3. Mistrust and Misuse of Technology by the Teaching Generation
As Ive already established, the modern student is very much at ease with technology. Theyve been brought up in a world where digital devices are a natural part of life, and have acted as primary tools for socialising. They check Facebook, traipse WhatCulture and play video games without a sense of wonderment; its entirely natural for them. They live on the internet; theyre digital natives. By contrast, many adults teaching today (although Im keen to stress not all of them) werent brought up in the shadow of the digital age. Whilst they can work a computer, they do so in a manner akin to an acquired skill, like learning to knit or speak a new language. Its had to be learnt, and thus isnt natural. As such, they retain a vestige of old-world, slower thinking from days before the digital revolution, and therefore the twitch-speed thinking that comes as a consequence. As a result, there is an educational schism based on how these two opposing camps view technology. Students view technology as utterly neutral; they are tools to be used. You might play Angry Birds on your iPhone, but you can also use it to learn- half of the hundred top selling apps have educational purposes, often being targeted at nursery and primary school children. The technology itself is a means to an end, representing a paradigm shift from slower analogue thinking into quicker digital possibilities. However, older teachers are inherently distrustful of technology precisely because of this freedom it offers. What they see is the potential for distraction and a disruption of the integral classroom relationship between pupil and teacher. They dont see educational possibilities- having lacked the ubiquitous influence of technology in their formative years, many feel ill-at-ease utilising it now, and are often ill-equipped to innovate adapt their methods. Because they dont know how to do it, they dont want to do it. It doesnt help that experiments to introduce technology on the terms of the teachers have often yielded mediocre results- whilst many schools in North America have been given laptop grants, the impact they have had on grades has been minimal. This relative lack of success clearly doesnt help break down this preconception that digital, wireless technology is only adept in a leisure capacity, and it becomes even more frustrating when one could argue that this conclusion isnt based on a fair representation over the scope of its use. Much like you wouldnt play football with a tennis racket, the use of tools shouldnt be measured by those unfamiliar with how they operate. Such unfamiliarity leads to the continued use of technology in a slow way. It appears that the absolute zenith of school innovation on the whole is the implementation of Microsoft Powerpoint into a lesson plan. Yet, one could possibly argue that this is just a continuation of the same problem. Whilst Powerpoint is technologically advanced, it is only in a nominal sense. The thought processes behind it are not much changed from the passive student-active teacher model, insofar as the teacher has direct control over what the pupil is seeing and how long theyre seeing it for. All this is arguably based on a misunderstanding. As study after study has proved, students are inherently demotivated when the tools to learn are external to them. They are oppressive. The internal life of a student is a much busier place these days thanks to technology, and as such can be trusted with much heavier intellectual loads and responsibilities. They dont need to be led. Potentially, they can lead themselves, if given the right direction. Effectively, the advent of ever-present electronic media has meant that students these days are speaking an entirely different language to their teachers. Their minds, honed and quickened by their exposure to technology, are capable of taking on information at great speeds. Yet they find themselves in the slow lane, in a schooling environment that doesnt acknowledge these new developments. Their natural voracity for information is stunted in the classroom, creating this very modern sense of boredom. However, this could change in the future, as crops of teachers who have been brought up in the digital age and wholly familiar with interactive mediums become teachers. But this remains to be seen.