You may read the poem below if the video went by too fast!
My Backpack Re-Imagined
By Barbara Stewart-Edwards
In my backpack, a laptop lives,
And is there a school now that does not require
Each student has a chromebook, laptop,
Or the learning consequence might be dire?
Covid-19 hit hard, closing schools in 2020
An individual electronic device is now a staple commodity.
Are the teachers in your school technologically equipped
To engage 21st century learners, bored with anything not considered constructivist?
Are your learners more engaged with this technologically-driven shift
Or, were they more engaged before Covid-19 hit?
Your books are symbols of someone stuck in the past
Because who needs books when multimedia technology is so vast?
The internet provides unlimited access to whatever students need for success
Why subject them to books, writing tasks and anything less?
The piles of papers you take home to grade,
Are the very reason that some students are disengaged
Teachers like you drain our tree resources
It’s better to exploit minerals in poor countries to ensure our students' internet access
Writing to-do lists on sticky notepads?…how archaic
What about the notes, calendar and google task apps you have in one click?
There’s little need for pens and pencils occupying space in your backpack
When access to the internet gives you multiple ways to hack.
The phone is more deserving of your backpack space.
What can it not do in this day and age?
Why do you even still have a wallet, when the app is on your phone?
If I were you, I’d just leave it at home.
Unfortunately, you’re still stuck with some of the age-old items
Since the devices you carry have not yet developed algorithms
To provide access to your lip gloss, sunscreen, water bottles, and sunshades via the internet
But, not to worry; those are coming soon, just not quite there yet!
Never mind those backward schools and countries thwarting their students’ success.
There are multiple companies making devices, apps and providing internet access;
Instead they are stuck using books and other ancient technologies.
Shame on them for not keeping up with developed countries!
Reflect on the potential benefits and challenges of engaging in mode-changing and describe your own redesign process.
My video features a poem I wrote that more or less reflects the attitudes around the shift in technology and the impacts on our culture, using sarcasm. The way we understand and interpret what is said is dependent on not just words spoken and the literal meaning ascribed to those words. Rather, the different figurative devices make our writing and spoken words far more interesting. However, the major focus is on how technologies that were once deemed modern are now almost “demonized” with the advent of new technologies. It also delves into areas of:
Environmental sustainability issues related to both traditional pen and paper and the demands of materials required to create electronic devices and provide internet service
Socio-economic access: rich/poor countries
Alludes to benefits to Big Tech companies
The access to apps that allows for many different tasks on a single device (phone, for example) displacing numerous text technologies
Ability to reduce the number of items we carry around in our backpacks
The references to the past (archaic, age-old, etc.) place the older technologies into the category of artifacts
In my school, teachers have been thrust into embracing technology, sometimes without adequate training and are often looked down upon for using “too much paper” in their classrooms. It almost became a crime “overnight” if you did not use the Google Chromebooks, the Google Suite and the multiple apps being sold to “enhance learning.” This is a shift in the culture as it relates to modes of learning, propelled in part by capitalist motives. Integrating technology should be strategic if digital natives' learning are truly being enhanced. At what expense is technology affecting skills of the past that seem to be slowly dwindling away: summarizing, writing to communicate effectively, and focusing on writing convention due to heavy reliance, creating a culture of dependency on the technology to think for us?