Media and Technology in Education?

My Thoughts:

I am a big advocate for implementing technology in the classroom, especially because I have seen the gradual change taking place within education.  Younger generations come in to classrooms with their cell phones being permanently attached to their hands as they constantly browse through social media sites, like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.  Because of these social media sites, teachers are having to vie for students’ attention by coming up with more creative and innovative lessons and activities.  It is probably also because of those social media sites that some teachers are hesitant in embracing and integrating technology into their class lessons.  With that being said, educators need to be made aware that class-long lectures and paper-based assignments/assessments are just not cutting it anymore in the classroom.

Challenges:

A challenge that I know we will all face when it comes to using technology is cost.  However, I know that there are plenty of media tools available for free, while many others are available at inexpensive prices, such as some of the websites that produce infographics.  Also, librarians could contact the company and either negotiate pricing plans for a campus or see what their pricing plans are for a certain group of teachers.

Another challenge that I know that I will face as a librarian is trying to get educators to have an open-mind about technology, especially since it is something I struggle with now as an educator.  It’s important to know that it’s not just the students that are not aware of how to use media and technology for educational purposes, but educators, too.  As much as media and technology can make a lesson be more meaningful, they can also short-change the learning of the student.  This is why it is imperative that educators become ‘taught’ how to use media and technology.  There should be technology conferences and turn-around trainings that allow experienced educators to shared their instructional strategies using technology.  Educators could use Kahoot! to check for the understanding of a lesson, while the SMART Board can be used as a method to assess student learning.  (I especially used the SMART Board during Saturday Academies and, so far, have never struggled to gain my students’ attention throughout the three hours that I have them!)  I have also taught Lucille Fletcher’s “The Hitchhiker,” and have the students listen to the complete version of the radio play instead of reading it aloud.  With the radio play, students are able to use their auditory skills, listening to how Ronald Adams’s tone fluctuates, which allows students to relate to his character because he now seems more realistic than just another character in a story.  By utilizing these types of technological resources, I have been able to reach my students and have them focus on more than just a small screen that lights up with notifications from Facebook and Instagram.  It is because of these experiences and others that I must say I am in agreement with Robert Kozma.

According to EduTech Wiki, Kozma believes that technology should be used to “influence learning for particular students, tasks, and situations” and that doing so will “both advance the development of our field and contribute to the improvement of teaching and learning” (Sheninger).  In other words, technology should not be seen as the primary tool used in the classroom, which could be another reason as to why some educators are against using technology.  Educators who are against the use of technology need to be aware that technology should actually be present in a lesson to support the learning as it can assist the educator with delivery and differentiation.

My Role as a Librarian:

As a librarian, I plan on creating mini-lessons as a way to introduce educators and students to how technology can be used in the classroom to support the learning.  I would also like to create a binder that will be full of the various types of technology deemed appropriate for educational use with ideas of how to incorporate them into lessons.  Another way to encourage educators to use technology is challenging them and their department.  When school starts back up, I plan on incorporating media and technology in some format at least once during every grading period, documenting the responses of the students and myself.  I believe that by doing this, I can share my successes and struggles with others while also dispelling the negative connotations some educators have about integrating technology.

Works Cited

The media debate.  (2012).  EduTech Wiki: A resource kit for educational technology, teaching, practice and research.  Retrieved from http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/mediawiki/index.php?title=The_media_debate&oldid=40213.

Sheninger, E.  (2016).  Why pedagogy first, tech second stance is key to the future.  EdTech: Focus on K-12.  Retrieved from https://edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2016/04/why-pedagogy-first-tech-second-stance-key-future. 

Images were collected from Creative Commons under the Free Domain copyright.