When I first read the statement “Technology has led to a more equitable society” I remember immediately thinking no it hasn’t, but the only aspect that crossed my mind was the availability of devices. In my opinion students without access to computers are not going to receive as beneficial of a learning experience as students who have 1 to 1 access. Despite how you felt about debate one, I think we can all agree that when the children of today are finished school they’ll find themselves in a labor market that’s dominated by technology. During the debate a reference was made to Without a Net which stated by 2020 77% of jobs in America will require computer skills. One can only assume that number has continued to go up since then.

That begs the question, how could society be more equitable, when many don’t have access to technology in the first place? This concept has become known as the “digital divide”. Students should be on an equal playing field when it comes to their education, but it’s just not working out that way. Without a Net opened my eyes to realize that this goes far beyond just access to devices.

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Devices is the base need, but then we have to talk about connectivity. About how even if we’re able to get students their own individual devices, what good does that do if they’re stuck buffering websites or videos during the whole class? That’s not helping them to learn. And then it goes a step further. Say they have access to technology and highspeed internet. We still need some way to teach them with this new technology, meaning the teachers need to know how to use it beneficially. If we give them the access to technology but we don’t show them how to use it, then what are they really gaining? Imagine you’re a student in this scenario. You finally have access to the world’s technologies, only for your teacher to put a PowerPoint on the smartboard and then tell you to open up a Word document and start taking notes. If teachers aren’t trained on the technology, how are they supposed to know how to best incorporate it?

Ideally one day teachers would get that training, and I’d argue that the four pitfalls, discussed by Sulecio de Alvarez, M., & Dickson-Deane in Avoiding Educational Technology Pitfalls for Inclusion and Equity, should be a part of that training. Keeping in mind considerations like making sure that we always view students as producers, not just consumers. They should be using technology in a way that promotes creativity, and not just using it to collect information. Also teachers need to be aware of the risk that if technology becomes too heavy handed in how students learn they could actually become less motivated. Students need some control over their own learning. If technology is telling students that the best way they’ll learn is the way it suggests they do it, then students can essentially just become a cog in the learning machine. They’ll have no desire to try and do better. They’d just be following an educational path that’s already been set out for them. Proceeding along the assembly line until they’ve developed into a graduate that was simply passive in their years of schooling instead of active.

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This emphasizes the importance of teachers. I can’t stop thinking about one particular statement in the Without a Net documentary, “We need to shift teacher education from an instruction model to a coaching model”. With the incorporation of technology teachers no longer have to be the source of information. Instruction can come from the technology itself, and yet a teacher will always be needed, not just to show them how to use it, but to motivate and care for the students, to encourage them to be creative and help them find their passions, and help shape them into the amazing individuals we know they’re capable of being. Right now, I stand by saying that technology has not been equitable, but if it ever gets us to that point where teachers can assume a coaching role, then I’d say that would be more than enough to switch my opinion.

Every time I go to write a blog post I sit down with full intentions to go from start to finish without distractions. And every time I am dead wrong. I find myself often getting writers block and so I turn to my phone instead of sitting there stuck thinking. With this discussion being about cellphone usage I want to do some calculations while I write. Every time I go on my cellphone, I am going to put in brackets how ever many times I’ve gone on my phone in total like this (#). We’ll keep track together how many times this happens. Also, I know that sarcasm can be difficult to communicate through text, so for clarification on the title it was just a joke. This will not have any scientific merit, but I do think it’ll be fun. With that out of the way let’s get into the discussion (1).

As with a lot of the discussions in this class I think I have a little bit of a bias in the sense that I’m not a teacher, so I don’t see the impact of these aspects of technology in the classroom. The same goes for cellphones. All I had to go off of was my experience as a highschooler, and now the experiences that were shared during the debate. I can definitely see the frustration that a cellphone in class can have on a teacher. It has to be one of if not the most obvious distractions that can take place in a classroom, but it’s not the only distraction. Students can spend class time drawing in their notebooks, they can be day dreaming, they can be talking with their friends, etc. Would we take away their pencils and paper? Would we keep their heads always pointed towards the textbook? Would we put them in little isolated cubicles to remove the potential of non-class related discussion? Obviously not. These are all extreme measures that would send a horrible message to kids. It would essentially be saying they can’t be trusted; they need to get back in line and do as they’re told. Que Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the wall music video

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Those examples may have been a little over the top, but I truly think that banning cellphones is along similar lines. It’s a drastic step to try and eliminate one of an endless number of classroom distractions that can occur (2). Especially when factoring in that it’s not even guaranteed to work. I’m not sure who said it in the chat, but it was mentioned that sometimes when we don’t have access to our phones it’s all we can think about. Wondering if we’re missing something important or when we’re gonna get it back. Even just missing the convenience of being able to look something up in seconds (which is something students can and do take advantage of in every other situation where they’re allowed to use their phones). It just seems silly to me to say “Hey! You can’t have this thing that is 100% fine and acceptable to use throughout the rest of your life”.

Now like I said I’m looking at it from a biased perspective, so let’s try to balance that out a bit. First off, before even getting to the readings, it is obviously disrespectful for a student to be on their phone while a teacher is giving a lesson. This is common courtesy in any situation. When someone is talking to you the screen stays down. Seeing it happen day after day, hour after hour in a classroom setting, I’m confident I’d flip to the other side and start saying we should just ban the phones. I can remember many of my teachers telling the class “Listen to these instructions because I’m not saying them again”, and then one or two students inevitably going up the teacher 15 minutes later and saying “What are we supposed to be doing right now?” (3). If you can pinpoint that the reason they didn’t catch the instructions was because they were on their phone then that phone is going to seem like the bane of modern education.

Image by Ian Moldovan pmpcfmfmp at Printerval

I was surprised during the debate and when watching There’s a Cell Phone in Your Student’s Head to find out that seemingly the further away a student is from their phone the better they perform in school. I honestly wouldn’t have thought it’d make a difference, but thinking about it more it does make sense. The further away it is the harder it will be to access and thus there should be less of a mental need for it to be checked. Also, as an adult I think I’ve forgotten just how many notifications high school students get. I ran the numbers in Too many texts: Cellphone experiment shows impact on learning a little further. The math works out to each student receiving almost 22 notifications during the class, or simplified further to 1 notification every 1 minute and 49 seconds (4: I just used the calculator app to run these numbers, but a teacher wouldn’t know that’s what I was doing). I’d say at least once a day I check my phone to see if I missed a notification only to find out there’s none. If I was a kid and knew I was getting that insane number of notifications found in the experiment, I don’t know if it could leave my mind.

While I’m still not on the side of banning phones I will say that removing them from schools should hypothetically remove that constant itch that they need to be checked, not just because they’d be unable to check it, but assuming most of their friends go to the same school those friends wouldn’t be able to check it either. None of their friends would be sending them texts, posting on social media, sharing a TikTok with them, or anything of the sort (5). I think the FOMO would die down in that situation (6). But what might keep that FOMO around is if they see that despite this ban their teacher is still using their phone.

It doesn’t matter if a teacher is using it to text a family member, text another teacher about class plans, or just check their lesson plan on their phone. A kid is going to see that and feel like they’re being treated unfairly. Students could be using their phones for similar innocuous reasons, but no matter who it is in the classroom, when someone is seen on their phone the assumption is they’re goofing off. In Kyle Sledge’s Should Teachers Be Allowed to Have Cell Phones in the Classroom? He advocates the importance of teachers having their phones in the classroom, and I genuinely thought during the 2^nd and 3^rd paragraphs that at one point he was going to pull an M. Night Shyamalan style twist and say that he was actually advocating for students to have their phones. I went back and read those two paragraphs after and replaced each mention of teachers with students and vice versa, and honestly it reads almost the exact same.

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I’m paraphrasing here but it essentially said: Teachers may have a sick relative and want to stay updated on the situation without other people hearing about it. Teachers should keep their phones away during instruction. The number of times they go on it can help determine things like work ethic and behaviour. If they’re reported for using it too often they should be told to change, or be punished.

Can the same things not be said about students? I just couldn’t quite see Kyle’s point, but perhaps that’s why it was a reading given by the disagree side (alongside of course the professional modeling for how to use a phone in a class). (7)

9 Reasons Why Cell Phones Should Be Allowed was a quick summary of all the best aspects of cellphones in schools. That said I wish they would’ve just made the video longer and included all the point instead of making me go in the video description and read the rest on their article Why Cell Phones Should Be Allowed in Schools. And honestly some of their best points are in that article.

For example:

• It prepares students for the future where they’ll need to be familiar and proficient in multiple technological tools.
• It can help with accessibility and provide accommodations to students with learning differences so that they’re given an equal opportunity for learning.
• It allows them to learn digital etiquette. Clearly it’s annoying in class when a student uses their phone, but wouldn’t it be better for them to learn in school that they’re being disrespectful instead of in the workforce where they could end up getting fired for it?

I think that last point is my favourite. The topic came up during the debate of the “hidden curriculum”. I hadn’t heard of this term before, but I could piece together what it was about as soon as it was said. Teachers are not just there to educate students on math and English and science and history, they’re also here to educate students on how to be successful in their future. This should fall on the parents as well, but for most kids, teachers are the second most influential group of adults in their lives, even sometimes accidentally being called “Mom” or “Dad”. So, I continue to feel awful whenever I say this, but it’s yet another responsibility teachers have to try to take on. I mean even in the Too many texts video (As a reminder this was a video provided by the side saying phones should be banned) they say that banning phones in schools is the wrong approach. Stating that “Since smartphones are part of our world, we need to help kids better manage the technology, not the other way around”.

Since starting this blog post I have checked my phone 7 times. Honestly, I thought it would be way more because typically it has been. Maybe it’s that we’re near the end of class and I feel a greater sense of urgency to ensure the final few graded aspects of the class are finished on time, or maybe it’s that I was more aware because I was tracking it. Regardless, I couldn’t avoid checking it and as a result it’s led to the same points that I wanted to make when I had the idea. First, I took several other distraction breaks while writing. Grabbing myself a snack, taking out the garbage, playing fetch with my dog, etc. If I didn’t have a phone these other distractions would still exist, and I bet I’d have found a way to create more. Second, and this may be controversial, but I don’t think distractions are always a bad thing. As I mentioned at the start of this post, I turn to my phone when I get writers block. Sure I could power through writing, drain my mental energy, and eventually spit out a mess of words I’d feel wasn’t up to the quality of writing I expect from myself. But why do that when I can take a second away, give my brain the chance to process what I’ve written, recharge by doing something that requires less brain power, and come back ready to write again. Distractions can be harmful of course, but sometimes they can also be a positive. If used in a way where they’re not being distracting to others, I don’t see why cell phones in the classroom can’t work, but that’s not an ability students possess by default, that’s something that needs to be taught.

(8)

I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced shockwaves sent through education the size AI has brought. By the time I was in school Google was already a thing. Calculators were not only allowed, but it was on the list of supplies needed before the year started. As far as I can remember everything in my elementary school, high school, and university experience was pretty status quo. This is the first major innovation affecting the classroom that I think I’ve been a part of. Though from what I’ve heard about the past it sounds like all of these things tend to follow the same trend.

At first, they’re hated by those in the world of education. They’re seen as harmful to learning and detrimental to the way curriculum is delivered. Second, they’re reluctantly accepted. The realization sets in that they’re not going anywhere. That despite the best efforts of those who despise innovation, new technology cannot be stopped. Third, educators start to understand them better. They come up with ideas and concepts for how to use these new technologies in the classroom. As such, certain ideals in education are shifted to better equate to the new world we’re living in. And finally they become normalized. Normalized to the point where we can hardly remember how things were before these innovations came to be. Both groups in the debate had great arguments, but I just can’t see AI going down a different path.

I will admit that AI does feel like it’s opening a much bigger can of worms than innovations of the past. Kelsey & Mariah opened my eyes to some concerns I hadn’t considered. The more information given to AI the better it can perform, but when the information is student data how much is too much? Daniel Buck’s article AI is a serious threat to student privacy is the first I heard about privacy concerns for students with the incorporation of AI. He doesn’t shy away from how useful it’s capable of being, but he raises some legitimate concerns over the storing and deletion of this data, as well as the effects of always having students under AI’s surveillance

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Then you have the concern of AI’s bias problem. I was aware that AI images have a tendency to make any human in the photo white unless otherwise specified, or that it tends to add in racist or sexist stereotypes to images. Something during the debate I hadn’t heard of though was that AI detectors are more likely to falsely accuse non-native English speakers of using AI generated text. I believe this stemmed from Aniya Greene-Santos’s article Does AI Have a Bias Problem?. These failures of AI can’t just be swept to the side. If we’re going to accept AI into the classroom we first must realize that it’s not perfect. It has its issues and it most definitely has its biases.

If it’s able to learn from its areas of failure and improve then we can reap all of its successes. The benefit of AI that intrigues me the most is its personalized learning experiences and predictive analytics for student success. AI Uncovered’s 6 Ways AI Will Revolutionize Education by 2025 splits these into two separate benefits, but to me they’re almost intertwined. AI would be able to gather information on a learner, figure out their likes and dislikes in the classroom, and tailor the education experience to better fit their way of learning. This is essentially the starting point for the next benefit because it’s done in an attempt to increase student success. The AI can then track the progress the student is making in this new way of learning, and can pick up on early signs of them possibly not being engaged with the content. The pros of AI are truly incredible and will do amazing things for future generations of learners, but as mentioned before we have to be careful of it’s pitfalls.

Compared to the integration of things like calculators or computers I think AI has a much longer and challenging road ahead to reach that normalization that I discussed at the start of this post. In the privacy article Daniel Buck wrote “But these are not issues to face in some distant future of some science fiction novel. Many are here now”. That statement is a big wake up call. For some reason it’s still hard for me to grasp that the AI era is truly here. There was no build up, no slow burn. It was as if one day out of nowhere there was suddenly a vast sea of AI resources.

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That quote makes me realizes that there is no waiting around to see how things play out. AI will continue to evolve and grow, so we either figure out how we’re going to utilize it in the classroom, or else we just roll over and wait to be replaced.

I’m genuinely asking because I can’t picture school without technology. As far as I can recall my school experience always had technology. Maybe not kindergarten or grade 1, but I specifically remember that by at least grade 2 we would have one hour of computer time every week. In the mind of a child this was like extra recess. The computers all had various preset games on them and whether we recognized it or not we were learning from those games. Sure, I could practice my times tables with paper and pencil, but I felt a lot more engaged playing Number Munchers and moving the weird bodiless frog around the screen.

Side note: To answer the question nobody asked, yes I did just find out you can play the game online and so I played a few rounds to get a good screenshot of it.

I also remember when our school got smart boards. Rarely did anyone volunteer to go up and write on the whiteboards or chalkboards, but for the smart boards everyone had their hands raised higher than ever for the chance to come up and use them. These were new exciting tools that every kid wanted to experience. As such we were more focused and our brains were ready to learn, but that was around 20 years ago. I can only assume the cool factor has worn off. I’d venture a guess that the intrigue by these new tools that hit my generation isn’t quite having the same effect on the current generation. I don’t think I’d be as impressed by big giant touchscreen in class anymore seeing as most kids parents have a portable one in their pockets. And would the educational video games be as enticing now that kids can borrow their parents devices and play an unlimited number of games?

I’d argue that back in my day (I’ve never used that phrase seriously before and I don’t like how it feels) technology was enhancing learning. We were learning the same curriculum we would’ve had without it, but it was so much more engaging. Add in the fact that we were learning how to use technology and it’s almost like they had a two for the price of one deal. Nowadays I think I’d have to side with the opinion that it doesn’t enhance learning.

Photo taken by Zach Frailey on Flickr

That’s not to say it’s it doesn’t have it’s place in a classroom, or that it can’t possibly provide the same enhanced learning I felt technology gave me. The study done in Effects of an immersive virtual reality-based classroom on students’ learning performance in science lessons proves it’s possible . They provided students with such a unique experience that got them more engaged with the content they were learning. This is where technology in the classroom really shines. But I assume lessons this labor intensive and costly are a rare occurrence in modern teaching.

Then you have the huge downside of technology being a distraction. Even when I was a kid, in about grade 5 onwards you could guarantee that if we were given access to computers or laptops there would be kids using them for anything but school work. It was all too easy for kids to get distracted. Whether they were showing their friends funny videos, checking their Facebook, or just flipping the screen to frustrate the next person to use it. It’s mentioned in No A 4 U that through the authors research and the research of Wood et al., (2012) college students using Facebook during lectures or while studying performed worse than those who did not. Although I don’t know if anybody would really doubt that even without the research.

At the end of the day I think it really comes down to the teacher. If the teacher understands the technology their trying to utilize then it can be successful, maybe for some students it even enhances learning like I felt it did for me. As technology keeps advancing so will the tools that can be used in the classroom. While I might not see technology as a benefit in the classroom right now I hope to see my opinion change. Who knows maybe somebody’s developing Number Munchers Two as we speak.

Despite what I might tell my eye doctor when I go for a check up, if I’m awake there is a very high chance I’m using a screen. Let’s be honest, we’re living in an online world. Technology is virtually inescapable. In fact, in my line of work I can’t do my job without it. I am an Assistant Instructional Designer at the University of Regina. What that means is that I spend my work day developing and maintaining the online classes offered through the university.

Most online courses offered through the university run through URCourses. This is the hub where all course sites are held. It allows students to access the courses they’re in for the current semester, and it allows me to access the courses I support (Which often tend to be any course that begins with the letters F through N). URCourses isn’t actually a unique creation by the university. It’s an L.M.S (Learning management system) known as Moodle. Over the past five years I have become fluent in Moodle. Gathering a better understanding of the little intricacies to consider when creating resources and activities such as quizzes, assignments, forums, books, videos, and my personal favourite H5P’s

H5P’s are interactive content that can be placed into a course, or anywhere where H5Ps are enabled. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to add any H5P content to this blog. That’s too bad as I had just created a couple slides with two buttons where you could only proceed by pressing the green one:

H5P’s have been a fantastic addition when developing classes. Often instructors like to use them as a no risk “Test your understanding” activity at the end of a book or unit. They can also be used to break up content when it’s just blocks of text one after another. H5Ps can be smaller activities like one off multiple choice questions, or fill in the blanks. Bigger study materials like flash cards or drag and drop questions. And even bigger concepts that might seem out of the question at first. My favourite example of this is a murder mystery activity I created when I first started at the university. It seemed like an impossible task at first, but with a lot of hard work turned into one of the best projects I’ve worked on. Students work their way through the mystery, investigating clues, interrogating suspects, and using knowledge learned in class to find a reasonable explanation for the murder that has occurred. Just look at all of the branches!

But this work couldn’t be completed without the help and input of my coworkers. I work fully remote, but easily stay in contact with everyone via Zoom’s messaging system. We can share documents and ideas, help problem solve when we’re running into unforeseen issues, or just take a moment to share a laugh or some GIFs to showcase our mood. Zoom helps us to stay connected even without in person contact.

When I’m not working there’s still a very high chance that I am doing something with technology. Whether that’s playing video games with friends, watching Netflix/YouTube, walking my dog and listening to Spotify, or more recently, reading articles and doing research. We’re living in an online era, and I am here for it!