The Guardian recently published a critique of educational technology. A key quote:
Jared Cooney Horvath ... wants to raise the alarm about educational technology in classrooms. A former teacher, Horvath believes the use of screens and digital tools in schools is undermining how children learn and develop.
While this may be surprising to some, it's not exactly news, at least to scholars who study technology and learning. Broadly speaking, studies of educational technology have generally been disappointing.
Banning technology from the classroom might seem to be the obvious fix. I disagree though.
“The question we need to be asking is, ‘when does edtech help learning?’ And the answer is, ‘it’s complicated’.”
This is the right understanding. It's not enough to simply put computers into classrooms. Educational benefits will only occur if technologies are used in a manner that is scientifically proven to promote learning. What these failed studies likely mean is that we simply aren't using high tech tools in an effective fashion. Our teaching methods are weak, even when these are digitized and computerized.
There's plenty of room for improvement. While some research has been conducted on multimedia learning and other best practices, we could frankly give this topic much more research attention. Another barrier is translating proven methods of effective use into classroom practices. There's a gap between research findings and implementation in the classroom. Teacher training could be better.
PowerPoint is a good example of this problem. The standard slide, a title with three bullet points, is not very engaging or effective, yet it's still the standard. This slide format wasn't based on research in human factors, communications, or educational psychology. Our intuitions about technology use have guided educators into unproductive methods. Only careful consideration and implementation will show educational gains.
So, let's not ban educational technology from the classroom. Instead, we need more careful examination of practices that work, particularly from cognitive psychology or educational viewpoints. These effective practices need to be more intentionally implemented to benefit our students.