I was quite surprised, when I poked my head into 2¢ Worth, here at the airport (Free WiFi), to find eight comments on yesterday’s post, “Are Computers a Tool?” Eight is a lot for me, and I continue to be surprised that anyone is reading this stuff. I was so intrigued by the ideas shared by these readers that I thought I’d comment on their comments in a more threaded way.
First of all, we are talking syntax. Talking about integrating technology and how the computer is just a tool still has a great deal of usefulness. But as we talk to educators and other education stakeholders about technology, I think that we need to chose our words carefully. We need to say exactly what we mean, to describe an entire picture of what teaching and learning look like, and where it takes place. We need to avoid jargon at all cost. We accomplish our goals by describing them very carefully.
First, I’d like to react to Clarence Fisher’s statement,
This is exactly what I would have said a few years ago, that you use the tool that is appropriate to the task. But when I try to think forward to my children’s future, I simply do not see a lot of paper. I don’t see paper skills as distinct from digital skills. I just see literacy, the skills you need to use information to accomplish your goals, and I suspect that the information is going to be almost exclusively digital and networked. It’s how they should be learning those skills.
I recognize that I am in a unique situation, where I do not have to work within the constraints of a school, district, state agency, or university. Therefore I can say things with conviction that are difficult for most educators. But I think that it is important that someone can say, “Expense should not be an issue!” “Our children are in our classrooms!” “Our future is in our classrooms!” We should spare no expense in making sure that we and they are doing their very best.
What Clarence says next is right on, and should be shouted from our rooftops. I would reword it just a bit.
We need to
be using our machines todo things that are different, thatare(were) not possiblewithout them(before). Forming networks between students and teachers, obtaining information using RSS, telling stories, and getting our voices heard.Computers canmake learning different, but simplyhaving them and using them toreplicat(ing) what we were doing before, does not do that. It requires massive change in classroom pedagogy, which we are still learning about.
Karen Janawski evokes Richard Wanderman’s reference that paper is “mistake intolerant” and that technology is “mistake tolerant.” This is an important way to think about technology from a pedogogical point of view, but the fact is that this concept expands out into the real adult world. An important reason why computers are so useful to us is that most mistakes cost us most less than before, and for this reason, we are able to be much more productive. She goes on to suggest that,
Amen! But this is a big part of life outside of school as well. I suspect that we all have intellectual deficiencies of some type. I know I have mine! But in a world with technologies that amplify our minds as well as our muscles, the sense of equalizing is not only a personal issue or a classroom issue. It is a broadly systemic issue. It’s life, not just pedagogy.
My favorite non-educator blogger, Cherrie, shifts my original concluding question, (Does paper represent an adequate tool for learning skills related to a digital networked information world?), and asks,
It’s an important and ongoing question.
Pam Shoemaker says,
Digital Skills Integrator’s not bad. Frankly, I don’t know what to call it, because we’re not there. How long will we need a learning technologies expert? For how long will technology be advancing that fast? I’d actually rather see us all become obsolete, because we have some how empowered every teacher to be able to keep up. But that’s another conversation.
Megan Golding says,
She goes on to say,
In a system that is resource constrained, this is a logical and useful statement. I’m just trying to push us to think about where we should be. If we can make a compelling enough case, tell that new story, then perhaps we’ll get permission to go there.
A. Mercer grounds us again by saying,
Until our classroom walls are all covered with electronic-paper (not so far down the road as you might think), then paper is with us. It’s part of our world. We can handle and manage it with our hands. The digital is of another realm. It is a different dimension that we are still coming to terms with. But all that said, I still believe that we should be teaching our children literacy skills that are releavant to an increasingly and ultimately an exclusively digital networked information environment, and I believe that this is where they need to be working.
I’ll read the Pappert article on the plane!
In closing, here’s what Jennifer Wagner said almost immediately after I posted the blog.
Lol. I like to think I’m an “educator” and a “learner”… both sides of the same coin…or some other three-dimensional structure that has many facets to model and human being’s roles in society.
Anyway, I guess you already know that I find calling the computer a “tool” slightly insulting… like calling a lever “just” a tool… but whatever word people are comfortable with… and I agree it’s all semantics in the end…:P
“I don’t see paper skills as distinct from digital skills. I just see literacy, the skills you need to use information to accomplish your goals, and I suspect that the information is going to be almost exclusively digital and networked. It’s how they should be learning those skills.”
Just wanted to catch up on your reaction to my previous comment. I absolutely agree with what you state above. What I am concerned about is classrooms where technology is used as basically expensive word processors. Having these information portals in our classrooms presents us with possibilities classrooms simply did not have access to in the past. Literacy skills are changing, evolving, and my point in my previous comment was simply that if we are going to have technology in our classrooms, we need to ensure we are using them for so much more than simply typing out neat copies of stories.
Thank you for including my comments! So nice to be shared. This week I am having my students do more art work, which is paper based. I’m wondering what will become of “paper” crafts like crayon and paint artwork? Will it all move to computers and “paint” programs? Will some of it stay as legacy crafts. I’m betting on the later since I handknit and scrapbook even though there are machine equivalents of both these tasks. I think for some kids, they prefer the templates and other controls in computer artwork, and are intimidated by the lack of fine motor control they have with crayons. For some students that hands on tactile is really important to them. I like being able to post online even paper and pencil artwork when a student’s work catches my eye.
This debate is the same debate I led a discussion on in one of my education classes this past week. I understand your enthusiasm and I agree that our children/students are moving towards a very digital future that requires them to understand and utilize technology in a way we were never forced to do. Still, I feel we are speaking in terms of utopias. You are right that no expense should be too great for our children, but when the money isn’t there, it isn’t there. The rapid pace of remediation and evolution in the technology department combined with the cost of keeping technology up to date as well as teachers and lab technicians up to date is an impossibility for many school districts. This discussion seems to be centered on what we want to happen or think should happen, but what about the reality? How do we change the budget, how do we afford the technology and find a way to adequately add it into the curriculum. For my fellow students it seems an impossibility that there will ever be equal access to technology for all students.
I wonder…Were the same questions asked about the pencil? “Is it really important for our kids to use pencils when chalk is readily available?†Pencils, although grossly simple by today’s standards, were the technology of the time. Really, I’m not making light. Pencils became, as computers are now, the tools of the time. Everything we use is a tool, for that is what makes our species. We use tools to complete our tasks. The question isn’t “Is it a tool?†but “Is it the right tool?†Do we use computers for computers sake? Sure we do, and we do it all the time. That’s because they are the tools we are learning to use. They are replacing our pencils and no matter how much we talk about the need for change, we are often resistant to it. I am fortunate enough to work in a district that believes strongly that our students must learn to infuse the tools they will use into every aspect of their work. Reflective of such thought, my 8th grade language arts students do all their work on computers. My desks have been replaced with computer workstations. Honestly, the initial changeover cost less than what some classroom budgets are. (Boy, did I learn to troubleshoot in a hurry with all those hand-me-down computers) The focus was using the tools my students need to do their jobs. My students need to explore. They need to explore literature. They need to explore other curricular topics. They need to explore concepts, theories, and topics of interest through research. They need to explore the intricacies of grammar. They need to explore narrative writing and exposition. They need to explore the uses of the tools in their world to do the same things I’ve been asking my students to do throughout my career: explore, think, and create. The challenge to me is how I teach them using “their†tools. Because of budget, I don’t have money to invest in specialized software, so the trick has been to “bend†the software to make it do what we need. I find myself saying, “Envision your message. Now, how are we going to make that a reality?†My curriculum is guided by the same standards everyone else in my state is supposed to follow, but the time has come (even though I struggle to embrace it) to use the tools of the time whenever possible. It’s okay to use the pencil, even if you have chalk left in the box.
Sidebar – If I may. I comment almost never, but I enjoy the insight I gain here. I’m overwhelmed by the sources available, and am trying to key into a few without losing focus. This one is a good start for me. Thanks.
I agree that it is easier to propose claims of what our schools should have when we are not actively participating in them everyday. Sure individuals are capable of saying every student should have their own personal laptop, and technology should be explained well, while implemented into numerous areas of learning. However, this idea is not realistic. Educators realize that there are cost restrictions and not every school district will ever adequately receive the funding for the necessary materials and mediums to help their students succeed. So yes, I agree it is important to utilize the computer as a tool, yet are all students equally receiving the opportunity to do so? In addition, are we individuals becoming possibly too caught up in the urge to use technology within today’s classroom? With educators pushing everyone forward to adapt to new changes, are any basic fundamental skills being lost? I agree that it is important to develop a nice medium between using technology and basic skills, like writing on paper, within the classroom. Lastly, I really like, and agree with, Jennifer Wagner’s quote at the end of this post. (You are right — the computer is not a tool — it is an Open Door to possibilities.) For anyone can have a computer, yet it is essentially what you choose to do with it that will determine its relevance and importance.
Do you think that cost is really the major obstacle to doing right by learners?
I’m in a truly pointless argument with an admin about putting my overhead on a cart. There are lots of concerns locally because the fire marshall is cracking down on schools, so they want us to have electronics on carts so they be moved out of the way, so the cords aren’t lying around the floor.
I’ve discovered that most of my co-workers are rarely using their old-school O/H projectors (I use mine at least once a day which is unusual at my site–mostly for math notes because it’s easier to write than search for the symbols, etc.) Many of us use the O/H to put our digital projectors on. They’re just the right height, ;-).
Yesterday at the COSN International Symposium : Using Games and Simulations for Engaged Learning, …I believe it was Marc Prensky, that said…he had heard from a student, that was concerned with educators and their constant use of the term “tool” to describe computers. He described how this student claimed that the computer is the quintessential tool that defines all education at this point in time. It is not just a tool. Without it, there is no education.
I believe one of the following comments from the presenter was along the lines that when the printing press was developed, the “book” was not considered, at that time, as just a tool of education…It was what made education, on a broad scale, possible. I’m paraphrasing and probably taking a little liberty from what i remembered being said, but ultimatley the statement was that the computer (and everything associated) is a lot more than just a tool for education.
I’m inclined to to agree with that student’s statement. 🙂
Thanks for the reflection Dave!
Another interesting discussion on Rick Scheibner’s blog with Christina Igoa, author of “Inner World of the Immigrant Child” This book is a common text used in classes for elementary teachers in California as part of our preparation for teaching ELLs. I read the text myself almost 10 years ago. The discussion is basically about taking an activity that she had done in analog to help students who are brand-new to the U.S. come out of their communication shells (what’s called the “silent” period). She queries him about computer drawing tools and points out some of the tactile and other benefits of pencil/crayon and paper.