July 26, 2006 – Dr. Bette Gray

Dr. Gray talked about contentious issues in education with respect to learning and technology. It was interesting to hear of James Bosco’s (Tools, Culture, and Education: Past-Present-Future) perspective on digital natives, that these kids may have grown up with technology, but they don’t know everything. As teachers, we need to make sense of the big picture in relation to education and technology and this will then guide our educational practice and policy. Dr. Gray’s view of ICT is that it is more of a ‘seam in human history’ rather than simply being another tool that is on our plate to use to facilitate learning.

The way technology is implemented in the schools is related to the principal principle: if the principal sees technology as a tool, then it will not be infused in the school. Everyone needs to have a vision of why they think technology is important and they need to be able to articulate this. I was thinking of what my vision of technology is, and it has definitely been changing over the past year and a half! My vision in teaching and education is to give my students an interest in the world around them so that they will have a sense of wonder about the world as they grow older; to make science interesting enough that they will stop and think, “wow, I wonder how ...?” Technology is other methods to make science interesting. The technology is not a tool that is used to look at science, it is science. As I infuse it into the program, it is simply part of the marvel and wonder of the world around us.

A thanks to Bette for making me want to make sure my students don’t ‘Power-down’ when they get to school.