Understanding Technology for What It Is: A ToolBy: Brian Pinney, Ph.D. Educational Specialist They say don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but at times it is appropriate to at least look under the hood. Often, educators may feel pressure to adopt the latest and greatest. Many times, this push comes without proper explanation of how the thing is supposed to work or the context of empirical evidence that may exist that supports its implementation. Therefore, for this writing, I would like to encourage caution associated with changing one’s practice and recognition of what technology is… and isn’t. The inclusion of any tool in teaching practice should be made in regards to what the tool can do for teaching, not so that the tool can do the teaching. A screwdriver without an operator doesn’t accomplish many jobs. A more direct example could be seen from 3D Anatomy software that allows students to explore digital cadavers. While this technology has wonderful potential, that potential is unlocked by the learning objectives and expectations placed upon the students to engage in the software. It is the content expert determining how to use the tool that makes the tool’s potential become unlocked (or not) not that the student is using technology. It is the educator determining what is not only appropriate but most effective given what they want the students to develop because of the instruction. The primary concern is that implementation of tools or ideas without recognition that they are a supplement to teaching (an aid to potentially improve it) can result in substandard teaching when compared to instruction prior to implementation. However, when properly integrated, technology can empower the instructor to help push students to new heights or to consider new things (or at least consider them in a different way). Take 3D videos of the inner workings of the cell for example. Prior to these kinds of imaging, the actions of proteins were largely abstract concepts to students but this kind of approach allows students to observe these actions, making them concrete. The use of this might seem obvious depending on your goals but outside of pedagogical decisions that integrate them into a lesson, they remain as just something students may watch.
The short version is: tools are not a replacement for teaching. They are not intended to diminish the role of the instructor but rather to allow them to do something different within the lesson that can promote learning within students.
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AuthorCenter for Teaching and Learning staff Archives
May 2017
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