Introduction
Hello, my name is Matt, and I am a little bit bitter.
I thought the future would look like this:
But instead I got this:
Photo by sandra_schoen on Pixabay
Breathtaking. Awe inspiring. Transparent plastic.
Not a flying car to be seen.
All joking aside, technology has changed, improved, and (in some instances) hurt my teaching practice over the span of my 15 year career. Before delving too deeply into this I would like to provide a little bit of background on my personal experiences with educational technology in my K-12 schooling.
TV Carts and Slide Projectors
My first notable experience with technology in K-12 education came in the form of massive CRT televisions strapped to tall rolling carts. I distinctly remember my peers and I cheering in joy at the site of one being wheeled into the room. VHS tapes made video cheap and accessible to our teachers and the novelty of its incorporation could not be understated. We take for granted that every student has a device that may easily access streaming video, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s this was transformational. Pictures are truly worth a thousand words and video brought lessons to life. Before this we were limited to ancient slide projectors which played an audio track over still images.
The next technological leap was when our school replaced our aging Commodore 64 computers with Apple Macintosh Classics.
They were stunning. The leap from typing on a command line to interacting with a graphical user interface blew my 10 year old mind. It was the first device I had ever controlled using a mouse. The battles fought at the back of our classroom to have “computer time” were pitched. This is the device that I learned to type on, format a document, and save files to 3.25″ floppy disks. The lesson I took from these interactions was that technology could be both fun and intuitive, rather than esoteric and intimidating.
When I started high school in the mid 1990s the pace of educational technology accelerated rapidly. Our computer labs and library had the Internet. This was the turning point, evolution had become revolution. Information was unlimited. Suddenly it was no longer a question of what you knew, but how to find it. What would have taken several trips to the library to comb through encyclopedias was available instantly (if you consider 1990s Internet download speeds ‘instant’). This was both a boon and a concern for our teachers, as plagiarism became a trivial matter, but the number of resources at their fingertips ballooned. It was an exciting time because the Internet promised to solve everything. Of course it didn’t.
Technology in my own classroom
Technology in my classroom generally falls into three categories:
- Technology that streamlines tedious and time consuming tasks.
- Technology that supports home/student communication.
- Technology that I use to enhance instruction.
The adminstrative side of teaching is far more streamlined than it was 15 years ago. I remember distinclty sending attendance duo-tangs to the office in my first school. Shared folders for critical information were physical folders in a locked filing cabinet. Network drives were in their infancy. Now most of this is taken care of by EDSBY, my school divisions’ management software. Booking equipment and spaces in the school is done through Google Docs. The advantage of this is that I have more time to focus on the task of teaching, rather than filling out forms. The disadvantage is that it makes it very easy for adminstration and colleagues to add “one more thing” to my to-do list as it is so easy to create fillable pdfs and editable documents.
Communication between home and school is also more seamless. Outside of telephone calls or letters home parents had little opportunity to know what was happening in the building. EDSBY has instant messaging features (think Facebok messanger, but the UI is stuck in 2011) that allow parents to fire of quick questions to me in real time. Mass emails have taken a lot of the work out of the dreaded letter home which can now be sent quickly. When I coach I can contact my players about practice times and give updates through apps like Remind 101. This isn’t always neccessarily positive. Workload intensification has become an increasing concern amongst Saskatchewan teachers and the constant bombardment of requests can be quite overwhelming.
Finally I have used various websites and applications to improve my teaching of mathematics. Graphing calculators have been made practically obsolete by DESMOS a free online alternative. Generating worksheets for extra practice is easy with a license to Kuta Software’s infinite algebra, although they offer numerous free sets of practice problems as well. I have also employed Geogebra to demonstrate difficult concepts such as the ambiguous case of the sine law to great effect. This is in addition to the almost infinite number of YouTube videos explaining every mathematical concept you could imagine. It is worth reiterating that these programs enhance good teaching, but cannot supplant it. Developing good rapport and working relationships must always be at the forefront of teaching. Technology is just a useful tool.
Also, I still want a flying car.
Hi Matt! I was immediately captivated by your title and ability to relate to readers. I have to agree, I am extremely disappointed to have the same experiences where I had an overhead projector when I was sure there was supposed to be flying cars. How did we get here?! My fondest memories of technology also included typing, oh what a time! I also wanted to mention how I appreciate that your teaching with technology falls into three categories. I am a strong believer that in the classroom that technology must enhance the learning, as in my own blog post I speak of specific websites that I use and how I use them related to the students’ learning. I appreciate that you mention technology as a means for communication, as in todays world, that is the main way I communicate with families and sometimes even the students. Thanks for your post!
It appears we have had similar disappointments in our vision of the future. I always thought we’d be at a point like in Star Trek where you could just get food materialized in front of you… instead we have Skip the Dishes.
I have seen technology over my career ebb and flow. When I first started, it seemed as though we were trying to be as plugged in as possible, providing students with as many opportunities to use technology. Of course, this was towards the beginning of the smartphone era, where it was uncommon for students to have a cell phone. Now, of course, it seems students have super glued phones to their hands, and I’ve noticed that there is more of a balance between technology usage. Like you said, it simply shouldn’t be at the forefront of our teaching practices, but rather a tool to help our students succeed. Thanks!
I think we all have seen some of the other disappointments when it comes to technology as in movies the things which were shown were so fascinating. However, in reality, there is always something different. However, in many ways, technology has profoundly changed education. For one, technology has greatly expanded access to education. In medieval times, books were rare and only an elite few had access to educational opportunities. Individuals had to travel to centers of learning to get an education. Today, massive amounts of information (books, audio, images, videos) are available at one’s fingertips through the Internet, and opportunities for formal learning are available online worldwide through the Khan Academy, MOOCs, podcasts, traditional online degree programs, and more. Access to learning opportunities today is unprecedented in scope thanks to technology.
Me too !!!! I also wanted a flying car. Even today as well I want it… Hahaha
I really enjoyed reading your post Matt. Indeed technology has enhanced learning and I started using it during COVID, before the pandemic I was using it for my research and learning. But now I use it with students as well.
I really like the three categories that you mentioned and this made me think the importance of technology in classrooms.
Thank you for this interesting post!