The Tools of the Trade: Educational Technology

Initiatives are great and striving to put technology into the hands of every student is one of the most admirable goals in ed tech. That said, I’m not convinced that every teacher needs every single piece of new technology in his/her hands to be effective. When I hear about schools that are putting interactive whiteboards in every classroom or purchasing iPads for every teacher on campus, I often wonder how much of that technology will go unused.

I’m going to throw out an analogy now, so just bear with me. Teachers are master craftsmen. They build up the minds of future generations in much the same way a carpenter builds a bookshelf or a mason builds a wall. Not every teacher is the same; the English teacher down the hall may be a cooper while the science teacher upstairs may be a blacksmith. Just as the carpenter and the mason each use different tools to build, each teacher uses different tools to teach. Technology is one of the main tools in a teacher's kit, but we must remember that in the hands of a teacher, technology is just a tool.

Let’s say a teacher wants her students to learn about Chaucer. She could use a document camera, projector, iPad, interactive whiteboard, wiki, Online comic creator, or any number or combinations of tools. Simlarly, if a carpenter were preparing to build something, he would have a plethora of tools at his disposal.  So how would he decide which tools to use?  By asking himself three questions:

1. What is the job I need to complete?
2. What tools are available to me?
3. Which tools will best complete the job?

The teacher who is crafting a lesson about Chaucer faces basically the same questions:

1. What do I want the students to learn?
2. What tools are available to me and the students?
3. Which tools will give the students the best opportunity for success?

The answers to these questions will be different for each situation, teacher, and group of students. Some teachers may prefer the iPad over the interactive whiteboard. Others may decide that their students would respond better to creating an animated video rather than a slideshow presentation. Just because the tools are available, doesn’t mean they need to be used in every situation. The carpenter wouldn’t use a drill when what he really needed was a hammer, and a teacher doesn't have to use a wireless slate just because it's there.

It is good to provide teachers with the tools they need, but it’s not enough to simply provide them. Do you think that the welder was handed a  torch and started cutting on the first day, or do you think he was trained by someone who had been doing it for years? Providing teachers with a toolbox full of technology and not showing them how to use it is one of the fastest ways to ensure that those tools go unused.

So, for technology that will be used primarily by the teachers, I say leave the decision in the hands of the individual teacher. If the teacher is a plumber, she probably won’t have much need for a set of hex wrenches and if she doesn’t want to use an interactive whiteboard, why have one hanging in her room to collect dust? Show them the tools that are available and let them decide which ones best fit their teaching methods, subject areas, and student populations.  Once those tools are provided, then training needs to take place so that those tools are used effectively.  Technology in the hands of a teacher is simply a tool to do the job at hand--teaching and ensuring the success of students.

Student technology on the other hand, that’s an entirely different blog post...