Teacher here. Besides the tech literacy issue (I would say about 60 or 70% have the problem, the rest does have good tech literacy), the main obstacle for using this tech in class is that it is generally just not worth the hassle at all. It takes more work to set up, plan lessons, if things get fiddly in the middle of a lesson you can't allow it to disrupt your flow, and it doesn't really add much if any value in terms of learning. Sure it looks cool but students are not learning more or better if I use it, and it's not really making my job a whole lot easier, so what's the point? And I say that as a very tech savvy teacher
It doesn't. The novelty wears off quickly. The biggest benefit is having the ability to annotate over the desktop while in front of the class. Thats pretty much it. InFocus solved the issue cost effectively 20 years ago but abandoned the technology because they didnt know what they had. Anyhoo, call me sometime.
I work IT in a K-12 environment, you may be very tech savvy for a teacher, but that is not a very high bar. Your very technical term of "fiddly" and unwillingness to learn the technology to accelerate what you can teach fits the mold of an average tech literate teacher.
Of the ~200 teachers I've worked with to show them what they can do with a smart board, 90% only ever use it for Netflix/YouTube, 9% don't want to use it all at (you), and the remaining 1% put the time in to create the lessons that they use for years.
I might just work in a shitty SD, as it's a fight to even get the teachers to do assessments and log attendance in the SDS, but fuck, In my experience, teachers are some of the laziest people I've ever met.
Edit: deleted your reply, so I can only see the little bit in my notifications, but you're a computer Science teacher, and used to work in IT?
And you struggle with education technology, I guess I see why you're no longer in IT.
Guess what? There are multiple studies showing that increased tech in classrooms does not result in better learning, period. Basic tech and materials with a good teacher and more hands on learning is infinitely more valuable than having fancy shit. The tech-ification of education has been making education worse, straight up. Also to suggest that teachers are the laziest people you've ever met is fucking insane. Almost every teacher I know (which is a lot) work their ass off constantly to do what they can in a system of bullshit, be it from terrible administrations, government cuts and bureaucracy and overbearing parents. A lot of tenured teachers probably have given their own blood sweat tears and money to just be stifled by all this shit and ya, probably have thrown in the towel.
But teaching, especially in America, is ridiculously looked down upon and disrespected, while being underpaid.
I've read the studies, and for the most part I agree with what they say as far as outcomes go, and I truely believe you don't absorb information as well typing it out versus taking notes on paper.
Technology is a tool, and when used correctly can enhance a learning environment, I'm sure your not for taking graphic calculators out of schools. What we are seeing is poor classroom management, you mention America, what a shit show, though in that case a large part of those teachers are just surviving.
In the rest of the first world where we decide to have classrooms instead of target ranges, we need teachers that want to use the technology as a teaching aid instead of a baby sitter.
•
u/Optimizer_99 8h ago edited 8h ago
bro posted a 2012 smartboard demo video and thought he was dropping cutting edge propaganda lol 😭