While I agree that the potential of dumbing down of students via what's "cool"
online exists, as educators we cannot deny that medium plays an important role in
helping to convey information unto our students. I think the point is that
education has to evolve with the audience it is trying to reach. Yes,
television, radio, laser discs, and all that jazz may have been used as
supplemental tools in the classroom, but the fact is as new technology they were
incorporated into academia in some capacity. Something that some teachers are
fightning for one reason or another. I cannot suggest that we revamp the entire
system to inlcude nothing but technological tools, but there are some who reject
even the consideration of technology as a tool in the classroom because they
feel it is for entertainment use only, so it cannot possibly serve an
educative purpose. There is a way to use technology to encourage
critical thinking among students -- just as there is a way to use television to
broaden their scope of knowledge or make an lesson come alive -- I just don't
think its use should be accompanied by a worksheet. This is why I say that the
advent of technology in the classroom is a case of access and agency. In these
types of discussions we are always aware that there are areas where access to
"our kind of technology" is impossible or nonexistent -- but we have
to change the way we think about technology -- we have come to know technology
as a computer, cell phone, or tablet -- and the term itself is often associated with modernization; however, the fact is that technology is
really a fancy word for a tool that makes a process more entertaining,
efficient, or effective -- so even in our most rural areas technology is there
in some form, and being used in some capacity. Considering also that schools may
be the only place some students have access to books or other informational
tools, one cannot use over-crowding or other faults of school
districts (and the USDOE) as an excuse for why technology cannot be a staple in
our classrooms -- every child does not need his own personal computer (although,
I am sure for entertainment purposes he finds his way to one) -- but tools like
interactive whiteboards, and digital projectors are also ways in which
technology can be used on a larger scale to present information to a class of
students. This type of usage exposes students to new resources, and can be used
to enhance a traditional lesson. It really is a matter of agency (power) because
the way the teacher chooses to utilize these tools to frame a lesson/concept can
faciliate critical thinking among students, and equip them with traditional
skills at higher levels, as well as other functional literacy skills in a
digital age.When we consider issues in the field of education it is often from a position of our privilege , although our intentions may be to reach even those on the lowest rung. Even when we try to be socially aware we still (unconsciously) impose the use our first world ideas on others -- a let them eat cake ideology of sorts. Among the things I have learned as an educator with regard to inspiring social action among my students is that awareness and reflective analysis are big parts of social change. I find myself using this blog as a forum for social change -- using it to express my ideas in the hope that someone will read it and say to himself/herself, "I never thought about it that way before!" In our top-down society it is important that we as teachers make the existence of issues of privilege and oppression in education and within society clear to our students so that they may be inspired to change the system. For us as teachers, this could mean helping our students learn how to read the word and the world (Freire & Macedo) -- by facilitating an understanding of socially constructed difference among them; helping children in our poorest schools become more aware of their social position in society in relation to the world around them, or making the suffering of others due to societal inequities more real for the children in our most privileged schools (perhaps even enraging them a little about the differences that exist with society's heirarchies of difference worldwide). As Ray Bradbury so aptly reported -- these are not responsibilities of the state, but of the people.
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