Schools today compared with schools of yesterday are
extremely different in so many ways.
Technology is the main reason for this.
It has affected every part of our lives, school included. Only 15 years ago, school consisted of huge
textbooks, pencils and large libraries.
Today, school consists of computers and cell phones. This is good in a lot of ways. It allows students so many resources of
information and connection. However, it
is terrible for students in many other ways including distraction and
connection. I used connection as both a
positive and a negative here and the reason is because it is both. It is good for students in that they may be
able to reach professionals and teachers whenever they need to, but it is also
bad because they can also reach friends and other distractions whenever they
want as well. This is bad for getting
any learning or work done.
Procrastination
has always been a barrier to students.
Despite this fact, time wasting and distractions have reached a new high
thanks to the influence of stimuli offered by cell phones, computers and the
internet (Richtel, 2010). Just 15 years
ago, students were procrastinating by watching TV or playing outside. Today, students are procrastinating by
watching TV, playing outside, playing video games, going on YouTube, texting
with friends, going on Facebook and so many more options. The list of distractions, with the inclusion
of technology, goes on and on. It may be
the opinion of some that these distractions only exist at home, but certainly
not at school. This assumption would be
erroneous though. Computers play an
important part in the classroom now, but students are not only doing schoolwork
while on their computers at school.
Students are texting, shopping or browsing the internet at school which
impedes their learning and the teaching performed by the teacher (Muyingi,
2014).
Due to all
of the distractions offered by technology, and all of the positive uses of it
in schools, some believe that it should integrate social media into the school
environment and curriculum (Cheong, Shuter, and Suwinyattichaiporn, 2016). The idea behind this thought is that if
students are going to visit these internet sites anyway while at school, they should
at least have some educational importance and relation. I personally do not believe that we should
accept bad behavior because it would be too difficult to rally against it. The fact of the matter is that when students
are distracted, important work is not being completed and students are not able
to focus. This is how life has always
been for students. One thing we learn in
school is time management and how to manage distractions and still complete our
tasks. This should not be lost to
today’s students just because they may have more distractions to guard
against. Instead we should help them
deal with their many distractions and teach them how to manage in this digital
age in which we live. So I’ll finish
with a couple questions so that I can have your views of this current
dilemma. How are we to manage technology
and the distractions it presents in today’s classroom? Should we include it or exclude it from our
classrooms? How can we keep students
engaged in schoolwork instead of the distractions presented by the internet and
their smartphones?
References
Cheong, Pauline Hope, Shuter, Robert, Suwinyattichaiporn,
Tara. (2016). Managing student digital distractions and
hyperconnectivity: communication strategies and challenges for professorial
authority. Communication Education 63
(3).
Muyingi, H. (2014).
Factors contributing to technology-enabled distractions in the
classroom: a case study of students at the Polytechnic of Namibia. Polytechnic of Namibia 8 (1).
Richtel, Matt.
(2010). Growing up digital, wired
for distraction. The New York Times.
Thanks for your post Helena. I agree with you that integrating teaching into social media is a terrible idea. It definitely feels like surrender if we accept that students will spend time on non-school sites during lessons to the point where we move our lessons to them. There's a difference between "meeting students where they are" and allowing the student to direct the classroom protocols.
ReplyDeleteThe more I consider technology and distractions in the classroom, I am convinced that ubiquitous access is not a pure benefit. If a teacher is not able to enforce a "no phone" or "no unrelated websites" policy in his or her classroom, I think it would be better to do away with the technology completely than to continue to allow the constant distractions from the lesson/teaching.
Helena,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post. I believe that as educators, it is our job to make sure the students understand the proper use of technology in the classroom, and to put in some guidelines and punishment if the students do not comply. I know that in my classroom I will not allow for students to use smartphones in the classroom unless it is part of an assignment. Additionally, I will only allow for the use of laptops for educational purposes. I know that this can be difficult to control. However, I think that it can be controlled. If a teacher sets the standard at the beginning of the year, it is much easier to maintain throughout the remainder of the school year. The classroom that I am currently observing, there is no distraction from technology. The teacher has made it very clear what the expectations are for the students.
Helena,
ReplyDeleteThese are some excellent questions!
Questions 1 and 2: How are we to manage technology and the distractions it presents in today’s classroom? Should we include it or exclude it from our classrooms?
I believe that the use of technology should be strictly regulated inside of classrooms. I can’t stress enough the importance of laying down “ground rules” at the beginning of each term regarding digital device policies. I do believe in the value of using technology within the classroom but it is obvious that students are often using their devices in not so valuable fashions. I personally plan to implement a “no cell phone” policy within my own future classrooms. By doing this, I can regulate when/what digital devices are needed for learning, and also prevent cell phones and tablets from hindering learning. Class periods are short enough as it is, and losing precious minutes due to using unneeded digital devices during class is a detriment to learning outcomes.
Questions 3:
How can we keep students engaged in schoolwork instead of the distractions presented by the internet and their smartphones?
I believe that student driven discussions and activities are the best way to keep students engaged without having to use digital devices. I have also found that social constructivist activities encourage students to engage as well.
Thanks Helena for the interesting post. Your questions were very thought provoking, and I hope I came up with some adequate answers.
ReplyDeleteAs to how do we manage technology in the classroom, I think like anything, we only should be including the minimum required to "get the job done". I think a key problem is assigning students laptops in modern classrooms, and letting them "run wild" during class. Laptops are an incredibly useful educational tool, but I too often see activities or exercises that could be done without this tech, and would have kept the students better motivated and on task.
I do think we should exclude technology to the extent that it prevents students' attention to be divided from the material at hand. It is paramount that we do our job as educators and keep students learning, not just preoccupied.
Your last question was by far the most difficult, even from my own adolescent experiences, I was hardly ever more engaged with class material than I was with interacting with peers about what we were doing after school. To keep students engaged you have to let them engage with eachother and the material. Keeping students from getting bored is the most important factor in preventing them from seeking out alternative sources of entertainment and distraction.
Hello everyone!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of your comments. I think it is pretty fair to say that everyone seems to have a consensus regarding technology in the classroom and its possible distractions for the students. All of the commenters believe that technology does have a place in the classroom however, that technology use needs to be monitored and controlled. Laptops can easily be monitored if they are provided by the school. The teacher can look at what the students are looking at and control the usage that way. Cell phones though, are a different story. They are personal devices that are hard for the teacher to control. Kirk, miss Kendrick and Icarus all believe that cell phones should not be allowed in the classroom and if they are, they need to be totally controlled. There also seems to be some consensus on how to teach students about technology usage. Jack and Kirk believe that we need to educate students on the proper use of technology within the classroom. We need to educate students about when to use it and to be respectful with it. This includes using only proper educational sites, no social media, no internet shopping, and only assignment focused usage. It seems to me that we are all on the same page about how detrimental technology can be if it is "abused" in the classroom. We all agree that it allows many distractions and that students will not learn if they are distracted away from what they should be focusing on.
Thank you again for all of your comments. I was happy to see what so many of you thought about this topic!!