Last Friday my educational technology class and I traveled
to Grand Rapids, MI to attend the MACUL (Michigan Association for Computer
Users in Learning) conference. I definitely enjoyed going to the conference and
talking with educators from around the state and country; however, I left a little disappointed I wasn't able to see more examples of "how" people are using technology in their classrooms. Yet, throughout the day, this conference confirmed two very
important concepts for me: conferences are great platforms for starting thoughtful
or productive discussions about the use of technology and technology is something everyone agrees is
necessary in the classroom, but all of us as educators have a responsibility to
find ways where students are positively use technology to engage in substantial
learning.
Throughout the day I was able to partake in discussion with
not only my colleagues from the MAC program, but also with educational
professionals in various fields. For example, one school’s
principal talked about how they were implementing 1:1 technology next year. In
this process they are going to have a group of students who are Google
certified to be the student technology guru’s for their school. Their role
would be to help staff and students with the implementation of this technology
as well as help the administration and teachers collect feedback and try new
ideas. I really like this ide of collaboration and involvement of students in
the process of such a learning process. I also found that the conference
started great discussions between my colleagues and I about technology and our urge to know more about how it can be implemented in our lessons to help students engage in learning that
would be difficult to engage in without it.
As we had these discussions, we kept coming back to the question of although there are many ways to use technology - which one is really working to help students learn? I think this is one of the most important things to keep in mind when
lesson planning. If it doesn’t allow for substantial advances in learning and
student engagement, is it always worth it? During the day, I heard a few times
a phrase similar to this “look at that iPad in the student’s hand, and the
smile on their face, they are having fun - that’s learning.” I think as
educator’s using best practices we always have to take it one step further –
does that smile and fun actually result in learning? If so, is it substantial?
As we attended the different sessions, I think all of us educators can agree
that technology is necessary in the classroom; however, it is how we use it that
we continually have to think about and work towards perfecting.
Overall I feel that my day at the conference gave me a big
picture of how to think more about technology in my classroom. Technology is
here, it is a part of our students’ lives, and it is always changing. As we
continue to think about ways to incorporate in our classrooms, I believe it is
important to always think of it through a critical lens and collaborate with
other educators to come up with best practices of utilizing it in the classroom
now, as well as the years ahead.
Megan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts on the MACUL conference. I like that you highlighted some of the common (and sometimes, contrasting) ideas of the role of technology in the classroom. As we prepared to go to the conference, I found myself wondering how to pick 3 sessions to attend out of the dozens available. Would the presenter be selling the 1:1 initiative as the magic bullet for education as you discussed above or would I be able to come away with real tools that I could utilize the following Monday in my own classroom? In the end, I settled on attending presentations given by current teachers and was able to come away with some golden nuggets for my own teaching. However, like you found at the conference, a number of the presenters' suggestions relied on students having regular and easy access to computers/technology in the classroom. How do we balance our discussions of the ideal situation with the reality we would be returning to when the conference was over?
I think you summed this quandary up nicely when you stated that, "it is important to always think of it through a critical lens and collaborate with other educators to come up with best practices of utilizing it in the classroom now, as well as the years ahead."
I also wanted more time for collaboration with other educators throughout the day and more time as a cohort to share our findings as a community. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the conference and your own teaching practice- it helped me to think about the MACUL conference more deeply and made me want to make a game plan for future conferences with other educators so that I can come away with as many good tools and conversations as possible!
Laura
Now that I think about it, I just realized that most of the applications of technology in the classroom that we have been learning about are great ways to engage students in learning, but I'm not sure many of them have shown that it is really promoting significant advances in learning. I know all of the sessions that I went to, it was pretty much "here is a cool way to use technology in class and get students engaged" but there was never "here is the evidence that shows my students were actually learning." Perhaps if there was more time, the presenters might have shown more data and research about the results and effects on learning. It seems like you are already doing a great job at asking yourself how this practice is actually promoting learning for all students, and not just a fad that gets students excited. Thanks for sharing Megan!
ReplyDeleteMegan, I found your post to be cheering because you ask the key question about technology in the classroom, and that is about what it adds, or what it might add to student learning, or what it allows you to do that you might not be able to do, or do as well.
ReplyDeleteI was also most intrigued to hear about the school-based model that you spoke about in which students are getting trained to be onsite tech assistants. I really like the sound of that, and I will follow up with you to hear which presentation it is that you're talking about here.