Ding! Ding! Buzz! Pop up! Pop up! Buzz! While researching the effects of technology use in classrooms, I was keenly aware of how distracted I was by the technology around me. The use of technology in classrooms today is a highly contentious topic, with numerous arguments for and against its positive and negative aspects. I struggle to take a side on the argument, and instead suggest that when considering technology use in the classroom, we consider certain aspects.

 

1. The Digital Divide or Poverty Gap

Technology has many advantages when students have equal access to devices. When relying on technology in the classroom, it is essential to be aware of the technology available to all students, ensuring that no student is disadvantaged. Along with access, also be aware of how proficient each student is with the technology they will be expected to use. Students who have ample access to tech at home are likely more well-versed in the skills required to navigate certain tools. Taking the time to teach the programs you are using explicitly will help to balance the divide. 

1. Tech with Purpose 

Technology can save teachers time, but it also has the ability to waste a lot of time. Often, school districts purchase technology without consulting or properly training the educators who will be expected to use it. When teachers are expected to or try to implement tech without being adequately prepared, it can be a recipe for disaster. Valuable curricular minutes are wasted getting students logged in or on-boarded or when programs fail to load. In classrooms of thirty students and one teacher, when technology goes sideways, hours can be lost just getting everyone up and running. School divisions must make purposeful and meaningful technology purchases.

On the other hand, teachers can utilize technology to maximize their prep time. AI technology is making it easier and more efficient for teachers to build their programs, presentations, and teaching tools. Technology is also improving assessment tools for teachers, so not only can they spend much less time managing assessments, but they can also pool more meaningful data.

1. Connection v. Disconnection

Utilizing technology can provide opportunities to enrich learning in ways that previous generations never could have imagined. Technology provides ways to connect people from across the world for first-hand experiences with different cultures. Programs allow students to see scientific experiments or live footage/tours, or interviews with experts, authors, politicians, scientists, and much more. Technology also provides unlimited access to information on any subject students may need to explore. Gone are the days of flipping through volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica. The unfortunate drawback of having infinite access is having near-constant distraction. The way we have been programmed to rely on technology today has us all seeking little dopamine hits akin to feeding an addiction. While many will make the argument that they are simply multitasking, in truth they are dividing their attention and getting less and less out of what they are intended to be engaging with. Students are so conditioned to being entertained that they are perpetually fighting boredom by never truly unplugging from the myriad forms of social connectivity. 

Ultimately, as teachers, we have to be incredibly intentional about our use of technology if we hope to use it to enhance student learning. When technology is used in the classroom explicitly and purposefully with structure, collective understanding and equal access, it can be a fantastic tool for student engagement. When technology is left open-ended and with unrestricted use for the students, inevitably, it will result in increased distraction and reduced classroom engagement. Teachers have to find the right balance of tech inclusion and boundaries on use, which feels like a never-ending battle. In today’s ever-changing, rapidly evolving technological world, perhaps one of our most important roles is to give students the tools to use technology wisely.