The Great Technology Takeover

It's that time of year again when kids go back to school. Students and parents alike flock to the stores to buy their crayons, markers, notebooks, pens, trapper keeper (for those of us 90's kids) and a myriad of other supplies to gear up for a year of hard work.

But wait! In the age of what I like to call "The Great Technology Takeover," or #TGTT for those Twitter taggers, it looks like the lengthy back-to-school shopping list has been replaced by a shorter one of higher priced items such as the iPad, iPhone, Kindle, and MacBook Pro. Pick your poison but make sure its compatible with the necessary apps and requirements of your school so you don't miss an assignment. Those silly folders we all used to color coordinate with the books that we had to wrap? They are a thing of the past when you can simply access a drop box with the touch of a screen. No need for a pencil sharpener when you can adjust the size of your font by a simple adjustment on Microsoft Word. It seems that all these tools are becoming an antiquated nuisance in today's modern classroom.

The question is, should we be worried? As the video Classroom of Tomorrow demonstrates, we are rapidly entering a world that relies so heavily on technology that we must start preparing now. Watching this video certainly reminded me how unprepared I am because I was completely lost when they showed most of the items that students are using in their classrooms. A more inspirational approach is shown in Social Media Revolution 2011 which uses catchy music paralleled by highly relevant facts to prove to viewers that social media is an inevitable part of our lives and we have no choice but to join the revolution. I will admit I enjoyed their approach because it was fresh and concise, convincing me that perhaps it is time for me to take the Twitter jump or to get LinkedIn to employers internationally.

However, what both of these videos lacks is a balanced review of the detriment of this technological shift. One fact stuck out in my mind from the Social Media Revolution film: "Kindergartens are learning on iPads, not chalkboards." In many ways, I understand how this is helpful. Lessons can be more interactive and visually stimulating. On the other hand, there is a certain value to one central point of learning that brings all students together as a community. When young children are playing games on an iPad rather than with one another, no matter how educational, it lacks the social interaction and acquisition of fine motor skills that is so vital to their stage of development.

I don't mean to sound out of date but I think this loss is one worth questioning. There are countless benefits to a technologically advanced classroom, yet as teachers we must also assess what is given up in exchange for this shift. Our challenge is to develop a classroom that not only introduces students to the technologies that will prepare them to be more successful online, but also promotes the inherent value of offline skills and physical engagement with tools beyond the screen of a computer.