My K-12 school experience involved a typical 90’s Ed Tech experience. A highlight of elementary school was the teacher wheeling the TV cart into class; especially on a Friday afternoon! A much less exciting educational technology was the overhead projector. No joke, I have memories of hand cramps from copying countless pages of notes from the dreaded data projector. By the time I entered high school we had a computer lab that focused on informational processing, aka Math Blaster and Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.
Post university my experience with educational technology has been shaped by my career path as a learning resource teacher, my degree in Inclusive Education and my beliefs about inclusion! A huge part of my role over the past 14 years has been advocating for students; equity vs equality! To me a big part of educational technology has been assistive technology; tools that support students in the classroom. Tools such as Google Read Write, Kurzweil, Hearbuilder, talk to text applications, FM systems, software, apps that support students, timers, are all examples of educational technologies that have shaped my understanding of educational technology.
Fast forward to my short stint teaching online during a pandemic, and my understanding of educational technology was challenged. I quickly realized assistive technology is just one form of educational technology. I also realized how out of date I am with the current trends in educational technology. In my three months online stint I got a crash course in SeeSaw, Google Classroom, Flip Grid, Wee Video, Zoom, Google Meet/Hang Out, Bitmoji and the list goes on. Now that we are back in school I am struggling with how to implement some of my new ed tech knowledge into my current role!
During my online teaching experience I also got to experience first hand some of Neil Postman’s Five things to know about technological change. “The first idea that new technology is a trade off. This means that for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage.” (Postman, 1998). While I loved that I was able to connect with my students via Google Meet, there were several challenges that surfaced (scheduling, accessibility, connection issues to name a few). I also witnessed the inequity of technology in different communities which directly correlates to his second idea that technological change is never distributed evenly.
My definition and understanding of educational technology is evolving! While I don’t have my own contemporary definition our first ECI 833 group discussion came up with lots of great descriptors of educational technology. These are educational technology should be engaging, relevant and empowering. Educational technology should provide opportunities for students and enhance the learning process. Educational technology should be part of the process and integrated into our lessons vs the end goal of our teaching. And finally we need to teach students how be responsible digital citizens! How to incorporate this new understanding of educational technology into my current role, knowing it is more than assistive technology, and keep up with trends in ed tech is my next goal! Looking forward to new ideas as I learn from everyone in ECI 833.
Tracy Krenbrink 