Reappraisal of technology in the classroom

For some time now, the call for technology integration in classrooms has been a regular topic of school reform, transformation, and improvement. Nonetheless, many educational leaders will attest that while technology is increasingly finding its place in classrooms, it is only a small cadre of teachers actually utilizing technology in classrooms to improve student learning.  It may be that merely "integrating" technology is not the real issue.  If pedagogy itself is not changing through the use of digital technology then the problem is clearly not the tool but the method in which it is used.

 Much has been made of this inability of technology to add any real capacity to improved student learning regardless of academic level. Increasingly the evidence has shown that "teachers have been painfully slow to transform the way they teach, despite the influx of technology into their classrooms" states Benjamin Herold in his article for Education Week, June 11, 2015. It is, therefore, critical for 21^st Century educational leaders to address this situation.  There are many already concerned with the situation:

“In general, teachers at many schools seem to view technology as a more valuable tool for themselves than for their students.” Kelly Shapley (2015), Educational Researcher, Shapley Research Associates.

“The net effect”, says Leslie A. Wilson (2015), the chief executive officer of the One-to-One Institute, a nonprofit based in Mason, Mich., that has consulted with hundreds of schools and districts across the country and world, “is that schools rarely realize the full promise of educational technology.  There's nothing transformative about every kid having an iPad unless you're able to reach higher-order teaching and learning.  If schools take all this technology, and use it like a textbook, or just have teachers show PowerPoint presentations or use drill-and-kill software, they might as well not even have it."

“Public schools now provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3 billion per year on digital content. Nearly three-fourths of high school students now say they regularly use a smartphone or tablet in the classroom.  But a mountain of evidence indicates that teachers have been painfully slow to transform the ways they teach, despite that massive influx of new technology into their classrooms. The student-centered, hands-on, personalized instruction envisioned by ed-tech proponents remains the exception to the rule.”  Benjamin Herold, Education Week, “Why Ed Tech is not Transforming Teaching” (2015).

"The introduction of computers into schools was supposed to improve academic achievement and alter how teachers taught," said Stanford University education professor Larry Cuban (2015). "Neither has occurred."

The purpose of this reappraisal is not to make projections or proposals to be followed for success, rather to consider the teaching, leadership and/or management issues that likely must be attended in improving this situation: 1. Developing a culture for critical digital pedagogy for use in K12 schools or HE program,  2. The leadership support needed for same, and  3. The sustainability of effort and effect of the leadership for ongoing success.

Suffice to say my reappraisal is based on the belief that each organized professional educational group of shared focus, e.g. schools, districts, or education departments must answer the important pedagogical questions around these three areas themselves. Their decisions regarding pedagogy, technology, and student performance will require shared goals, shared commitments, and regular review of their growth. Unless the professionals themselves ask the important questions about improving critical digital pedagogy and student performance, regardless of tools used, any real success will be fleeting.