This link takes you to a story that explains the painfully obvious situation where students who don't study well are not aided by technology. The outcome of the study is not really that surprising since it is self-evident to anyone who ever went to school or tried to teach.
To me the amazing element is that somebody even bothered to do the study in the first place. Perhaps an even more amazing element is that somebody funded the study and somebody else decided to publish it.
What is on the horizon for these groundbreaking researchers? Discovering that humans are made up of mostly water. Perhaps they will report some other earth shattering news like Hydrogen is most common element in the universe.
Technology does not make anybody smarter or better in any way. Technology is simply a tool, like a pencil or a notepad, that when used appropriately helps people do what they do better. If your business has a mistake prone process, automating that same process will only help you make the mistakes faster.
Likewise with students and teachers. A good teacher is already a good teacher. A good teacher with better tools will be a better teacher. A bad teacher with better tools will still be a bad teacher. A good student with better tools will be a better student. A bad student with better tools will still be a bad student.
It is hard to say there are good and bad teachers and students. However, it is one of those ugly secrets of edcuation that we typically don't discuss. While it is possible (ask me and I'll share examples) to use technology to help WILLING teachers and students grow from bad to good, it is not because of the technology.
The situation turns on the intent of the humans involved, not on the pieces of hardware or software. For a quarter of a century I have tried to make a difference in this equation by delivering the best possible technology into the education environment. Trust me when I say the technology is never the answer. In fact, it can often have the opposite effect. People can often say "we'll just use the internet, the laptop, Wikipedia, an iPad" and everything will be OK.
If, and only if, the PEOPLE involved in the process of selecting, deploying, and using the technology understand that the driver to success is the PEOPLE involved in the actual teaching/learning process does an Ed_Tech project have a chance to truly make a difference.
Any teachers out there have a comment? Any students? Any tech providers?
Jump on it and share your thoughts.
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Aug 17 2010 (05:11 PM) by Alexander Johnson
Not enough people realize what you said. As a student I have seen Smart Boards deployed in some attempt (as far as I can tell) to attract the attention of the youngsters with those new-fangled techno-gizmos they seem to love so much. If it glows and consumes electricity, then it should be interesting, right?
As you said, the reality is that the technology only emphasizes the qualities a teacher already possesses. Mediocre teachers remain mediocre, and simply use the Smart Board as a scrolling chalkboard. Engaging and creative teachers, on the other hand, could use this technology to link to a site that has a perfect flash animation of a concept, or they could access any of the other billions of bytes of free and useful information out there.
The beauty of a truly skilled teacher is that even if they do merely use a Smart Board as a scrolling chalkboard, or if they use no technology at all, they still get the job done well. So, before implementing technology-based strategies for bettering education, the situation must be assessed on a room-by-room basis: are the teachers wholly incompetent, or would they take this gift and run with it?
This post may seem overly redundant, but I feel that people aren't listening enough, and sometimes need to hear the same essential concept a few different ways before they understand it.... much like many k-12 students. Moral of the story: you're never to old to learn something!
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