Marvels of Technology—Easy to implement?

Modern technology is amazing!  Millions of people are revolutionizing the internet.  Paper books are becoming obsolete and students are texting and collaborating like never before.  Group communication between students and teachers has minimized classwork and has elaborated testing for all concerned.  Now tests are immediately scored and feedback is given at an astounding rate.  But is this really the twenty-first century marvel of technology?  Or, can it be even more?  Students can create digital photographs by hand just by artistic effects of filters, masks, shadows, reflections and glows.  They can develop their own programs by using C++, or see what SSD looks like and how it works.  Creative students can use their critical thinking skills to make spreadsheets, graphic charts, and design brochures, or the CAD can show students how to sew clothes or build homes and robots.  This is the potential of modern technology correctly implemented into our classrooms; our only limitation is our imagination. 

However, reality is another issue altogether.  Stretched funding especially with standardized testing takes a priority over such innovations.  Many teachers feel that technology is always one step ahead of anything they can do for their students.  It moves at such an astonishing rate that they fear they can’t keep up.  Teachers need administrators that support them to be trained and educated on the latest technology, and many times this does not take place in the classroom.  Other more traditional teachers feel that technology has a way of de-personalizing the development of children.  Students are less engaged with each other, zoned out, or out of touch with society.  Walk down any school campus and tell me the number of students without earphone in their ears.  Show me the concern students have for one another when someone is hurt, many simply walk by with little or no concern for one another.  We should be teaching human beings to develop them to be the most functional and unselfish human beings we can, gifted with an education that helps them be productive citizens. 

So, where does this leave digital natives that yearn to use technology in their classrooms?  As educators, we must be wise about our technological decisions.  We must be educated and trained on technology and see it correctly implemented.  Funding must be used wisely.  Technology assessment based tools are wonderful, but fall short of the standard if that’s all we do with technology.  We need to invest in technology with a purpose. One of the greatest things we can teach our children is not how to create a photograph, but how to be critical thinkers of tomorrow.   These tools should be teaching our students and the learning experience should be increased. High level skills can be implemented with technology,    but we must plan well, make wise decisions, test and re-test product before their implementation to ensure the product works as expected.  We must teach and train our children and provide them a well-rounded and balanced education.  We must never leave the final decision up to non-educators who have no investment in our children. 

References:

Ashlock, T.J. (2014, Jan.). In Facebook.  Retrieved from January 14, 2014, from http://www.facebook.com/tjashlock.