Technology: Learning vs Using

Predominantly ‘education technology’ in the K to 7 classrooms relates to insular student research. Students become bored and frustrated by simple electronic 'research' so begin to explore more exciting things in the online environment. This is action is categorized as a misuse of technology by the teachers who set the research assignment. “One Third of teachers with less than five years teaching experience agree that networked devices can make it difficult to maintain discipline..”1  Young students researching a particular subject in science, for example, tend to use websites that are beyond their current academic level, consequently not understanding the concept, and being disheartened by the whole process. Whilst there is an invoked digital literacy skill to research and presenting using technology, there is currently too much weighting in this area at Grade 3 to 7 level without a robust investigation into the digital literacy skills required for appropriate success.

There is less collaboration within digital networks for younger students in the K to 7 arena, despite having plenty of potential and opportunity. Digital collaboration is recognised as one of the most important skills to acquire in the knowledge based world and this should be reflected in education. “In particular, knowledge workers need to know how to work collaboratively, virtually and at a distance, with colleagues, clients and partners. The ‘pooling’ of collective knowledge, problem-solving and implementation requires good teamwork and flexibility…”2

However, for students of K to 7 there are fantastic educational technology applications that have deepened learning and invigorated students. For younger students, the blend of technology and design has been immense through such endeavours as robotic programme and design. Although Pangrazio states “with the recent hype surrounding coding in schools, the ‘maker’ movement and the shift to design approaches to digital literacy, there is the possibility that research investigating social and political understandings of digital media will be deprioritised.”3, completing tasks such as this endemically grows the experience of digital literacy. The pedagogical aspects of digital literacy run concurrently with the used of digital literacy. Isn’t mastering a pen implicit in writing with it?
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1  MediaSmarts/Canadian Teachers Federation. (2016). Connected to Learn: Teachers Experiences with Networked Technologies in the Classroom. http://mediasmarts.ca/sites/mediasmarts/files/publication-report/full/ycwwiii_connected_to_learn.pdf
2 Bates, A.W. (2015). Teaching in a digital age: Guidelines for designing teaching and learning. Victoria: BCcampus.
http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
3 Pangrazio, L. (2016). Reconceptualising critical digital literacy. Discourse: Studies in Cultural Politics, 37(2), 163-174.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01596306.2014.942836