Flashing Lights and Beeping Sounds: Going beyond the Traditional with Technology

In my last post, I took a look at some of the possibilities of the iPad in the classroom, and this week’s readings helped enforce the potential of mobile devices in the learning process.  But the readings also re-ignited this burning fear I have of the potential fizzle at the lighting of the wick of our technology plan: that every new device we integrate into our classrooms is going to serve as simply a flashier way – a way with more blinking lights and sound effects – of teaching in the same style.  My question is: how do we ensure that the technology revolution, once accepted into the classroom, will truly transform the learning and teaching process and not simply be used as overhead projectors on steroids (or even filmstrips, if you truly want to know my age)?

I have an instinct that there are two answers to this question.  The first is the dreaded alliterative phrase “teacher training”.  Groan.  Workshop.  How can this training be more appealing to my teachers than our trainings on the college application time line or on campus safety protocols?  Here’s one idea for that: Why not allow one day a month, or take a week, to have experts train the teachers in the capabilities of the technology?  How is that more interesting?  The experts are the students. 

As mobile technology advances, there has been a tidal change in the classroom.  No longer is there a “master” of information, with students dependent upon the expert at the front of the room to instill that knowledge in them.  Now, not only is the information available using mobile devices at the touch of a button or screen, but the students themselves are often the ones more adept at using the technology to find the answers.  Fear not, teachers, we will still be needed to help students wade through the glut of information and analyze it for reliability, bias and accuracy.  But with that fear aside, why not use this trend to help teachers realize the potential of technology in the classroom.

The second answer I would like to propose is that we must force ourselves to teach and assess differently.  In the article “From Cell Phone Skeptic to Evangelist” by Angela Pascopella and Liz Kolb, the question of how to combat cheating on tests by using cell phone capabilities is addressed as such: “Another answer is to redesign assessment. For example, in Australia some educators are starting to say, “Use your cell phone on your test,” thus developing assessment to better reflect the 21st-century workforce, which embraces networking and knowledge collaboration with digital tools as one resource to gather data and construct knowledge. By developing assessment that is inquiry-based and focused on higher-order thinking skills, it alleviates the concern over using a cell phone to look up an answer or even take a photo of an exam.”  I think this idea not only alleviates concern over cheating, but gets to the core of the issue here.  In order to successfully incorporate technology in the classroom, not only use it, but change our teaching and assessment so that the use reflects the