Social Technology or .......

Technology in the classroom is a topic that comes up more and more as technology grows by leaps and bounds. The issue to me is not whether we use technology in the education setting but how we use it. Having computer access alone does not address the social issues of access to information outside of the classroom. It is my opinion that technology is not the issue alone, it is in-depth understanding of our students that will push or pull them out of their respective deficiencies.

The articles Social Justice – Choice or Necessity? by Colleen Swain and David Edyburn and Who Are Today's Learners? by Christine Greenhow discuss the issue of technology in education very similarly to other articles I’ve read. I understand that getting into specifics would make the article long and tedious, but they always seem to give generalities of how to fix things or what to do. I believe, like technology itself, the integration of technology into education will happen organically. And not as a forced-upon tool to prepare students for jobs.

It is a disservice to any student anywhere to limit anything to them because some do not have access to this or that. Technology is just another means of information reaching us. Limiting any information to our students goes against our goals of building students up. Our job is to use all the tools available to us to enhance our students’ bodies and minds. And the use of any technology should not be limited, when appropriate.

My goal for my students is to increase the access to critical thinking beyond the subject I teach. How the information gets to them is not as important as what they do with it when they get it. Providing encouragement to students will help them overcome any boundaries that may be in their lives. Technology is an immensely useful tool for educating, but the power to persevere is a tool that will carry a student further in their life.

Here we go!

If I were a teenager today and my teacher asked me if I wanted to play video games in school, I would say yes in a heartbeat. Even if they were boring video games. As a teenager, I just wanted something to be entertaining and hold my interests. And I have a bad habit getting involved with games that do not really take me in the right direction. As an adult, and future teacher, I don’t see the logical value to including video games in the school environment. I remember the feelings I got from playing video games and it was never about learning or developing my problem solving skills. The problem solving skills developed in the video game environments were only for continued entertainment and fiscal purposes. I wanted to make my money last longer and prolong my excitement. Video games may minimally compliment instruction, but they fall too close to entertainment, in my opinion, to be instruction replacement.

James Paul Gee in his paper, Good Video Games and Good Learning, talks about 16 different learning principles of video games. That is quite a few. And though they all might be valuable learning principles, their practical application to learning in such a way as to pass standards tests or other forms of assessment won’t work.

The most resonating things Mr. Gee mentions are the examples of video games, over and over again. I don’t disagree that each example backs up that learning principle mentioned, but what practical application does that have in our standards based education. Yes, we can’t teach to standards, but the principles of learning Mr. Gee mention can all be encompassed by passionate, caring, engaged teachers and parents. The sole entertainment value of each one of those video games may take away from the functional ideas encouraged during school.

If I were to incorporate any ideas of learning from video games advanced by Mr. Gee, it would be of customization. I would like my students to be more self directed in their learning. Breaking the norm in helping students understand algebra or trigonometry might make their classroom time that much more enjoyable. There is always a point of understanding I feel I need to get my math students to, but making it fit their modalities of learning will engage them much longer than any video game will.