that today's student is ingrained with an innate ability and natural inclination for technology that makes it almost inexcusable for a teacher to dismiss its relevance or use it simply to computerize traditional strategies.

 

 Check out this eminently funny, but absolutely poignant and pertinent video.

As Professor Andy Berning discusses in his Appropriate Use of Technology in Education blog,  the ultimate goal of effectively incorporating technology into your lessons, and, in a larger sense, your school or district, is to bring added value. As he writes, "Value means that the innovations in question brings something to the process that was not previously there.Value means pushing beyond computerizing the status quo (cramming) and discovering what new dimensions technology can bring." Essentially, what he's saying to us is this: Don't put your old lecture notes into a power point, or have your students look up definitions online at dictionary.com, and claim to be on the cutting-edge. Use technology to energize, invigorate and optimize your lessons and schools, not to make yourself feel better by making token efforts every once in a while. Don't be that teacher...you know,  the one the younger teachers make fun of  because of their continued use of the funny blue-inked mimeographs from 1985 that they borrowed from the Fast Times at Ridgemont High  teachers companion guide. Nice going, Mr. Hand.

Okay, to be frank, I abhor preachy "know-it-alls" who stand on their soapboxes complaining and finding fault, but never providing solutions or answers that address the problems they so vehemently object to. So, with that being the case, and not wanting to be a blithering hypocrite, I'll shut up and try to provide some solutions.

Perhaps, at least in my mind, the most powerful strategy for implementing technology is the use of Asynchronous communication, or time-delayed learning  that allows students and teachers to interact at various points in time and locales in a more responsive and efficient method than simple face to face exchanges. Research shows that Emails, text-massaging, blogs, and computer conferencing have increased total communication and for many non-traditional students it is a "safer," and more convenient way to interact, and for teachers, it enables them to teach far more content and reach many more students than they could otherwise accomplish.

Researchers, Arthur Chickering and Stephen Ehrmann suggest that "Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one’s ideas and responding to others’ improves thinking and deepens understanding." Enter technology, again. Creating a class Wiki, or a web page where users-students in this case-can add and edit content collectively, is an exciting and powerful tool that ensures collaboration, shared learning and a feeling of collective ownership and pride. Check out  the PBWorks website to set-up and create free wiki pages and get tutorials, templates and examples of what other educator's have done with this exciting Web 2.O technology.

Use technology that activates learning and engages the student. Options include simulation software that allows students to utilize real world tools in a safe environment. Think about using non-computer technologies to create apprentice like scenarios where students utilize various tools to create work. For example, a science teacher teaching about sound waves, could have her students design a transistor radio or even a simple amplification system. Such use of real world tools and instruments engages the students and brings the content (sound waves) to life, providing a deeper level of meaning that theory alone almost always misses.

Use technology to provide feedback more efficiently, Technology that lets students spend more time on task and increase their and your own efficiency. The examples are too numerous to mention, but think about the software programs and applications that are meant to optimize time and production.

Learning that is social has shown positive impacts on student achievement. God forbid, but consider utilizing social media sites under controlled conditions. Instead of letting student cell phone use frustrate you, embrace it as a productivity tool..Twitter, facebook and myspace are tools, not the devil's playground. Certainly, even computers, calculators and books have all at one point in time been looked upon just as capriciously, but when  regulated with appropriate use guidelines and consequences for inappropriate use, those tools, like social media now, can and do provide endless educational rewards.

Hopefully, I've given some useful solutions, and maybe even provided some food for thought, but most importantly, I've shown that if you haven't made the technology flip yet, you are running the risk of becoming a dinosaur, whose existence is doomed by a stubborn inability to adapt to changing conditions. My research, readings and own personal observations lead me to believe that a major change in how we approach, distribute and evaluate education is coming within the next 3-5 years. My prediction is that though teachers will always be important, their role will change from instructors, who direct from the front of teacher-centric classrooms to facilitators and content consultants providing expertise on the side of a new student-centric model.

Safe travels my hardy cyber-friends. It's a brave new world, and a world without dinosaurs.