Lessons learned from the $3400 piece of chalk post
Monday, February 16, 2015 at 05:07AM 
Last week I posted an observation about a teacher using his classroom equipment to project a handwritten math problem to his class and suggested "that teacher is using $3400 worth of technology to do what could be done using a piece of chalk on an existing chalkboard."
I got some very thoughtful responses* and I learned from them:
Lizzie expressed a common theme: "schools have missed the crucial step of looking at how to transform their teaching first and then considered whether technology will help."
With IWBs and projectors and doc cams, aren't we just enabling "sage on the stage" teaching? Can we blame a teacher for using tech as it was designed to be used?
Brendan wrote "That's like saying that an iPhone is a $600 telephone just because you saw a person talking on it."
Loved this analogy. Can a single observation, just a glimpse by walking by, give enough information to make any judgement?
T asks "Why would I use a new/complicated method for simply working through an equation when all I need to do is write it out. Should I make a prezi and display the equation rotating through different angles as we go along? How about using my clicker software to check that every student is ready to go on instead of calling out 'we all good so far?'"
Some long-used standard teaching practices still have value. Should we complicate things with technology - but not improve teaching and learning in the process?
Janet wrote: "Engagement with my students soared when they saw the same lesson on the Smart board as opposed to the whiteboard. We need to also recognize we are teaching "screen kids"."
Does the very use of technology create a classroom in which "net gen" kids are more involved?
Barbara suggests: "While it seems a costly process, the advantage of the document camera is that it can take a snapshot the problem (or the smartboard can record a video of working out the problem if the teacher uses it directly), which can then be saved digitally & uploaded to a website so when the kids get home and forget how to do the problem (imagine if you have math 1st period of the day!), they can pull up the video & revisit it."
Had I stopped and visited with the teacher, I may well have discovered that this lesson was indeed being recorded for later review by students. Might teachers be using technology that LOOKS like conventional teaching practices, but is actually used to improve learning opportunities for students?
Bill observes ".. interactive white boards are training wheels for 20th century teachers, but they're transitionally imperative for learning teachers."
Is just using technology for, in the SAMR model, substitution and modification a critical first step to using it more powerful ways? Remember Vygotsky's theory of proximity - you can't learn something completely new - you need be able to relate it to something familiar.
The evaluation of the use of any technology in the classroom is obviously more complicated that a simple walk-by can achieve. Thank you Blue Skunk Readers for reminding me of this.
* I am grateful that I seem to have no trolls on the Blue Skunk.
Reader Comments (2)
Very interesting issue - I find myself often just grabbing a whiteboard marker and scratching some info on the board vs.turn in projector --> keyboard or mouse --> open program --> new file --> type or click
I have noticed that when I personally write on the whiteboard, it seems like I am taking up a huge amount of time, but when I type or click on the screen it is worth the time.
Had you walked by a room where the teacher was using an overhead projector and the students were smelling their freshly mimeographed homework I assume you would have either run screaming or fainted...
Re; Mimeographs and overheads do not have huge costs associated with them, so I may have smiled!
Doug