Educational technology requires too many financial resources – Creating a strong infrastructure for technology does require a tremendous amount of funding. However, in the last decade America has spent over $40 billion dollars to upgrade our infrastructure bringing us from only one-third of our schools connected to 99% of our buildings connected in 2003 (Culp, 2003). This cost is great, but now that the majority of the nation is “wired” funding needs to be focused on where it will make the most difference—providing professional development to teachers. Only through ongoing professional development, can teachers use technology in ways that truly effect student learning. As critic Larry Cuban (1993) points out, “It is not policymakers who determine computer use in schools; it is the practitioners.” Practitioners need training in the use of educational technology in order to impact learning. As technology has changed, so has our focus for technology usage (Culp, 2003). Teacher training that focuses on pedagogy combined with using technology to support teaching and learning will make a difference.
There are ways to fund technology without cutting other programs such as music or art. According to Culp (2003), the McKinsey report recommended funding needs for educational technology can be met by “reducing costs, reprogramming existing educational funds, and obtaining funds from new sources,” both from the public and private sectors. Funding for technology from investors would be more easily obtained if there were better research about the necessary conditions to make technology use effective.
Educational technology does not increase student achievement – Critics of educational technology have taken a very different view to what that term means. They look at technology as a teacher instead of as a tool used by a teacher. Even the critics, (Cuban, 1993) state that “what a teacher does with it is more important than what the it is.” The technology is not the teacher, but if used to enhance instruction, student gains can be noted. Schacter (1999) focused on several studies that did show student gains after using computer-based instruction. Kulik found that students who used computer-based instruction scored at the 64th percentile on achievement tests compared the 50th percentile for their peers who did not use computer-based instruction. Additionally, Wenglinsky’s study of over 6,000 4th grade students and 7,000 8th grade students who used simulation and higher order thinking software in math showed gains of 15 weeks above grade level (Schacter, 1999). Teachers who received professional development on the technology had students show increase in gains as well.
Changes in practice are needed before educational technology can fulfill its promise – Critics argue that the classroom has remained virtually unchanged since the early 1900s. This is partly true—the basic age-graded classrooms of yesterday have remained unchanged. However, changes do occur. Students no longer sit in rows chorally reciting from a reader. The teacher no longer spends the day lecturing unendingly. Media such as video and audio are regularly used in the classroom. There is a tendency, however, to “teach as you were taught” especially during times of change. This tendency is very evident when a new teacher finds herself in a classroom full of disengaged students—she immediately regresses to what her own teachers did when she was in school. Carol Twigg states that the biggest obstacle to online learning is that tendency to do things in traditional ways (Swan, 2003). In our efforts to make online learning “as good” as traditional learning, we often just make it the same. Twenty years of analyzing policy recommendations has shown Culp (2003) that “practitioners’ needs and challenges” control how technology becomes a part of educational system. Culp also found that there needs to be better understanding on “the systemic nature of educational change in general and of educational technology in particular.”
Educational technology limits social interactions/relationships – Developmental specialists believe that computers encourage social isolation and that greater learning occurs through the human and physical world. Educational technology does not remove the human component from learning, it simply changes the format of that interaction. In distance learning courses, for instance, the nature of the asynchronous discussions allows every student to have a voice in the ongoing conversation. Those students who traditionally dominate in a face-to-face class have no more control over the conversation than does any other student. The online discussion provides students an opportunity to reflect on one another’s comments before posting their own. This reflection creates a mindfulness in an online course that may be absent in a face-to-face course (Swan, 2003).
Jenkins addresses the social interactions in his paper on “participatory culture.” He discusses the “new media literacies” needed by students today that focuses on social skills developed through collaboration and networking. Jenkins does not see educational technology as a threat to education, but as an enhancement to it. He writes,
“Much writing about twenty-first century literacies seems to assume that communicating through visual, digital, or audiovisual media will displace reading and writing. We fundamentally disagree. Before students can engage with the new participatory culture, they must be able to read and write.”
Jenkins does not limit these skills to reading and writing however. He argues for a greater need for literacy skills with educational technology so that students learn how to “think with and through their tools.” Because social interactions are no longer limited to face-to-face interactions, students need the skills to grasp what kind of information they are being presented with and who is presenting it.
There is still much to be learned about educational technology and its effect on student learning. One thing is certain—technology and our “participatory culture” is not going away but will continue to impact our lives. Although critics believe that teaching children technology tools limits their futures, proponents of educational technology believe to be a meaningful contributor in our participatory culture, students will need broad background knowledge on a large range of topics, but also the skills to work within a social community.
No comments:
Post a Comment