The greatest issue I foresee in teaching is social-emotional education in the technology era. My view of children has certainly evolved since I have become a parent, and what worked for me as a child will certainly no longer apply to my own children as well as the children in my care. I strive for children to have plenty of time to play, to spend in nature, to contribute to the community, and also to be bored. As many acknowledge, technology is here to stay and there are many opportunities for connection and collaboration that are afforded by technology, but I have great concerns over the increasing disconnectedness resulting from technology usage. By disconnectedness, my implications are: disconnectedness from truth and fact checking, disconnectedness from authenticity, disconnectedness from quality time together. Technology has a seductive quality to children and social media is, by design, meant to foster dependency and addiction. Attachment is the counter to these outcomes and would love to explore more about how to create digital learning environments that foster attachment, connection and social-emotional wellbeing over dependency and addiction.
I sincerely believe adults need to model appropriate technology usage for students. There needs to be balanced opportunities in the classroom to complete tasks on and offline. Teachers also need to have frank, explicit and repeated conversations with students about technology habits, its impacts on health, wellness and relationships, and the intersections of online and offline life. I honestly feel students cannot hear these messages enough, and they are always evolving. Our school has had The White Hatter present to parents and teachers on several occasions about internet safety, and his safety tips change as rapidly as technology does. Adults must be proactive and stay on top of technology trends as well as its subculture.
On the other hand, this year I’ve started using Google Classroom and think there is a lot of richness and potential within the platform in terms of student feedback, engagement and overall organization of curricular information for students. I would also be interested in investigating different platforms to communicate and engage with students, and how to keep them attune to all the information that is presented before them. I am curious how technology impacts the attention span of students and how succinctly information must be communicated for students to take in.
Overall, I think my interests span a great deal of educational technology topics. My professional focus this year is on information and media literacy, while my overall interest is with how the use of technology impacts child development. Since I teach students from K-7, I would be keen to uncover some metrics that are applicable to this age range of students. In addition, my school context will play a role in my research, as we are a technology focussed school. Students from Grades K-1 use iPads, Grades 2-4 use Chromebooks, and Grades 5-7 have personal laptops.
The Learning Circle 