Technology: Is medium truly the message?


Technology: Is medium truly the message?

Any person who has been in a school, classroom, or library in the last few years have seen the importance that has been put on technology in the educational system. Each teacher tries their best to incorporate technology in the classroom for fear of falling behind in things like engagement, pedagogy, and the latest trends. With that said- I am not arguing that technology is not an integral or important of the educational space. I agree with the sentiment that Eric Sheninger said in his EdTech article "The key is to determine what we want our students to know, and then let them have a choice as to how they will demonstrate or apply their learning." 

I think there are two ways we use technology in the classroom: presentation and creation. I think that media is the message in our presentation - bringing in the engagement factor for the students. While media cannot be the message in our student creation and application of learning. We are not here to teach students necessarily how to use technology (unless you are a technology teacher) but instead to use the technology as a resource to aid in learning. 

 Role as a school librarian 

As the school librarian, I feel that my role is to stay up to date with the most current technology, applications, social media. I think this is important to stay current with for many reasons. We as librarians are responsible to look at this technology from many different viewpoints- how can they be used pedagogically, how can they be used socially or for promotion, how might they not be good for the classroom, etc. We must know the "how tos" and which apps are "no gos" for that project. We can provide the advice for the use of the technology and also which technology is most appropriate for the age groups or projects. My goal would be to have a vast knowledge of technology and applications that can be used for educational purposes- so that students and teachers can use technology to the best of their ability and help their learning. 

Technology being used to teach and learn

Presentation (to teach): Media is the message 

Media can be the message in the classroom in the presentation of the content. Things like podcasts, audiobooks, blogs,vlogs are being more commonly used in the classroom for engagement and presentation. I think that this is very important, because with the students that we serve (those who are attached to their mobile device) we must be more engaging. Podcasts and other applications like this are what truly change the way in which we catch their attention. I think one of the unique things that podcasts and audiobooks can do to change the message that we deliver is there is a deeper connection with the message. Podcasts allow the author to speak to you- through their voice and experience. A great example is the Serial podcast where Sarah Koeing explores the legal case against Adnan Sayed. This podcast really shows how the reader/listener can better understand the complexities of law and legal cases because we are able to experience it with our author. Sarah did a great job in being almost meta-cognitive because she is able to explain what is going on in her mind to reach a conclusion or find this new lead. This allows the readers to go on the journey with the author instead of just telling a story. 

Another example are audiobooks. These have developed over the previous years to create a more immersive experience for the reader than some students are capable of at the time of reading it. For example, two audiobooks that I have listened to/ read lately were Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman and I am Princess X by Cherie Priest. I think that both of their middle grades audiobooks show how audiobooks can help shape the message of what you are teaching. 

Book Scavenger is one of those great mystery books that are starting to make a come back. Here is a link to the amazon copy and audiobook if you are interested in the summary. This book is all about clues, puzzles, cyphers, and danger. The audiobook really makes it come to life. In the book, the main character loves this online community/game of Book Scavenger- they hide books all over the world and post clue on how to find these books. The audiobook gives an explanation of everything within the gaming community as an introduction before the book which is not always present in the book. It also reads all of the footnotes and important information in with the narrative so the reader feels that they have found this information right along with the main character. This book is also a great example of incorporation of technology because they have now created a real Book Scavenger website community to find copies of the second book in the series and begin hiding books of your own via the website. This engages the reader way beyond what happens when you read this using the normal methods. 

I am Princess X is a hybrid novel- meaning it has both written chapters and graphic elements (in this case a graphic novel) embedded within the book. I was a little timid in trying the audiobook for this novel, because of the graphic novel portion- would I lose out on the text by listening instead of reading with my eyes? The answer was NO! I had the physical book with me too- so I would often listen and look at the graphic novel at the same time. The narration of the graphic novel was amazing- it added more in depth feeling and emotion that I did not pick up on when reading it with my eyes. It would be great to compare how the audiobook interprets the graphic novel portion of the book with those who read the book only with our eyes. What do we miss out on?

Creation (to learn): Media is the tool

For students to learn using media- I think it should be seen more as a creation tool. We (as teachers) set up the guidelines and then let the students choose the best format for them for creation and application. Some students may choose to create a comic of the steps of an interview or depicting an interview instead of creating a podcast of them interviewing a person or even a snapchat interview. The possibilities are endless- but we must still have pedagogy in mind first. Unless you are a technology teacher and need to assess the student's ability to create a podcast- if a different application can be used and produce the same assessment of their learning then we should allow them to use it. 

How librarians support this vision

I think that librarians need to be up to date and knowledgeable in the matter of technology. We should be able to conduct professional development on technology and support teachers and students who struggle with technology. We should be promoting great resources to help with presentation and the teaching via technology- if that is a good podcast we heard that would be a great resource for the holocaust unit or an application that would make the lesson more engaging for the students we serve. 

What blocks you see that will hinder the adoption of technology in education?

I think that one of the major blocks is the resistance to technology of some teachers, administration, and leaders. Another would be availability to technology- not every school is one to one or don't serve a community that can afford a bring your own device curriculum. It is great if librarians are able to have the vast knowledge of the technology- but it is a detriment if you don't have teacher buy in or the money/technology to use that knowledge with. 



Resources: 

Ed Tech Wiki. (2012). The media debate. Retrieved from http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/The_media_debate

Sheninger, E. (2016). Why pedagogy first, Tech second stance is key to the future. Retrieved from
https://edtechmagazine.com/k-12/article/2016/04/why-pedagogy-firs-tech-second-stance-key-future

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 26, 2017 at 2:44 PM

    Kaitlyn,

    Thank you for sharing the examples of great audio books in your blog. I will have to check this out for sure! I agree that teacher resistance is a big issue. Why do something different if what you are doing is working just fine? I think it is very important that we as librarians are cheerleaders for our teachers and advocates for technology implementation. We need to provide our teachers with the resources and the knowledge that they need in order to feel comfortable and confident using technology with their students.

    Becky Sandner

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  2. SarahJuly 30, 2017 at 8:23 AM

    Kaitlyn, You make several great points in your post. I agree that pedagogy the "What we want the students to learn" has to come first, then the tools of technology can be used by the students to create and produce products to display their learning. Shifting teachers mindsets is very hard and were the current lag in the movement towards teaching out 21st century learners is. As a librarian I will work to help the reluctant teacher in baby steps to slowly get them to shift their view point on technology in the classroom. I think modeling of the student lead learning environment is necessary for teachers. It is hard to change teaching habits that have been being used and taught for so long.

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  3. UnknownJuly 30, 2017 at 10:19 AM

    Kaitlyn,
    I agree with you about keeping the pedagogy in mind first and that technology is a tool to be used for creating. I love that students have so many options when it comes to using digital technology. Students take their work more seriously when they have options in how they want to present what they have learned. I have allowed my students to "write" a persuasive essay by creating a Smore or even a website. The written component is still there... they just have a creative component to add to it.

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  4. UnknownJuly 30, 2017 at 6:37 PM

    I disagree with your statement that we are not technology teachers. Even has English teachers and physics teachers, we must teach students how to properly use technology, even if they choose to use another outlet for creation. 1 technology teacher can not teach all the new tech and apps, just like 1 English teacher cannot be the only person on campus teaching writing. But, I also believe that this is where the librarian comes in. Librarians must know it all when it comes to technology and proper integration into all content areas on campus. This is when genuine collaboration happens and students become the most successful.

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