While traveling through the Taiwanese school system, I carried with me a series of guiding questions. The main question I sought an answer to was this: In the Taiwanese classroom, how is technology incorporated as a tool which students might use to take ownership of their learning?
The reason I wanted to investigate this question is because, as a middle and high school teacher who utilizes technology regularly in the classroom, I see it as both a detriment and a boon to education. In the early age of AI, students deserve to be empowered to trust their own critical thinking skills, as well as grow their academic resilience and accountability. In addition, students should regularly utilize collaboration and communication skills, especially on a global scale. Technology should be a useful tool in accomplishing both of these goals.
What I saw in the Taiwanese school system is student ownership of their learning through collaboration, both with each other and with technology.
At the high school level, students used technology as an authentic learning tool. We toured coding, 3-D printing, and robotics classrooms at the technical high school, where students worked in teams to brainstorm, plan, and enact projects. These were technically complicated and nearly impossible to accomplish without technology as a tool. In learning collaboration and technology skills side by side, students were able to leverage technology as an authentic learning tool.
Not only were high school students collaborating with each other and with technology, but the teacher was the critical player in this equation. The teacher modeled how to use technology, how to discuss technical terms and lead problem-solving discussions, and continued to question students on their methods and growth. In this way, the student-teacher-technology relationship can be an integral part of the classroom.
At the elementary school level, students need a much more structured relationship with technology, as they are just beginning to explore the boundaries of the online world. Using technology deliberately can increase student engagement, but it should take a backseat to promoting positive student relationships. Something I noticed about the elementary school I visited was that the team teachers were modeling strong relationship and communication skills. By having this personal model to observe, students are gaining real-world and authentic experiences with communication and collaboration outside of technology. They can then transfer these skills into the online space with strong boundaries and safety nets put into place.
Finally, at the middle school level, I observed a marriage of these two strategies regarding technology. Not only was there strong teacher-student and teacher-teacher collaboration, but there was an even greater need for students to collaborate with each other. The junior high level can be a contentious time in a student’s life for building relationships with others, and providing them with safe opportunities to practice collaboration can bolster their social ties. Even as technology provides students with an opportunity to collaborate on a global scale, I actually found great value in analog opportunities. Having students use manipulatives and exchange letters with my class in America provided valuable, hands-on learning opportunities completely separate from technology. While technology can be a good partner in the classroom, it ultimately cannot replace strong personal connections and relationship building, and opportunities to separate students from technology should still be built into the school day to practice practical and social skills. At the same time, students deserve to be prepared for an increasingly technical world, especially as that is where job opportunities will be. In that case, age appropriate strategies for partnering with technology in the classroom, in conjunction with student-student, teacher-teacher, and student-teacher relationship building, will certainly have a positive impact on students. In this way, the Taiwanese classroom did serve as a strong model for utilizing technology to give students ownership of their learning.