Making Technology Work
Technology is a very useful tool for those who chooses to use it. Often times you see students along the back of the class that claims that they are using their cell phones for research, but in reality you find them texting or looking at other outlets like Facebook. I will take their phones away and continue with the lesson plan and will often put them into small groups to analyze the problem and have that one student be the spokes person for that group. Its sad that the ones who are in class are the ones who succeeds while the slackers find out the hard way. IMO
Sometimes removing the distraction fails to help the student deal with the deficiency of their behavior. Since they tend to be compulsive about the use of some of their technologies such as cell phones, maybe we could look toward ways to modify their technological uses and refocus the energy stream toward our classroom goals. If we use novelty in our classrooms this will sometimes bridge the gap between playful systematic uses of technology and serious pedagogy.
James ,
this is a great point & one we need to keep in mind & make sure that we are engaging them in the most effective way.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
You are right about the students that want to learn, they are the ones that show up on time and ask important questions, they participate in lectures and are the first to get their daily production completed in a timely manner. We also need to address the students that lag behind. These students need a different type of stimulation to make them active in class. If we do not encourage them constantly, they will fall behind or like you say, stay in the back of class and text away the day. I love to bring them forward and have them show me what they can do with those iPads, tablets, or smartphones, of course relating to the days instruction. I let them know the phones are only as smart as the operator. They are a great tool for providing quick research or looking at images pertaining to that days lecture. We have to adjust to their time in life, not make them go back to ours.
Paul,
this is a great strategy to get these students more engaged & involved with the classroom.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Like it or not smart phones are here to stay. I have a smartphone and I also love it. I try to make jokes about it being the devil but also share tricks to do with the phones. I share apps I have found that are tied to the class instruction, I also warn of the pitfalls of phones. As social as some people may think they are by texting and posting on Facebook all day, they are losing interacting with people in the same room with them. I allow them to take pics of the board and have even set up a Groupme text group with the students so we can share information with each other. Don't fight evolution, you won't win :)
