Embedded Files
Evidence: History of Vermont's Technology Standards
Technology in education has come a long way. As an elementary school student I remember the first time we got to play Oregon Trail on green and black pixelated screens. Over the years, the way we interacted with technologies in schools has changed vastly. No long are we wanting students to learn how to use technology for technology's sake, but rather, we see technology as a tool that may or may not be useful in various situations.
Our tech coach, Lauren Parren, shared the Triple E Evaluation Rubric with me. She uses this with teachers who come to her looking to integrate technology into their lessons. The framework has the user think about the purpose of the technology and gives them a quantitative way of assessing the need for the technology in their work. People must think about if the technology will engage students more in the learning, will enhance the learning goals, and if it will extend the learning goals.
This is much different than what teaching with technology used to look like according to Parren. She remembers when teachers were tasked with teaching PowerPoint and having requirements that students have slide transitions, animations, and a minimum of three slides. Today we have a more holistic view of technology integration. We see technology not as the end goal, but as a way to enhance our understanding, our communication, our problem solving, and augment our products.
Evidence: Reflection on digital futures from EDCI 325
Today, most of our learning is not done in a vacuum – we need others to hear our ideas, generate alternative viewpoints, and challenge and progress our thinking. This type of collaboration and learning is happening more digitally than face-to-face and will likely be the direction that we continue in. As part of this trend towards crowdsourced knowledge, I have been delving into the writings of George Couros and looking at visions of what some tech companies believe our digital future hold.
Evidence of this future trend towards digital connection was exhibited in the visions of the future held by Corning, HP, and Microsoft . In each of their videos depicting the future, everyday surfaces were transformed to contain a means to connect to the outside world. This future felt a bit exciting to witness at first – you would never have to remember anything ever! But then the bitter reality of the implications sunk in with me. The idea of interacting with screens over actual people or imagination was a difficult pill to swallow. However, I wonder how much of our days are currently occupied by screens compared with real life interactions? We look at a phone instead of an actual window to assess the weather outside.
As I was thinking about these videos, I thought a lot about natural selection and how ethics is not part of the natural selection process. Studies of Neanderthal’s genes shows that they lack markers for both aggressive behavior and hyperactivity, which probably led to their demise. Traits are not chosen because they will lead to more peaceful or productive societies in the long run, traits win because they dominate.
As our society trends more towards rewarding those with greater tech skills, what will we become, and will it be an improvement? As a tech creeps more and more into our daily lives it is worth reflecting on whether it is necessary and if the technology creates an improvement that aligns with our personal/school/community's core values.
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