Technological advances have undoubtedly made a major impact on everything we do as well as how we learn. They have changed educational practice as we once knew it. This has been a hard pill for me to swallow. As a parent, who is the product of traditional book, brain and paper education, I have had some difficulty in embracing this transition. My teenage son already has a screen attached to him as often as he possibly can...my almost 4 year old is trying to follow suit... and now these screens are being incorporated into their daily educational experiences?! AAAHHHHHH!!! I am sure that I am not alone in this opinion, but none the less, here we are! Technology is the future...we must either jump on the bandwagon or be left behind. Although I may sound like a technological cynic, which is somewhat true, I do recognize the educational value and benefits.
The Internet has connected people is many ways! It has allowed us to access a wealth of information instantly, at any time of day, any day of the week. There are no longer the limitations of finding books and researching through reference materials at the library. Likewise, it has vastly expanded our networking capabilities! Now teachers can easily collaborate and share ideas, lessons, experiences and tips with a few clicks of a mouse. Teachers, students and parents can communicate conveniently and effectively without time constraints. This is especially important now that everyone is so busy and very few households have a stay at home parent! Furthermore, the increase of special needs students in the classroom has placed a lot more pressure on both educators and students. Technological advances have allowed students with disabilities to actively participate and become engaged in their education in ways they never could before. So many doors have been opened by advances in technology and the conveniences are astounding.
As astounding as these improvements are, there is also a significant cost. This cost is dependency ignorance! Technology does so much of our thinking for us that we often do not truly know how to do things for ourselves. For example, calculators and applet programs allow us to punch in numbers and all of the mathematical answers are provided. This is great, but can we explain how the answer was calculated or how to use the formula that solved the problem? Likewise, we do not even need to know how to spell anymore. Our spell check features will let us know if something is spelled incorrectly or may even make the correction on our behalf before we notice. As a result, handwriting and penmanship are becoming obsolete. Many schools are no longer bothering to teach cursive writing. These costs are concerning. Sometimes I wonder if the children's movie "Wall-E" was predicting the future.
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