There is no longer much doubt that digital technology or
“screen time” takes away from the time we spend on our personal interactions in
favour of our online life. You have seen it - people in trains, in restaurants,
walking along the street their heads hovering over the screen – not for
seconds, not for minutes, but for hours. Do they want to speak to you or make
eye contact with you? No way!
Over exposure and excessive exposure to the screen causes
children to lose significant time on creative play and the time they spend on
manipulating and mastering their physical environment. For young children this is a dire situation as there is
plenty of evidence to suggest that neural pathways that would be beneficial to
them in later life will not develop.
For teenagers, excessive screen time can
lead to sleep deprivation leaving them with all the physiological and
psychological problems that that can bring.
This is the curse.
As school leaders and classroom teachers, can we hide behind
this curse and use it as an excuse to do very little or even nothing when it
comes to positively influencing learning with digital technology?
Let’s hope not!
As responsible educators we must be aware and wary of the
curse and treat it with respect. But we have an even more important job to do
than that.
We must embrace the blessing of digital technology – and
there is much to bless.
Even though research on the impact of technology on learning
is in its infancy, we are beginning to see a body of work emerge which points to many blessings.
For example, both research based and anecdotal evidence
points to students learning more in less time when they use digital technology
well; students like their classes more and develop more positive attitudes when
their classes include digital technology; students in digital technology rich
environments experience positive effects on achievement in major subject areas;
and students who use simulation and higher order thinking software show gains
in their learning.
Who can remember trying to grasp some complex concept at
school using pen and paper only? For
example geometry and physics: we would have killed for the software available
today to teach the complex concepts involved. We would have passed!
With such obvious benefits it is our professional
responsibility to seek the professional development we need to keep up with the
advances in technology that will improve the way we teach and our students
learn. We should also appreciate the facility our children have with digital
technology and steer them in a positive direction as they try to master it.
There is no option for any teacher to deny a child this.
After these arguments, would you knowingly send a child of
yours into a school/classroom where the prevailing attitude of the
principal/teacher was that digital technology did not add much value to learning,
with the outcome being that it was not used or not used sufficiently to improve
the learning of your child?
If you knew that this was the prevailing attitude, would you
want your child to stay or leave that environment?
Please don’t be insulted if you are “with it” as far as teaching with digital technology goes. We know
heaps of you are.
We do however challenge those who have more to do.
