Student Autonomy in the Technologically Advanced Classroom
General Information (welcome screen):
See if you can trace back to a time when you had to write a paper, and the only way to get resources was to go to the library and check out books. So much has changed in such a short time. “Technology literacy, as policy makers and government officials use it becomes a symbol for national success in a global economy: "Just as literacy embodied the ideals of an Industrial Age, technology is positioned as a symbol of enlightened progress in the Age of Information" (Tyner, 1998 p. 17). (http://www.literacyand technology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf). So how can educators help promote student autonomy while implementing technology into the classroom?
First off, let’s define what literacy is. Literacy is defined as the condition or quality of being knowledgeable in a particular subject or field: especially the ability to read and write. Schooling has a focus, and that focus is to produce literate and productive members of society. This can happen in the traditional way, but it can also happen if students are allowed to become technologically literate. What is that exactly? Technological literacy is the ability to understand and evaluate technology. It complements technological competency, which is the ability to create, repair, or operate specific technologies, commonly computers. Having said that, we aren’t trying to produce computer repairmen and women, but what we are trying to do is to use technology at its best, to help reinforce what is taught in everyday educational situations.
From a society that sent letters by postal mail, we now resort to e-mails. Everything we do in life, the internet or technology is involved with in some way or another. So, why not bring that new outlook into the classroom. "We know, purely and simply, that every single child must have access to a computer, must understand it, must have access to good software and good teachers and to the Internet, so that every person will have the opportunity to make the most of his or her own life (U.S. Department of Education, 1996)." (http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)
Instead of being in a grammar school classroom having a teacher standing in the front of the room lecturing you, how about it be fun and exciting. Maybe have a game one the computer that can help a student who is struggling with addition or subtraction, for example. “Teacher technology use includes emailing, preparing lessons, and maintaining records, as well as personal use,” (Vrasidas 50), however the problem is that, “teachers lack an understanding of how technology can be integrated into regular classroom instructional practices” (Vrasidas 46).
School is supposed to be geared toward students’ and what will captivate their attention and make them want to learn more and more. If students are being lectured, what is the likelihood that they are going to be engaging in the lesson? Children, in this day and age, are growing up with their own televisions and computers before they even enter middle school. The issue at hand is that with “the right software can help teachers use computers to support child- centered inquiry” (Gordon 15).
“In an 2000 report, the U.S. Department of Education wrote ‘that teachers’ preparation and training to use educational technology is a key factor to consider when examining their use of computers and Internet for instructional purposes’’ (Vrasidas 47). In order for teachers to be able to use new technology in their classroom, they need proper training on the equipment they will be using, which can pose another issue. Where is the money coming for the training?
1st node- Technology Literacy Defined:
If students would benefit from having technology in their classroom, it is not like we can just go from day to night and have an entire school filled with technology. Additionally, where is the money coming from? School districts rely heavily on governmental positions to hopefully support their cause and give them monetary aid. “From Clinton’s 1996 “Technology Literacy Challenge” to Bush’s 2001 “Enhancing Education through Technology (ED Tech) Initiative,” educational policies of the last two administrations have made “technology literacy” a top educational priority and a major target for federal spending (U.S. Department of Education, 1996, 2001). (http://www. literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)
A child, not only needs to learn the material that is to be covered in a given class, but needs to be technologically literate. So what does that mean? “Technology literacy was defined in 1996 as “computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance.” In these and subsequent educational plans, technology literacy continues to be linked to national progress and our nation’s success in a high-tech global environment (U.S. Department of Education, 1996, 2000; ISTE, 1998; Selfe, 1999a; 1999b). http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)
The question that needs to be raised is why the government isn’t doing anything to fund the training necessary to educate teachers on modern technologies. The economy is suffering; we all know that, yet, government is doing very little in terms of helping school districts get the needed money for the training and the materials for the teachers and students.
2nd node: Government saying literacy is a skill? Isn’t it a social context?
Government is saying that literacy is a skill, when in reality it is a social context. Students are not going to learn technology by sitting behind a desk and hearing it go in one ear, in fact in will go in one ear and out the other. They need to be sitting behind the technology in which they need to learn. For instance, say it is a basic skills computer class and students need to learn how to operate a computer. Would it be fair to lecture to a group of 7 year olds? No, instead, they should each sit behind a computer screen, and have the opportunity to practice what is being said to them, during the learning process, not after.
If a child is sitting in a computer class, and they are next to their peers, it is bound to be a social context. Students are going to be talking to each other, and rather than hushing them up, teachers should encourage the chitter- chatter. In every situation, there is bound to be a student who knows more than what you are teaching at a given moment. Let that child be the second teacher and go around the room making sure his or her peers understand the same material.
3rd node- Technology Literacy as a Social Practice:
Technology these days is not just a computer screen sitting in front of you or a wide screen television set in front of you. It has become a social activity. I’m not referring to the social networking that has come so popular, what I am referring to is the fact that we all, at one point, sit by the computer and try to get others to watch a YouTube video or see a picture that we find appealing. There is also a literacy aspect when it comes to technology. “Gee (1995) calls literacy a socially contested term whose traditional meaning—the ability to read and write—appears rather straightforward and obvious. But by linking literacy with individual abilities, such definitions fail to acknowledge the ways in which literacy is implicated in power relations: “situating literacy in the individual person rather than in society, obscure[s] the multiple ways in which literacy interrelates with the workings of power (p. 2). According to Street (1995), such traditional definitions of literacy are based upon an "autonomous model, autonomous because literacy is extracted from its social, cultural, and historical context.” (http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)
So how can students become autonomous beings, when it comes to having their teachers implement technology in the classroom? Let’s say, that during centers time, one of the activities that students have to do is 15 minutes of reading. Most first graders are beginning to learn the concepts of letter blends and other techniques that are learned in time. So, how are they expected to read? That’s simple. They listen to a book on tape using a tape player. Some children may not know how to work the player. The student, who does know how to use it, has developed a form of autonomy and can later display their knowledge when they see a peer struggling. “The digital classroom presents a different dynamic than the one for which most teachers have been trained. A growing percentage of students come to class with extensive experience using multiple technologies for social, educational, and recreational purposes, which in essence, makes them technology experts” (Gordon 14).
4th node- What technologies provide the most student autonomy and how are they used? What makes them beneficial to the teacher and to the students?
Having technology in the classroom is a great feature for both students and teachers. From my personal experience doing my junior field work, a student had made a comment about the different parts of the eye, after noticing that most of the students in his class had brown eyes, and I was the only one who had blue eyes. He kept calling the colored part, the pupil, and at the time, I couldn’t remember the other parts of the eye.
So, what did I do? I went to the back of the classroom where the computer was, and went to Google and typed in “parts of the eye.” I didn’t want this student to go home and still wonder what the colored part of the eye was, so I used his question as a learning opportunity. After getting many hits on Google, I clicked on one link and found out that the colored part of the eye is called, the iris. Of course I knew that, my mind just went blank at that moment.
Speaking in general terms, technology provides many positive outcomes, yet different types of technology are more respected then others. The bottom line is, the value of the technology, depends on how established it is, as seen in a study that was done. “….the results of these comparisons show that teachers place higher value on more established technologies such as desktop computers, and technologies that are placed into their hands, such as laptops and LCD projectors. In contrast, teachers place lower value on newer technologies, such as portable writing devices and palm pilots, and technologies that are place into students’ hands. (Vrasidas 53).”
When talking about technology as a whole, there are some clear benefits that it brings to students. “The most common—and in fact, nearly universal—teacher- reported effect on students was an increase motivation. Teachers and students are sometimes surprised at the level of technology- based accomplishment displayed by students who have shown much less initiative or facility with more conventional academic tasks.”(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009
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Let’s say that a school has a computer lab, and students in your class have a research paper to do. Standards these days are to have all papers typed. Imagine how much more engaged students would be if they could go to the computer lab and type their papers, as opposed to hand-writing them. Many students complain that their hand/wrist hurt after writing for a long period of time, yet if they type, they won’t be making these complaints anymore. “…Some mentioned motivation with respect to working in a specific subject area, for example, a greater willingness to write to work on computational skills. Others spoke in terms of more general motivational effects—student satisfaction with the immediate feedback provided by the computer and the sense of accomplishment and power gained in working with technology.” (Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 )
While doing research, I came across a district that had something called Laptop Initiative. What is that, might you be asking yourself? Well, laptop computers are given to all teachers and students in 7th through 12th grade, a wireless network covering the entire school campus, and innovative approaches to teacher professional development and support: “In addition to the overall positive attitudes, access to laptops in the school led to six areas of growth and success for teaching and learning: 1. increased communication, 2. more convenient access to resources, 3. increased use of resources, 4. enhanced computer literacy skills, 5. better organization of documents and resources, and 6. a move toward a more equalized distribution of computer expertise (Vrasidas 68-69).” Children learn differently. Some children may know how to do math without needing manipulative or that aid of technology. Other students may need to listen to a book on tap in order to read a story because they don’t need help. Whatever the students’ difficulty is, there may be technology that can be used to help the children become autonomous and able to learn on their own.
For a child who maybe struggling with reading, there is a program that can be installed on the computer, called Thinking Reader. With Thinking Reader, students sit at computers with headphones, and read a text. The computer simultaneously highlights each word on the screen and reads it aloud. Students who don’t understand a particular word can get a definition with a click of the mouse” (Gordon 79), and begin to understand what they read.
So what is the benefit to having this type of technology in your classroom? “The idea is to get students to be active readers using a four- part strategy: formulating questions, summarize, clarify, and predict” (Gordon 80). For the teacher, the benefit is that she or he can have more time to help the class as a whole, rather than having to work one- on-one with a child who simply doesn’t get it. “Technology makes it possible for each students to directly engage the text through prompts embedded in the story itself and various decoding supports- supplemented, of course, by interactions with the teacher, who spends his or her classroom time monitoring student progress and providing targeted guidance to individual students” (Gordon 80).
Another type of technology that is beneficial in the classroom is Wireless Classroom Microphones. More and more schools are discovering this hidden technology. People think that if the walk into a classroom where the teacher has microphone, that there is someone who is hearing impaired in the class. However “the justification for supporting amplified classrooms is not children with hearing problems. Classrooms are installing sound systems so children don’t have to strain to hear the teacher and the teacher doesn’t have to talk over noise” (Pytel 1). There are so many sounds that wonder through the halls of a school such as “hallway traffic, heating system fans, paper shuffling, dropped pencils, whispering, desks opening and closing, and students walking around. Multiply these sounds times 26 students and the noise in a classroom can be very distracting. The teachers’ voice is expected to rise above all of this.”
When you first walk into a classroom that has this technology, you won’t see the immediate results, yet there have been studies done that say that when spoken at a higher frequency, the attention span lasts longer. “Wyoming Elementary school in Millburn, N.J. points to research stating that children learn better hwne they hear the teacher clearly. One teacher commented that she no longer loses her voice by the end of a school day and all students can hear her voice” (Pytel 1).
Clearly, there are benefits to both students and teachers with this type of technology. For teachers, they are able to make it through the school day without losing their voice or having a cracked voice. The advantage for students can be seen, for example in West Orange, N.J., “reading scores in one year went from 59%- 89%,” with nothing in the curriculum changing other then the amplification. “Some researchers say that test scores have improved and classrooms are less stressful with amplification. Students state they can now hear their soft- spoken teacher even across the room or when writing on the board” (Pytel 2).
5th node- Students’ Role in Technology Supported Classrooms:
Implementing technology in the classroom can bring negative results, but can also result in very positive results. “[Students] autonomy and confidence increase as they rely less on their teacher and more on their own initiative for knowledge- creation. Likewise, technology enables students to manipulate information in a manner that accelerates both understanding and the progression of higher- order thinking skills. As students gather more real-world data, share their findings with learners beyond their school, and publish their findings to the world, their role broadens from investigators of other products to designers, authors, purveyors, and publishers.” (Adams, Sharon and Mary Burns. Connecting Student Learning and Technology. 1999. 22 March 2009.)
When technology is being implemented correctly in a classroom, many positive outcomes will be seen. “The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons.” (Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009. EdTech/ effectsstudents.html>).
Children want to learn, and they also enjoy experimenting on the computer or the internet. Allowing students to use the computer while learning a new lesson could help them grasp the topic. “Another effect of technology cited by a great majority of teachers is an increased inclination on the part of students to work cooperatively and to provide peer tutoring. Students’ ability to collaborate on substantive content can be further enhanced through the use of software applications specifically designed for this purpose.”
(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 )
The bottom line is, a classroom needs to be set up to be child friendly whether there is technology in the classroom or not. If there is technology in the classroom though, there needs to be some rules, otherwise students will be running toward the computer all of the time rather than paying attention to what the teacher is trying to teach. There should be a short amount of free time within the school day, where students can explore different technologies under the supervision of the teacher. Having the technology in the classroom and allowing for student exploration will help the students grow autonomous.
6th node- Teacher Roles:
With technology implemented in the classroom, not only is the students’ role changed, but the teachers’ role is also changed. The goal is for students to become autonomous, which will then play into the changing role of the teacher. “The teacher is no longer the center of attention as the dispenser of information, but rather plays the role of facilitator, setting project goals and providing guidelines and resources, moving from student or group to group, providing suggestions and support for student activity”(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 ).
On a day to day basis, there are always going to be little problems or issues that a teacher will face in a classroom, however, having technology in the classroom, can bring on more problems. “… technology provides a very different set of challenges and different ways in which students can demonstrate what they understand (e.g., by programming a simulation to demonstrate a concept rather than trying to explain it verbally)” (Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 ). “Along with training and support, teachers need more time to develop new teaching and technology knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (Vrasidas 76).
Conclusion:
The bottom line is that the world is ever changing and just like in our day-to-day lifestyles, we conform to change, so does the education department. Schools should be more willing to put different forms of technology in the classrooms of their schools. This may pose a problem when it comes to the monetary aspect, but there is always room to reconsider the way the budget is divided. If there is fear that money will be spent and new technology will be given and teachers won’t know how to use it, then provide the training necessary to get all faculties knowledgeable.
After teachers began using technology in their classrooms, they were able to notice significant results, and ways that their students became autonomous beings. “Many respondents stressed opportunities that technology provides for acquiring problem- solving skills- either through instructional software designed to teach problem solving (including open- ended exploratory software such as LOGO) or through the many requirements for solving problems that naturally emerge when on is trying to use computer tools to accomplish a task” (Singh and Means). Another teacher noted and “some described supports that technology can provide for acquiring complex concepts, for example by graphically representing abstract concepts such as acceleration, or by providing scaffolding for thinking” (Singh and Means). “A second frequently cited rationale for introducing technology was to stimulate motivation and self- esteem. Through either personal experience or a review of the literature, many innovators perceived the dramatic effects that technology can have on a students’ interest in class activities and their sense of their own capabilities” (Singh and Means.
A third area where technology helps is to prepare students for the future. “The concern for equity is related to a third major motivation for introducing technology—to prepare students for the future. Respondents at a number of sites foresaw a future in which both high education and the world of work be infused with technology. These educators argue that schools have a responsibility to give students the confidence and skills in using such technology that they will need after graduation” (Singh and Means).
All in all , students want to learn, their brains are like light switches that can’t be turned off. Give them more opportunities to learn and explore the environments around them. Let them go onto the computer if they are curious about something- just point them to an appropriate kid-friendly website. Technology usage in the classroom is available, so why not use it!
References:
Adams, Sharon and Mary Burns. Connecting Student Learning & Technology. 1999. 22 March 2009. < http://www.bazzirk.com/sedl/files/images/pub_CSLT.pdf>.
Evans, Ellen J. Autonomous Literacy or Social Practice? Students’ Constructions of Technology Literacy. 2005. 11 March 2009. < http://www.literacyand
technology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf>.
Gordon, David T. Better Teaching and Learning in the Digital Classroom. Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press, 2003.
Preparing Teachers to Teach with Technology. Ed. Charalambos Vrasidas and Gene V. Glass. Connecticut: Information Age Publishing, 2005.
Pytel, Barbara. Amplified Classrooms: Wireless Classroom Microphones Becoming Popular. 2008. 6 April 2009. < http://classroom-issues.suite101.com/article. cfm/amplified_classrooms>.
Singh, Dr. Ram and Dr. Barbara Means. Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. 11 March 2009. EdTech/effectsstudents.html>.
