by Bruce Friend
As a lifelong educator who has worked in public schools, the non-profit world, and for private industry, I have always had the good fortune of working with students and teachers, specifically in promoting the use of technology as way to transform the way teachers teach and students learn.
While I am no longer directly teaching social studies to middle and high school students, I do have the opportunity to visit many classrooms across all disciplines and to speak with teachers and students about their use of technology. To be frank, what I hear and see concerns me.
All too often, the “technology” that I see being utilized as part of instruction in traditional brick and mortar classrooms amounts to little more than the use of PowerPoint as a way for students to view information that would otherwise be written on a chalkboard for note-taking purposes. It’s not that it is bad to use PowerPoint for classroom teaching – it’s just exemplifies that education is doing no more than scratching the surface of what is possible using technology. And if we don’t do more than scratch the surface, our children will not be competitive in the 21st century’s global economy.
We’ve been putting computers in education for decades, but walk into most American classrooms and often are they sit unused with out-of-date software. Even in schools that have very good computer-to-student ratios there is no guarantee that the teachers are adequately prepared to change the way they have been delivery instruction since the day they earned their teaching credentials.
Two recent sessions that I have had with middle and high school students provided very clear examples of the above. I was asked to be part of a technology-integration advisory group for a local high school. One afternoon we had a chance to have a lunch forum with a small group of students and their teachers. The comments from the students drove home the key points. Collectively the students all agreed that they were dismayed that they were not allowed to bring laptops to class; not even for the purpose of taking notes. Granted there are concerns about having students use personal computers and connecting them to a school network; however in this case, the students merely wanted to use their laptops for note-taking purposes. As one student stated, “…what I do in school is copying notes from the board. When I get home, I transcribe them into a digital format so that I can actually use the information for learning purposes; seems rather unnecessary.”
In another example a student used his smart phone to illustrate the disconnect in how such technologies are being used for educational purposes. With a bit of dramatic flair, the student took his device off of his belt and held it up asking the adults in the room what they saw. To a person, all of the teachers stated that it was “a phone.”
“Precisely my point!” the student declared. “You see a phone when in reality this is my computer. This is my connection to information.” He then went on to share how a teacher recently scolded him for “having his phone out in class” when in reality, he was using it to learn more about the topic that the teacher had been discussing in class because he was interested in the lesson. In that moment, the student was left to feel that he again needed to leave technology at the classroom door.
A meeting I had with a group of 18 middle school students on a career day was equally telling. I asked them the standard “what is your favorite class” question that seems to be a staple of such events. The response I received ranged from P.E., band, web design/computer class, etc. Not a single student responded with math, science, English, or social studies. As I asked follow up questions it became apparent why the students identified the classes that they did. Being actively engaged in the learning process is core to those courses. P.E., band, and a computer class is not a passive experience. They could not say this about their other classes.
Assigning blame will not serve us well. While we can debate the reasons as why technology is not more fully integrated into traditional classrooms (lack of teacher professional development, administrative commitment, pre-service preparation, and yes, funding being a short list), we need to change this and soon. The term “digital divide” is taking on meaning beyond the traditional reference to those who do not have access to technology. There continues to be a growing divide that exists between our students of today and their use of technology in every aspect of their lives (including the desire for learning) and how technology is really being used in many classrooms.
The use of technology to assess performance and individual needs; instruct students inspire their curiosity and creativity; to expand when and where learning takes place; and to engage parents can allow us to fundamentally change what “school” is – for the better.
If you have questions about the use of online learning and what options may be available to you, feel free to email me at: bruce.friend@sas.com
Bruce Friend is the Director of SAS® Curriculum Pathways®, an award-winning education resource that provides online lessons, engaging tools and activities at no cost to U.S. educators. Bruce has spent the past decade working in the field of online learning. He is a national pioneer in helping to establish the country’s first statewide online program and has been the chief administrator of two state virtual schools.
In 2003 he was honored with the “Most Outstanding Achievement in Distance Education” award by the US Distance Learning Association. Prior to joining SAS, Bruce was the Vice President of the International Association for K12 Online Learning; a non-profit organization that provides support to students, parents, and online learning programs.
As a lifelong educator who has worked in public schools, the non-profit world, and for private industry, I have always had the good fortune of working with students and teachers, specifically in promoting the use of technology as way to transform the way teachers teach and students learn.
While I am no longer directly teaching social studies to middle and high school students, I do have the opportunity to visit many classrooms across all disciplines and to speak with teachers and students about their use of technology. To be frank, what I hear and see concerns me.
All too often, the “technology” that I see being utilized as part of instruction in traditional brick and mortar classrooms amounts to little more than the use of PowerPoint as a way for students to view information that would otherwise be written on a chalkboard for note-taking purposes. It’s not that it is bad to use PowerPoint for classroom teaching – it’s just exemplifies that education is doing no more than scratching the surface of what is possible using technology. And if we don’t do more than scratch the surface, our children will not be competitive in the 21st century’s global economy.
We’ve been putting computers in education for decades, but walk into most American classrooms and often are they sit unused with out-of-date software. Even in schools that have very good computer-to-student ratios there is no guarantee that the teachers are adequately prepared to change the way they have been delivery instruction since the day they earned their teaching credentials.
Two recent sessions that I have had with middle and high school students provided very clear examples of the above. I was asked to be part of a technology-integration advisory group for a local high school. One afternoon we had a chance to have a lunch forum with a small group of students and their teachers. The comments from the students drove home the key points. Collectively the students all agreed that they were dismayed that they were not allowed to bring laptops to class; not even for the purpose of taking notes. Granted there are concerns about having students use personal computers and connecting them to a school network; however in this case, the students merely wanted to use their laptops for note-taking purposes. As one student stated, “…what I do in school is copying notes from the board. When I get home, I transcribe them into a digital format so that I can actually use the information for learning purposes; seems rather unnecessary.”
In another example a student used his smart phone to illustrate the disconnect in how such technologies are being used for educational purposes. With a bit of dramatic flair, the student took his device off of his belt and held it up asking the adults in the room what they saw. To a person, all of the teachers stated that it was “a phone.”
“Precisely my point!” the student declared. “You see a phone when in reality this is my computer. This is my connection to information.” He then went on to share how a teacher recently scolded him for “having his phone out in class” when in reality, he was using it to learn more about the topic that the teacher had been discussing in class because he was interested in the lesson. In that moment, the student was left to feel that he again needed to leave technology at the classroom door.
A meeting I had with a group of 18 middle school students on a career day was equally telling. I asked them the standard “what is your favorite class” question that seems to be a staple of such events. The response I received ranged from P.E., band, web design/computer class, etc. Not a single student responded with math, science, English, or social studies. As I asked follow up questions it became apparent why the students identified the classes that they did. Being actively engaged in the learning process is core to those courses. P.E., band, and a computer class is not a passive experience. They could not say this about their other classes.
Assigning blame will not serve us well. While we can debate the reasons as why technology is not more fully integrated into traditional classrooms (lack of teacher professional development, administrative commitment, pre-service preparation, and yes, funding being a short list), we need to change this and soon. The term “digital divide” is taking on meaning beyond the traditional reference to those who do not have access to technology. There continues to be a growing divide that exists between our students of today and their use of technology in every aspect of their lives (including the desire for learning) and how technology is really being used in many classrooms.
The use of technology to assess performance and individual needs; instruct students inspire their curiosity and creativity; to expand when and where learning takes place; and to engage parents can allow us to fundamentally change what “school” is – for the better.
If you have questions about the use of online learning and what options may be available to you, feel free to email me at: bruce.friend@sas.com
Bruce Friend is the Director of SAS® Curriculum Pathways®, an award-winning education resource that provides online lessons, engaging tools and activities at no cost to U.S. educators. Bruce has spent the past decade working in the field of online learning. He is a national pioneer in helping to establish the country’s first statewide online program and has been the chief administrator of two state virtual schools.
In 2003 he was honored with the “Most Outstanding Achievement in Distance Education” award by the US Distance Learning Association. Prior to joining SAS, Bruce was the Vice President of the International Association for K12 Online Learning; a non-profit organization that provides support to students, parents, and online learning programs.
