Understanding Educational Technology Issues and Trends

Understanding Educational Technology Issues and Trends

Developing Lessons and Engaging Students

I feel the enduring issue of being a teacher is how students feel detached from school; they don’t see the relevance to their own lives and as a result, they feel detached.  Teachers can just tell by look at their students’ faces that they are bored, lack motivation and are disengaged.  According to TNLT Chapter 2,

• Two-thirds of high school students report feeling bored in classes every day.

• More than half of high school students said that outside of class they never discuss academic material or readings with teachers.

• Half said they never receive prompt feedback from teachers on assignments

(Maloy, Verok, Ruth-Ellen, Sharon, & Woolf, 2017, p. 31). 

(giphy.com)

A teacher can combat the issues of disengagement by using digital tools to enhance their instructional practices, motivate students, and reach their students outside of the classroom.

- An example of an Instructional practice is when a teacher interacts

directly with their students. This can be done by “accessing the web for

class discussion, using technology for presentations or simulations, having

students use handheld and wireless devices as part of group projects, and

integrating handheld and wireless devices into academic activities.

Reading with E-books and E-readers

TNLT Chapter 2 gives the example of e-reading as another way to develop and engage students.  Sometimes I feel like digital reading takes away from the raw experience of reading a paperback, feeling the pages, being able to write directly in the margins to annotate. I don’t know if I made this up, but I feel like I’ve heard that if you handwrite notes and highlight physical books, you’re more likely to retain that information.  I feel that on e-reading apps, you still can do this but its typing and swiping your finger. I personally feel that it doesn’t have the same impact as handwriting.  However, I do see the benefits of using e-reading apps.  TNLT Chapter 2 states that e-reading apps offer a more interactive experience for students by allowing “teachers embed quizzes, discussions, videos, and weblinks into electronic books, articles, and PDFs that they find online. Each page loaded into Subtext becomes a multilayered reading experience with annotation, search, audio, text, formatting, and bookmarking options for the reader and the teacher” (Maloy, et al., 2017, 32). Additionally, I also see how e-reading can help and engage every student, even students with disabilities or students learning English or have English as a second language. Digital text is a multimodal experience that engage students because it has options like:

- text-to-speech and human voice narration

- word highlighting to learn word meanings and pronunciation

- interactive glossaries,

- record-your-own-voice functions so students can listen to themselves reading the text (Dalton, 2014)

(Maloy, et al., 2017, 33).

The benefits of reading e-books and e-readers are clear. For instance, all of the options above can help ESL and ELLs practice how to speak, pronounce words, look up words in their language to make a translation, etc.  It would also be beneficial for students with learning disabilities or other academic needs (struggling readers) to read with these interactive devices to practice reading, hearing someone else read, and improve comprehension.

Even though I know all the benefits, I still love reading paperback books.  I feel students should not only read on an e-reader but should also read physical books too to be exposed to reading that way too.  It should be a balance of physical books and e-books.

(giphy.com)