Today in class we discussed the
positive and negative ways that technology can be used in education. One
question that I feel was really interesting and especially relevant to issues
that we have been discussing in other classes is the issue of equity and technology. How does technology affect the achievement
gap? I forget which peer pointed it out but someone mentioned how necessary
certain technology skills are in the workforce, how knowledge of Microsoft
Office is a basic requirement on job application. How is the gap enhanced if
some students grow up using this technology in school and become familiar with
it when other students in a different school don’t have access to the same
tools and apply for the same job? How can this discrepancy be resolved? Is it
even possible for this to be resolved in the type of individualistic,
capitalistic society that we live in?
On a completely different note I
would like to address the issue of the impact of technology on society and
social interactions. We’ve talked about how technology can limit social
interactions, i.e. being able to look up on your phone the answer to a topic
being debated, but how about how this change in social interaction affects
adolescents? I’m talking of course about cyber bullying and how technology and
things like facebook, twitter, etc. make it easier for students to say things
to one another they wouldn’t say in person. How could this be transferred to
the classroom and how can it be combatted? Sure, these new technologies are
what kids know, are good at, and maybe even experts with. We want to be able to
speak their language but how can we balance having these new technologies
available and make sure they are used appropriately? I guess I’m talking about
kids being on facebook in the library at school or texting each other
throughout the day. There is just so much technology and so much less
face-to-face interaction. This has sort of turned into an incoherent ramble; I
hope it could be followed. I suppose my main point is that technology as a
whole, not just in the classroom, is changing social interaction for the worse
and we as educators need to find a way to enhance the face-to-face interactions
that occur in our classes so students realize the impact their words (both
online and in person) have.
I've been thinking about one of the things you mention here - how kids are constantly texting and FB-messaging each other these days. I wondered what the difference was between that and the notes we wrote back in the day (not that I ever wrote notes because I was a perfect student who always paid attention in class.) And I realized that there are two main differences: instant reply, and editability. When I was (hypothetically) writing a note to a friend, I knew I wasn't going to see her/him for a while, so I had time to think about what I wanted to write, and to change it if I wanted to. And there wasn't any stress about getting an instant reply, the way there is with texting. I don't know if I'm just turning into a crotchety old woman shouting at kids to get off my lawn, but I really have to agree that Kids These Days don't seem to interact as much face-to-face as we used to do in days of yore.
ReplyDeleteAnother comment on the note-passing thing: didn't writing a note to a friend give you a bit of a thrill? It was so sneaky and exciting, like a little secret between the two of you. Now, with texting, IM, snapchat, etc., it doesn't really matter what you're saying. People think less about what they're putting down and there's no longer a thrill in sharing information or getting to see your friend during the lunch break because you've been texting them all class anyway...
DeleteDo you think that our generation has changed as well? I remember reading an article on tech-adoption last year, and the demographic most resistant to change was that born in the post-war period. Pretty much everybody else was adopting tech without too much trouble, and there was even some small backlash against tech (not in the sense of Luddite, more in the sense of hipster Polaroids and LPs and fixies and... well, I suppose skinny jeans aren't really a technological regression) amongst millennials. Also, what do you think constitutes change? Are there long-term effects, either in evidence or in prediction, to an addiction to instantaneous connection and information?
ReplyDeleteI have spent the past year coaching a high school cheerleading team, and the teenage girls I coach are constantly on their phones! They take pictures and video of pretty much everything they do, and they often post it immediately on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, etc. The fact that they don't really stop to think before they post pictures and videos of themselves and their friends on the internet is troubling. I don't think they really grasp how the internet provides a permanent record of these things. I worry that they'll get themselves into trouble or have regrets when they get older. I'm also concerned about the impact that their constant use of social networking has on their communication skills. They never have to use proper grammar or punctuation when they communicate via text message or twitter, and I think they are developing bad habits that will be difficult to break when they need to speak and write properly (e.g., college application essays, e-mails at future jobs, etc.) They often speak in text language too, which can be very distressing (and annoying)!
ReplyDeleteA few points to throw in the mix here...
ReplyDelete- One element of Emily Bazelon's TED talk, which we watched in 606, that I found compelling was the part about how spending too much time on social networking sites can lead to a failure to develop empathy. She quotes a scholar named Clifford Nass who said "Face to face contact is the best way to learn to read other people's emotions... it's as if the in-person socializing is the healthy food, and Facebook is the empty calories." That last phrase really stuck in my memory and highlights one of the greatest dangers of the digital world. I dabble in the Tumblr world, which is filled with insecure teenage girls reaching out into the void to find solace and comfort. (I did the same at their age, albeit not on Tumblr itself.) They do find friends and groups in which they feel comfortable and accepted, which I think is wonderful. However, in the process, they are spending far less time seeing other people face to face, and I think this makes a huge difference, neurologically. There's simply no way to replace face-to-face contact. Humans are fundamentally social creatures, and talking through the interwebs just doesn't fill that requirement as fully. It's definitely something that needs to be considered when deciding how much to use technology, and I think your final point is really important Catherine - time in our classroom is time when students are face to face, and we'd be wise to be aware of the value of that time.
- Bouncing off of Erin's thought, the failure of "kids these days" (get off my lawn!) to realize the permanence of their online frivolity is troubling indeed. A symptom of this problem is the popularity of the app "Snapchat," which I had to have explained by my little sister. Basically, it's a program that lets you take stupid pictures of yourself, send them to a friend, and then they disappear as soon as the friend sees them (or something like that). I fear that this will only further engrain the sense that what they do is fleeting, and remove any inhibitions that may remain.
- Again responding to Erin, I want to say that I've heard that a study showed that kids who use text speak are actually better spellers. It's counter-intuitive, but I think it follows the principle "You have to know the rules to break them." That is, to effectively abbreviate things, and to understand others' abbreviations, you have to know what the real spelling is very well. Of course that says nothing about their ability to assemble prose, but I thought it was an interesting point.
Responding to Anne-
ReplyDeleteI, too, really liked that metaphor from Bazelton's TED talk about face-to-face interaction being like healthy food and online interaction being like junk food. I remember a friend of mine from high school used to write long, in-depth journal entries on LiveJournal, and the next day, when you asked her how she was doing, would say "I already wrote it up, just read my LJ." Over time, she slowly disconnected from us, and by the time we were in college, she said she didn't like talking face-to-face, or even on the phone, anymore, because she'd rather chat online. Given how much information we lose when the communication is text-only, it's pretty clear how important in-person contact is.