Technology is a wonderfully powerful tool, and in terms of my own education, it has improved my experience exponentially over my seven years in postsecondary. I will be the first to admit that I am a certified Apple sheep, and love all of the benefits of having an interconnected technological system at my unhinged dispense to support my own learning. Moreover, I can say with certainty that my own personal academic experience has been made more vibrant with the growth of online resources and platforms to research and learn from. Therefore, I was excited to explore the particular benefits and challenges of using educational technology in support of K-12 student learning this semester.
This particular education technology course has broadened my views in terms of the ways in which technology can be used to achieve this support, especially through discussions of the specific programs and platforms available to educators, students, and parents/guardians. Though it could be easy to speak in-depth about many of the platforms presented in the speaker series, two in particular that stood out for me were Cliff Waldie’s demonstration of Fresh Grade, and Kristina Tzetzos’ introduction to Spinndle. A theme that emerged for me from both of these presentations was that educational technology can facilitate more intuitive and effective means for assessment and reporting practices. Moreover, this stems to include student self-assessment. I appreciate the ease of use that Cliff Waldie highlighted with respect to Fresh Grade as a way of tracking student progress, and also the flexibility it provides for sharing-out on student progress to parents and guardians. In terms of a self-assessment tool, Spinndle seems the most intuitive to me, but I also appreciate the way in which it allows students to assess themselves concentrically. Rather than showing a linear progression, I like that Spinndle provides students with a simple framework for assessing themselves in relation to not only the Learning Standards, but also the Core Competencies. The thing I like best about Spinndle is that the space for student reflection provides agency to students in their learning, and a place to explain why they assessed themselves the way that they did.
One of my other significant takeaways from this course is that educational technology can be a fantastic learning tool, providing a multitude of possibilities for supporting and enhancing learning in the classroom; however, it must be used in a proper way. Janet Chow said: “you use the tool in order to do something with the tool that you could not do without it.” Essentially, educational technology must have a purpose in facilitating learning. This was a thematic connection from several of the speakers this semester; however, one that resonated with me, in particular, was Karen Lireman’s presentation. I appreciated what Lireman discussed with relation to the uselessness of drill and practice apps—that there is little value in merely using technology as a supplemental content recall device. Her follow-up to this notion was that students should be using technology to create and transform. Janet Chow mentioned, “creation adds a level of complexity to our understanding of our content.” The block coding story creation apps from Sandra McAuley’s second iPad presentation were a fantastic demonstration of this, and so was Karen Lireman’s recommendation of the app “Book Creator,” where students from K-12 and beyond can create stories of varying complexities. It is resources like these apps that create a space for technology in the classroom.
My experiences in Educational Technology lead me to the understanding that the use of technology in the classroom to support student learning can be incredibly powerful. Education technology can provide avenues for students to reflect on their own accomplishments, to be more expressive and creative, and to have more engaging and inclusive learning experiences. My ultimate takeaway from this course is that educators should definitely strive to provide opportunities for their students to use technology. Its benefits are significant, and especially when digital literacy is becoming such an important skill for our students, we must provide experiences for them to practice this within; however, in the end, it is up to educators to also ensure that the use of technology in the classroom leads to a meaningful experience for students, or its power is being undermined, and its purpose is lost.