Technology Comes with a Price

As a future elementary teacher, it goes without saying that technology (referring to electronics in this post) in the classroom is part of the deal. Most, if not all of the schools I have visited have iPads or Chromebooks, Smart-boards, and Elmo projectors, among other things. As a progressive, forward-thinking society, this is what we want, right? Technology is the “wave of the future,” and if you don’t jump on, you’ll be left behind.

That’s what I used to think too, until my Integrated Technology course taught me differently (better).

My thought process in relation to the pros and cons of technology was essentially non-existent. The exception to my relatively lax opinion of electronics is overuse. My own kids are limited to how much they can play on their devices, like one or two hours per week (pretty rigid, I know). My husband and I too, keep our phones put away during family time, including meals. However, in a classroom setting, overuse doesn’t seem to be an issue since time and schedule constraints would prevent kids from hanging out on the iPads for two hours playing Fortnight.

My concerns about overuse, although valid, say nothing about the underlying issues technology carries regardless of how much we use our devices. Here is the shocking thing I’ve learned about electronics and all technologies…they can change us – students and teachers. Technologies carry with them bias and other inherent traits that may result in unintended consequences.

Let’s dig in a little more, using reading and literacy in the elementary classroom as our focus. This is an area of concentration for me in my coursework. For discussion purposes, we’re going to look at iPad apps promoted as ways to teach literacy. We’ll look at this technology in relation to facts vs. deep understanding, hidden thinking and technology as isolation. In addition, we’ll address some ways technology influences teachers too.

I went online to find a reading app and came across an article titled, “20 iPad Apps To Teach Elementary Reading.” The introduction notes that keeping young children from devices is basically impossible, so why not let them do something productive while they are online, like learn to read. Among the apps listed was, “Learn to Read.” Knowing what I know now about the nature of Technology (NOT), I am already feeling frustrated by this article.

Can a child learn to read with iPad apps? Having an awareness of the NOT means being mindful of what technology can and can’t do, and about its biases and values. Perhaps a child may learn to recognize words and read simple sentences with an app, but that is a very limited view of reading (mostly memorizing) What about comprehension? Think strategies like visualizing, inferring, summarizing, questioning? This is where the deeper learning takes place.

Technology also limits our ability to see student thinking. For the child using a reading app, the teacher has no way to see how the student is processing the information. There isn’t any “work” to review nor is there dialogue to discern what he or she is thinking and learning. We can see right or wrong answers, the process is missing.

Furthermore, the use of electronic devises limits our interaction with each other. So much good comes from class discussions. Face-to-face connections are made when students debate, discuss and share. With regard to reading and literacy, think of discussions around predicting what might happen next in the story or how a character might be feeling. Electronics encourage us to pull away from each other. Technology falls short when it comes to bridging the gap between information giving and the human experience.

How might technology and electronics also change us teachers? Think about all of the data that apps pump out. How many words a student correctly identified, how many were wrong, etc. I worry this could become a race against the machine, encouraging teachers to feel pushed to improve classroom numbers. More importantly is the idea that no device can substitute for excellent teaching. Are there teachers out there who use electronics with the hope that they (the devices) will do the “heavy lifting” for them?

The point I am making is that technology comes with a price-tag, and it is so important that educators know what they are buying. Does the technology serve the purpose of advancing student goals? What are the biases, values, trade-offs and limits of using this technology? Do my students understand the nature of the technology we are using?

Going back to our reading app, I can’t help but think about the value of holding a book and turning the pages.

Educating children is meant to me a rich, meaningful experience filled with lively discussion, peer interaction and deep thinking. Technology can undermine all of this if we let it.