Friday, January 29, 2021

Teacher Comments on Being Tech Skeptics | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teacher Comments on Being Tech Skeptics | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Teacher Comments on Being Tech Skeptics




I am fortunate to have many readers who are classroom teachers. I have published posts over the past few years about my research on exemplary teachers who integrated technology into their lessons. Some of those posts triggered responses from teachers. Here are a few of their comments.

Louise Kowitch, retired Connecticut social studies teacher:

….The impact of technology can vary greatly depending on the subject matter (among all the other things you’ve addressed). While some pedagogical practices are universal, when “doing the work of the discipline”, content-specific practices,and by extension the impact of technology, might vary widely.

I mention this to say that as someone who lived through the IT revolution in the classroom (from mimeographs, scantrons, and filmstrips to floppy disks and CD-ROM, and finally to smart boards, Skype and Chromebooks), by the time I reached three decades as a full time classroom teacher, I was spending MORE time on my lessons and interacting with students, than less. Some tasks were indeed more efficient (for example, obtaining and sharing maps, artifacts, art, primary sources). Others, like collecting data about student performance for CONTINUE READING: Teacher Comments on Being Tech Skeptics | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice