Technology's Promises and a Teacher's Skepticism

Teachers seem to be an idealistic bunch. At the end of the day, regardless of student successes and failures, administrative and government mandates, pedagogical paradigm shifts, and societal finger-pointing, we keep coming back for more. Many teachers possess a level of expertise in their respective areas of study that would make them ideal for much higher paying jobs in the business sector. Others, including me, have forsaken previous lucrative careers in order to live as an educator. The reasons that teachers decide to enter and continue with this profession are vast, but some commonalities often revealed in conversations with peers include:

• wanting to make a difference in children's lives 
• wanting to provide a positive educational experience that was lacking in one's own childhood
• wanting to influence society in a positive manner
• wanting to affect change from within a misguided system

It is with the latter two reasons that I struggle when it comes to massive, short-sighted integration of technology in the educational process, because that is what I am sensing is happening. Districts are receiving technology funding from various sources and are under pressure to spend it (quickly) or lose it as is often the case in large bureaucratic entities. As a result, massive amounts of technology are being purchased with little thought into how and why we are adopting these tools, or more importantly what are the long-term affects on students and society as a result.

As I write this blog using Google, I am simultaneously excited about the ease of use in sharing my thoughts and ideas in an open collaborative forum and skeptical about the massive collection of data being consolidated into the hands of a few incredibly powerful and globally influential mega-corporations. As my students use district created Google Drive accounts, I am simultaneously enthused by the ability to share, collaborate, and provide timely, meaningful, rich feedback with my students, and concerned that "8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week)".

I am concerned that as an entire society, a vast majority of us are blindly embracing and promoting the tools, networks, and information controlled by a power structure and system that we outwardly distrust and protest. As an aging punk-rocker with rebellious spirit that still burns brightly, I am struggling with teaching my students to embrace a paradigm shifting dichotomy that potentially negates my deeper seeded motivations for becoming a teacher. 

Like any new tool or technology that drastically changes how things are done or perceived, there comes great reward as well as great risk. As I read about all the daily excitement, discovery, and success in articles and edtech blogs I only hope that people are sincerely considering both sides of the equation and treading at least a little bit cautiously.