Social impacts of technology - Good or Bad?

In order to develop a task which not only engages students in authentic learning but truly benefits student’s education and promotes a high level of intellectual quality and rigour, we must understand the wider context of technology in the classroom and the social impacts it has had on student learning.

It is now being made obvious that in such a technology based fast-paced world, traditional forms of literacy teaching are no longer adequate. Veteran teachers must re-design their style of pedagogy and new teachers must be sure to employ the technology available to them. Such changes in the way literacy is being taught will have huge impacts on us as teachers in training and we must take advantage of the rapidly developing educational world to give our students the best learning and quality teaching as possible. All teachers must recognise that new technology has an implicit place in our education system. If this is not acknowledged and teachers continue to ‘teach as they always have’, employing traditional methods, they compromise their students by placing them in a vulnerable position, unprepared and unaware of the new literacy practices essential for living and working in today’s modern society.

The social impacts of new technology’s on students learning is wide and varied, however I believe one of the most important and significant positive impacts these developments have had is on the lives of disable, sick or isolated students.

Before major advancements in technologies, ‘distance education’ was virtually impossible and home schooling was the only option. Contact with teachers was via mail or phone and these circumstances did not give isolated students the opportunities or education of their suburban counterparts. Students suffering social, mental, physical and learning disabilities have also benefited greatly from technological advancements, creating greater equity within our schooling system.

There are two conflicting sides to the social impacts of technology in the classroom and wider society and whilst some may find plausible negatives, they are greatly outweighed by the numerous advantages, opportunities, greater equity and learning benefits of these technologies.

Multi multi multiliteracies!

This week’s 1751 lecture was focused on multiliteracies and how literacy has been redefined by social, technological and economic change.  For teachers to have the ability to create an online interactive task to support their pedagogy and promote deeper understanding and learning (such as a web quest) displays the ways in which multiliteracy has shaped our modern education system. To be ‘multiliterate’ requires understanding and being able to use the literacy’s of a range of texts and technologies in a socially, culturally and linguistically diverse world. It requires the mastery of communication in different modes of technology, an ability to critically analyse texts and encourages students to be active participants in social change.

The way we have designed our web quest, requiring students to research, analyse film clips and diagrams, create tables, complete online quiz’s and provide a word processed lifestyle plan and letter, we believe we have suitable addressed and promoted the development of multiliterate citizens. By employing pedagogical techniques that utilise technologies in constructive ways to better teach and impart subject content, we are utilising and sharing with others our collaborative technological pedagogical content knowledge.

Teachers use a range of technological tools and their own technological pedagogical content knowledge to facilitate the development of multiliterate students and emphasise the significance of these students work.

As we have come to understand these concepts the development of our own technological pedagogical content knowledge has exploded and helped us to recognise the importance of multiliteracy and how we can tweak our web quest to further facilitate the development of students. 

What's our Pedagogy?

As the designing and creating process of this web quest continues through the collaborative effort of our group, I have noticed that via our simple employment of technology in the classroom we have unintentionally addressed and adhered to the three dimensions of the NSW Quality Teaching Framework. This style of pedagogy we are using displays aspects of authentic e-learning by seamlessly integrating our learning of content and assessment and results in promoting high levels of intellectual quality in the students work.

Through giving the students a web quest to complete, team work, maximum participation and the collaboration of ideas is promoted and encouraged. This nurturing environment created between the students, teacher and task creates a high quality learning environment, aimed at improving student’s involvement and deeper understanding of the subject outcomes.  

The concept of a web quest is extremely clever in engaging so that students would chose to research and participate. Our assessment comprises a range of complex tasks to be investigated collaboratively by students over time and further engages students with the real-world relevance regarding the importance of nutrition and lifestyle choices. These elements of authentic learning work harmoniously together to create an engaging and complex task, demanding higher order thinking and intellectual quality of the students.

Through the way we have designed the task and put the students in charge of the health and wellbeing of a hypothetical family (possibly much like their own) it increases the relevance of the task and its importance to the students. This promotes the children to look past just getting a good mark for this assessment and emphasises the significance of their work in helping others as well as themselves and their wider community.

So in summary of this week’s brainstorm regarding our web quest, we have acknowledged that we have employed the Quality Teaching Model as the pedagogical context of our digital artefact and plan to exploit these dimensions in order to create a quality and significant task.