Why Students Should Be Made Technologically Sound?

 

Why Students Should Be Made Technologically Sound?

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Kaplan (2017) asserted that providing training to the teacher on how to facilitate learning in the classroom with the use of technology and using it during the learning process is one of the ways to reach students. Prensky (2008) on the other hand accepted by saying that it is crucial based on what Kaplan said but also stated that most of the teachers are confused about technology’s role in the classroom. Some teachers still prefer the traditional methods of teaching to the latest trend and it is felt that they still need to change their mindset when coming to the use of technology especially in the classroom. The teachers need to think differently and acquire all the demands of technology if they are to uplift inquiry and interactive learning, and some prevalent cultural change in the contemporary world (Oriji and Amadi, 2016).

I agree with what Prensky (2008) stated about the teacher’s resistance towards students being taught to use technology. There can be various reasons behind that and yes, their opinion somehow makes sense. Their resistance can be because they may not foresee any benefits. After all, they are already teaching well in the classroom and may not be thinking about its benefits. Others may not be technologically sound in using it themselves and just reason it out that it consumes time just because they get embarrassed due to their lack of skills in themselves. There can be other reasons, like fear of getting replaced by technologies that would lead to the loss of the job (Oriji and Amadi, 2016). Quite often, we observe that teachers end up having the concept of using projectors or other electronic gadgets to teach in the classroom when coming to the idea of using technology. Students are never taught to experience using the technologies while learning. Instead, the teachers should be providing support through intensive guidance in using the technology to their students so that students learn to teach themselves. Prensky’s (2008) idea fits in here when he said that the teacher’s role is not only to become technologically sound themselves but should also to be intellectual personnel who provides skills in using technology to his students so that they become acquainted with context through quality assurance that ultimately leads them to have their individualized help. This would make them individual learners in the long run. The role of the teacher should change at this age. It enables them to shift from being teachers to settlers because they will be encouraging students and helping them to excel even if the topics, they are learning are fragmented or not interesting (Oriji and Amadi, 2016). Teachers should be teaching students to acquire research skills, creating awareness about making better choices while browsing the internet, and learning to collaborate while using technology because such skills will help them to be independent. In doing so, students will be exploring the resources readily available on the internet, YouTube, or eBooks that are available because such sources would promote learning. Of course, proper guidance is necessary so that students do not become prey to online scams, cyberbullying, or gaming. Teachers should also ensure quality content-based learning while helping students to use the technologies (Kucirkova, 2021).

In my teaching context, in leveraging technology to create an enabling environment for students, mostly, I mostly engage my students through research learning and project writing using technologies that are integrated into the learning process, critically analyzing the contents making connections to real-life situations, and deriving values for them. During the course, they will learn to assemble and handle different concepts meaningfully for knowledge and skills development through 4Cs such as creativity, critical thinking ability, collaboration, and communication, so that they can meet their unique needs for positive outcomes in life in productive manners. In the words of Dewey, the ultimate aim of education is not simply about teaching the content for academic excellence in the classroom, but the creation of complete human beings through continued education for capacity building and mindful growth (Dewey, 1916/1980), and this is what I exactly follow by encouraging students to learn through research. By engaging my students to research and learn, skills like critical thinking, creative thinking, cooperative and collaborative learning, information literacy, media literacy, technology literacy, initiative, productivity, social skills, etc. are applied to give students 21st-century experience. In this digital world, we are accessible to various types of media-driven environments, and the technologies are geared towards different shapes every minute. Students are to be prepared to be friendlier with the technology so that they can contribute through their ability to collaborate and produce their own. They should be critically sound to exhibit a range of functional skills through information literacy, media literacy, and ICT literacy at a large scale so that they can filter media bias and ethics enabling them to be an informed citizenry (Ledward and Hirata, 2011). Moreover, safety measures are to be provided beforehand when they are to engage in carrying out the research. For me, the use of projectors, pre-prepared handouts, and TVs provides minimal knowledge to students about technology because students aren’t involved directly during the learning processes in the classroom.

 

Johnson (2015) pointed out that quality learning depends on how a teacher makes his students do things, and for active teaching to take place active learning should be encouraged in the classroom with the use of technologies, not simply through classroom teaching. However, the Teaching-Learning experience in the time of the pandemic gave me different experiences that made me contradict the policy of mobile usage in schools around the country. It was a kind of doomsday for me and my students because, until the middle of the pandemic, some students were found confused using Google Classroom and other platforms. Students were not prepared because of the limited knowledge they had during those times. Although I was equipped with the skills to handle the technology, my student’s inability to cope with Internet learning made me handicapped. Thus, I support Prensky that students should use technology, as a tool to help and teach themselves, not that teacher simply knows how to use it.

 

 

Reference

Dewey, J. (1916/1980). Democracy and education: An introduction to philosophy of education. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The middle works: 1899–1924, volume 9, 1916 (pp. 1–370). Carbondale/Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Johnson, B. (2015). Creative Teacher" Is Not an Oxymoron. Retrieved December 18, 2021 from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/creative-teacher-not-oxymoron-ben-johnson

Kaplan, D.E. (2017). Creative technology in the curriculum in online teacher training. Creative Education 8 (8). http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=77518

Kucirkova, N (2021). Ensuring EdTech is truly educational. Retrieved December 18, 2021 from https://bold.expert/ensuring-edtech-is-truly-educational/

Ledward, B. C., & Hirata, D. (2011). An overview of 21st century skills. Summary of 21st Century Skills for Students and Teachers, by Pacific Policy Research Center. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools–Research & Evaluation, 20.

Oriji, A., & Amadi, R. (2016). E-education: Changing the Mindsets of Resistant and Saboteur Teachers. Retrieved December 18, 2021 from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1108660.pdf

Prensky, M. (2008). The role of technology in teaching and the classroom. Educational Technology. http://marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky-The_Role_of_Technology-ET-11-12-08.pdf