Education Vs. Technology

8/3/2019 Education Vs. Technology

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By Jennifer Swift

The old grammar adage scribbled across blackboards was “i before e except after c.” Inclassrooms today English lessons are taught on smartboards, where the only “i” comes

before touch, pad, and pod.

Bill Handy, a visiting Professor at Oklahoma State University in the School of Media andStrategic Communications, is also an entrepreneur, authority on social media, and one of

two professors at the university teaching a pilot program where the iPad is fullyintegrated into the course.

Handy said the tool has created for more productive time spent in the classroom, as he

was not just lecturing the whole time.

“What we did was reverse the class,” Handy said. “Students used to read the chapter before class, and then watch me lecture and then be on their own after the lecture.” The professor pre-recorded his lectures on iTunes, and students would watch the videos

on their iPads prior to class time, enabling him to teach the class and get through thematerial in more in-depth ways.

“What it allowed us to do is to address these topics at a much greater level,” he said.

Many programs using interactive technology devices do tend to fall into certain

categories, Handy said, but the possibilities for all areas of education are endless.

“If you can imagine it in your mind, we can do it now, anything—short of teleporting anindividual,” Handy said. “There’s a lot of functionality in it for PR people, but there’s

apps on the iPad for the engineer, for educators—gosh there’s all kinds. Even in biology.”

Handy said if you put the iPad in the hands of any student, biology to journalism, they

will be able to look at it and tell you all the great things they can do with it. He said hewants every parent to get their student an iPad just for the sake of enriching their

education and allowing them to do more.

“It’s a platform that in my opinion can be integrated into any school on campus,” Handysaid. “It creates a very level playing field for all students.”

There was no question in his mind when he received his first iPad about the possibilities

it held for education. The iPad was released in April 2010, and Handy’s pilot programstarted with the beginning of the semester in August 2010.

“Right away I knew. There were no ‘ifs,’ ‘ands’ or ‘butts’ about it,” he said.



Just a finger swish across the map on an iPad brings to another classroom where theiTouch is being used to bridge more than just language barriers in an English as a Second

language (ESOL) classroom.

In the ESOL program in the Mahopac School District in New York, students are utilizing

iTouch to allow them to go at their own pace.

“Some of the kids are coming in from other countries they don’t know anything,” said

Tracy Shaffer, the director of education technology for Mahopac Central School District.“It’s just making it a more exciting way to learn.”

The use of the iTouch in the classroom serves as a pilot to the rest of the school district

about the different ways teachers can improve the classroom by engaging the students.

“Since they’re 24/7 clickers and texters outside of the classroom we need to find newways of engaging them,” Shaffer said. “The intent of this was to make learning a little

more exciting.”

Shaffer said the technology also allows students to self-teach a little bit, which makes for more useful class time as a teacher can address the different needs of their students who

speak different languages individually while the other learn from the technology.

Don Beverly who serves as the assistant superintendent for Mahopac said the increaseduse of technology is helping to keep students engaged.

“I think some of the biggest problems are engaging kids instead of distracting them,”

Beverly said. “Everyone’s used to social media, used to media, its almost like they’retexting, they’re emailing, they’re having conversations, and then they walk into school

and told they can’t—it’s like taking a fish out of water.”

The use of new technology in classrooms, however, brings up three main concerns for school districts: maintaining security in somewhat unexplored and evolving technology,

educating teachers on how to use the technology in a way that adds to the classroom, andwhether or not this technology replaces to the teacher.

“We’re to the point now that kids have grown up with media, and you need to dust off

your classroom,” Beverly said.

While things like powerpoint and smartboards can enrich a classroom, when they aren’tused properly they are just as distracting as some feel technology itself it.

“What’s distracting is the use of a bad powerpoint—that’s a danger,” Beverly said

Shaffer stressed the need for a balance between the use of technology, a balance that all

educators using technology are working out.



“It’s one thing to show them how to use a big smartboard,” said John Malara, a trustee onMahopac’s Board of Education said. “Say here’s a big tool box that you can use—and

show movies on it, or you can erase the white board like this. We’re giving them somenew pieces of equipment, but we’re not giving them the content yet.”

In the ESOL classrooms the students tend to be the language experts when it comes totechnology, and the teachers the pupil.

“We used to have a feeling of being an expert, and you have to overcome that,” Shaffer said. “You have to be comfortable with the kids taking the lead and being the expert. If

we wait to be the experts, we’re never going to be the experts.”

Malara said there are three different types of technology-oriented people. There are thosewho are early adopters who pick up on the technology on their own, there are those who

are in the middle, and then there are some who are afraid and don’t want to learn how touse it. Malara said most teachers are in the middle, and there’s a long way to go to teach

everyone how to use the equipment in it’s fullest capacity.

“I don’t think we’re there yet,” Malara said. “I think we’re seeing the possibilities but Idon’t think we are far enough along on training teachers about how exactly to use it.”

It’s that lower third however, those who are afraid to use it that are also afraid of the

technology replacing the teacher, according to Handy.

“The big argument is if you don’t need me to lecture, than what do you need me for?”Handy said. “With the use of the iPad I didn’t have to worry about my lectures—but you

can’t do all that we learned through debate and discussion without faculty.”

For Handy, using the iPad allowed him to refocus the time he spent on the class on thingslike debate and discussion that student’s couldn’t necessarily get from the tablet. Handy

argues there needs to be a good balance between the use of the technology and theteacher.

“We need leaders who still help lead thought and discussion. We can still be a part of that

moment when they [students] figure it out—and that’s just pure awesomeness,” Handysaid.

There isn’t a Great New Schism in education between the old and the new teachers, as

this divide between the old and new is something that has always been going on inacademics, according to Handy.

“This isn’t anything new. Cult divisions whether geographic or demographic are always

going to exist—and with this there’s some fear of the product itself.”

He doesn’t see the teacher as becoming obsolete, but perhaps the classroom.



“I don’t see faculty disappearing, I see buildings going away and the concept of what weconsider to be a classroom changing,” he said.

The teacher and administrator are still in charge of ensuring the student’s safety, a subject

they readily admit they are not the experts on—and technology and social media policy

may always be a living, breathing draft.

Shaffer said it’s sometimes a matter of making the technology as safe as possible, and

then letting the kids run with it.

“We can set up the tools and some of the safety features but the kids are the ones that aretaking some of the new initiative and its very uncomfortable sometimes,” she said.

“We’re definitely on new ground its almost like the technology is going faster than weare able to keep up with it – we know that this is an answer and it’s a direction but its in

unfamiliar waters for all of us.”

There is a race against the technology—a race to implement policies in school to keepstudents safe as they continue to explore more and more things, and a race to keep

learning about everything that’s going on.

“Students today are great at multitasking—they can tweet and watch on youtube all at thesame time, but the time keeps getting faster and districts and administrators are having a

harder time keeping up—with the technology itself, and the problems it causes,” Shaffer said.

Mickey Mellen works for BrandED Technology, a consulting firm which helps clients

involved in education create a social media presence, utilize social media in an effectiveway, as well as create policies about social media use. Mellen said it’s hard trying to find

a balance in mastering technology and staying with the times.

“You can work hard to become as educated as you possibly can about a tool, only to findit vanish,” Mellen said. “It's a tough thing to balance -- investing your time in upcoming

technologies, but not wasting too much time until the technology becomes stable.”

Part of the issue that stems from the use of these new technologies are the capabilitiesthey possess on the internet. While public schools may ban the use of facebook and

twitter from school computers, the students can still access it on their phones or their own personal computers and iTouches, making the ban ineffective.

It’s this rapidly moving technology in the classroom that has educators and administrators

concerned, especially when it comes to the rising use of social media in the classroom.

“We haven’t talked about [a policy] yet, but I think now that a lot of these things arestarting to become more prevalent, that everyone’s going to have to address it,” Malara

said. “That’s the issue, if you wait until to something happens you can be potentiallyliable.”



In the Manatee School District in Florida, a social media policy was drafted and prepared

to be enacted, when the teacher’s union filed a lawsuit against the district.

The policy would restrict the platforms teachers could use to communicate with their

students as well as what the teacher’s could post on any publicly accessible websites.

The policy specifically stated that communication between teachers and students in a

strictly academic sense to “extend teaching and learning opportunities” was permitted, but said communication via platforms not approved by the district for academic

communication (Facebook, Myspace, and others) required a written note with the parent’s approval 10 days before the communication occurred, or teachers would be

reprimanded. The policy did not specifically cite specific punishments, but did note thatthey could lead to termination.

According to Pat Garber, the president of the Manatee Teacher’s Union which filed the

lawsuit against the district, these restrictions would only hurt the student in the long runas it would restrict the communication between teacher and student.

“There are many teachers who teach the upper levels of high school and advance

placement classes who regularly communicate with their students about assignments viatext, via e-mail, etcetera, so the policy makes more hoops more them to have to jump

though before they can do that,” Garber said.

The policy would also restrict what teachers could post on public websites.

“Employees are to refrain from electronically posting in publicly accessiblewebsites any statements, documents, or photographs that might cast the employee, the

students, or the District in a negative, scandalous, or embarrassing light…Anyinappropriate statements, documents, or photographs viewed by the public reflects poorly

on the District as a whole and can negatively impact the school setting and subject theemployee to discipline,” read the draft.

Barber acknowledged that there is reason for the school to make certain restrictions, but

the policy was just too broad.

“We understand that teachers are held to a higher standard of ethical behavior and thereare limitations that have already been upheld for teachers, but we believe that the policy

was too broad, and that it needed to be narrowed in regard to what types of things theycould be held accountable,” Barber said. “We don’t think that the school has unbridled

authority--teachers do still have a right to freedom of speech.”

The school board has agreed to review the policy with the teacher’s union, and the unionhas since dropped the lawsuit with the intent on working with the school district to create

a different resolution.



The school board initially agreed to an interview and then refused to answer questions.Malara said that certain policies do need to be put in place, but agreed with Barber that

there is a fine-line between safety restrictions and making the communication betweenteacher and student more difficult.

“Social media I think right now is primarily a communication vehicle that connects people. If you put guidelines with how you can connect people, whether its teachers or communicators or students in regards to unsupervised communication outside the school

it could be trouble. I think there does need to be a policy of what’s allowable, but 99% of the communication is productive, it’s just really that 1% you have to sanction,” Malara

said. “There’s controversy on whether teachers should be able to communicate and frienda student on social networks, and if they have personal communication whether that’s

appropriate.”

Jackie Grasty, also of BrandED Communications, said it’s the fast evolution of technologies that is creating the hurdle for schools. Schools realize these technologies

and medias can help education, but want to be safe about it.

“I consider this to be akin to the industrial revolution, as new technologies and end useseem to appear at a pace faster than manageable. I think we’re finding ourselves

embracing new technologies before we fully understand the implications, loopholes, andcomplexities inherent in the application,” she said.

Safety of the children, and educating them on a strict budget are the two problems that

face all school districts no matter what types of technologies they do or don’t use.

Shaffer spoke about the benefits of having students use an e-reader such as a Kindle toread textbooks, instead of the district spending more money on textbooks.

“Why do we continuously buy two textbooks, one for school and one for the kids to keep

at home—we need to look at a multi-year plan,” she said.

Malara addressed however, that it’s hard to measure how effectively these tools are beingused to spend the money on them.

“I don’t think there’s enough measurement on how teachers are using these

technologies,” Malara said. “There needs to be a feedback process. It’s not a policingthing, its more of being smart about how you spend your money. You want to be able to

make sure that it’s being used right and I don’t know if we’ve got that part down yet. Wetend to try and throw technology at a problem, but it doesn’t solve it all the time.”

The National Education Society is responding to the same issue of analyzing how well

technology is being used in the classroom, by using just that—technology.

“When combined with learning systems, technology-based assessments can be usedformatively to diagnose and modify the conditions of learning and instructional practices



while at the same time determining what students have learned for grading andaccountability purposes. Both uses are important, but the former can improve student

learning in the moment (Black and Wiliam 1998),” read the document published on National Learning Initiatives in 2010. “Furthermore, systems can be designed to capture

students’ inputs and collect evidence of their knowledge and problem-solving abilities as

they work. Over time, the system ‘learns’ more about students’ abilities and can provideincreasingly appropriate support.”

The National Center for Education statistics released a report in 2009 which showed

teachers reported having interactive whiteboards or smartboards in the classroom 28 percent of the time, but only 57 percent of those with smartboards reported actually using

the board in class. Shaffer said when she visited classrooms for her own son’s teacher’snight at the schools she works in, the smartboard was being used as a glorified

projector—the technology may be in the classroom, but the teacher’s aren’t necessarilyusing it.

But, when the bell rings, it’s still the education that matters most.

“The iPad is a device, it’s no different than your computer or phone—and we’re seeing

this convergence of technology surrounding the individuals,” Handy said. “These are just platforms that allow us to engage.”

Handy said the devices we use today are the same idea of a telegraph- the things like the

iPad may transport the message, or in his case, the lecture—and the lesson itself is up tohim. Where the textbook may have once been the platform to read, all that’s new is the

physical platforms we utilize to obtain the information—there is certainly nothing newabout social media.

“Social media is not new—but media has not always been social,” Handy said. “What is

new is the ubiquity of social media—it’s at our fingers all day. The embracing of socialmedia, that is new. If you take out the technology since the 14

th, even 13

thcenturies there

was social media—flag systems between countries—that’s all social media.”

A favorite quote of Handy’s about technology is by Josiah F. Bumstead.

“The inventor of the system deserves to be ranked among the best contributors to learningand science, if not the greatest benefactors of mankind,” said Bumstead. He was talking

about the chalkboard.

Ironically, even with the use of the iPad and all the other new technologies and socialmedias, Handy’s back to where technology and education first synthesized.

“I use the blackboard more than I ever have,” Handy said, because the refocus of his class

using the iPad has allowed for more in-depth discussions in class time.



“Before it was just lecturing, it was just powerpoints, I didn’t have to worry aboutwriting. Sometimes now it requires that little extra element of diagramming. Because of

the new technology, I’m using old technology more than I ever did before.”

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Education Vs. Technology