I think this video tells a lot about what K-12 students are expecting from teachers. Yet, I think students only know half the story and they think that the lack of integration technology in their classes lies only on the teachers’ will. It seems the lack of use of technology in classes is blamed on teachers and their supposedly reluctance to innovate their teaching. This is, from my point of view, what the video clip suggests through the voices of children. However, little is said about the lack of resources that some schools face, let alone the few possibilities of training that are offered to teachers. It is true that we are dealing with a new generation of students and new ways of learning which imply new ways of teaching, and educational theorists as well as policy makers agree on this and demand changes. But they have not all realized that changes have to be made at all levels and that resources and pedagogical materials such as computers and technology in general (and all they entail) are pivotal if we are to embrace the changes that new populations of students (and teachers) are demanding. Technology is not ontologically meant to perform any pedagogical task, as it seems to be depicted in the video; that is, just by using technology children are not going to learn whatever it is they will need to ‘succeed’ professionally, cognitively and spiritually. The three things are not necessarily dependent on each other, not all great professionals or people who have achieved higher positions in society can be thought of as cognitively advanced or ‘intelligent’. Conversely, not every intelligent or cognitively advanced person can achieve important job positions. As for the dimension of spirituality, which in my conception concerns the human inner condition (values, ethics), I have to say that being spiritually rich is not a necessary condition to be successful professionally or cognitively.
Coming back to my previous point, I don’t see technology accountable for these three dimensions that I mention; the reason is that it is only a tool that can play any role we want it to play. I consider that we must be very cautious about assigning certain properties to technology that are not inherent in it e.g. that it is educational by ‘nature’. Sometimes, we tend to confuse education with acquisition of information; for example, some people think that the fact that technology or computers allow such flow of information is an indicator of their educational value. However, information is only one of the elements that comprises an educational process. In short, technology should be thought of in terms of its educational and pedagogical potential. With this I mean that it is definitely the use we give to technology which can make it pedagogically sound. It offers a potential of functionalities and uses which can be oriented towards the achievement of pedagogical and educational purposes.
multimodalcall 