This week during one of my seminar classes, some of my colleagues lead a group discussion on how to incorporate technology in the classroom. I was interested to participate in this discussion since I often avoid technology - a weakness I admit, but I am working towards incorporating the use of technology in my classroom. Now, this is often a difficult thing to accomplish since I have limited access to things like lcd projectors, even overhead projectors (Laurie, you know my pain). But I am trying to be creative in the types of assignments I give students by focusing on how they use technology to either produce or present such assignments. The discussion leader began the class by asking us what our "dream technological classroom" would look like in terms if there were no limits such as money, space, or technological advancement. After people shared their wishes, he went on to lecture us about how there were new developments everyday that would one day move classroom work to be done entirely on computers. Wait what?! No paper? Or books? Or writing? Madness.
I initially responded to this idea with skepticism because I felt the type of classroom he described would ultimately be in danger of limiting interaction among students. But soon I began to look closely at WHY I was a bit disturbed. Was I being close minded? Was I romanticizing the world of letters and books? Deep philosophical questions. But then I remembered a conversation I had with my master teacher. I asked him why he always wrote assignments on the board, then had students copy them down. He told me that he carefully wrote each assignment and tried to model the type of writing he expected from students in the prompt. He hoped that in addition to directly teaching his students writing, he would "secretly" show them what he thought writing should look like; it was the act of copying it down onto paper that he emphasized. Now, I am not sure if there is any theoretical or practical evidence to prove this, but it raises the question - what happens when student stop "writing?" Because in my colleague’s "dream technological world" students took notes on computers. I am not quiet sure what I think of all this yet, so I suppose I am looking for some direction into further inquiry. In any event, the discussion and presentation raised many questions, prompting me to look closely at my own fears and biases about technology, but also what I think might be the appropriate balance of technology, because I realize that students need the opportunity to learn those skills.