The greatest message that I got from Karen Lierenman’s presentation on technology in the classroom was to not consume technology, but instead to create with technology. I LOVE this message from Karen as I believe there is a time and place for technology in the classroom, but that doesn’t mean that we always HAVE to use that technology. Karen was highly critical of apps that are mainly “drill and practice” apps where a worksheet or other manipulative will provide the exact same function. Instead Karen advocates for apps and technology that provide an experience that could not be replicated (or would be harder to replicate) with a paper and pencil.
Karen is such a big proponent of technology in the classroom because of the amount of creativity and connectivity you can do with it. Karen told us about her use of twitter in her classroom where she will often post pictures or ask questions on the platform on behalf of her students. She often receives responses from all over the world or from experts – this is collaboration at its finest and it also teaches students how to ask for help!
An important takeaway and realization that I got from Karen was that often you only need one device to help students access technology and the world beyond their school. This makes incorporating the use of technology into my classroom a little less challenging as I know that I can access this technology with only one device, yet still incorporate my students in the use of that technology. Students and the teacher can come up with and edit tweets together and then send them out and watch responses come back in. Students can also send out challenges over twitter such as a recycling challenge for other schools while deciding on the content the teacher should post. This is something I know students would love to take part in and it excites me that this is an aspect of technology I feel comfortable and am able to incorporate into my classroom relatively easily and is also budget friendly.
The one device approach to bringing technology into the classroom might be limiting in some ways, but it’s still an access point as you and Karen have said and it’s more feasible in others. One device with only one account per app eases management concerns, and it means that teachers in cash-strapped schools can still bring the benefits offered by today’s devices into their classrooms on a smaller budget. I wonder if similar principles could be applied to other expensive and management heavy aspects of the curriculum, namely music.
I love your takeaways from Karen’s presentation, Brielle! I love her outlook on how technology should enhance learning, not replace it, and how you shouldn’t use technology just for the sake of having it in your class. Technology should always have a purpose and be there to benefit your students learning and I think Karen had a great way of showing us that!