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Tech Happens 1
Tech Happens:
Increasing Efficacy Trough Purposeful Implementation
Robert J. Selzler
Educational Technology 501
Dr. John Thomson PhD
May 5, 2011
Tech Happens 2
Technology happens; it has permeated the society in which we live and will continue to
permeate the society in which we live. It is no surprise, then, that technology has become a natural part
of the education system. Students will bring in their brand-new iPhones, sneak to library to check their
Facebook messages, and rely heavily upon online Spark Notes when writing essays. All of these things
have happened without—indeed often against—the permission of the community of professional
educators. To wit, students rarely ask permission and are often denied when they do. Educators can be
an exceptionally technophobic lot for a group that values learning and change. To be sure, professional
educators must be willing to address technology, or technology will certainly shape our schools.
Technology will happen, and we must be willing to use this to our and, ultimately, our students’
advantages.
Learning is, by definition, change. Of all the professionals to be scared of change, educators are
the least likely. Why then, are schools so slow to embrace change in education? Why are teachers often
shy of incorporating new technologies into classroom curricula? Certainly, there are valid reasons to be
conservative in education. Many teachers have a “once-bitten, twice-shy” attitude toward radical
changes. Regardless of the reasoning, teachers must confront the burgeoning technological
environment in classrooms. According to Michael Spector, AECT President (2010), the chief concern of
educational technology is whether it “will result in improved learning” (p. 6). Spector no doubt shares
this concern with the bulk of the community professional educators; educational research is a field that
has been long on promises and short on results, and teachers know it. Programs abound that promise to
do everything from increasing standardized score to increasing student involvement. As we address the
issue of technology in schools, we must not forget that the end goal is increased learning. We must be
sure that we harness technology to become a blessing to our students rather than a burden. Change is
inevitable; progress is not.
Tech Happens 3
All of this is prefaced by the fact that technology will become an increasing given. According to
the Pew Research Group, Millennials, the age-group of students who currently populate schools, are
increasingly in a socio-economic bracket that can make use of technology. In 2009, nearly 54% of
Millennials live in a suburb, which is an increase of over twenty percent from 1963. Average household
income, adjusted for inflation, has increased from $41,000 in 1960 to nearly $60,000 in 2009. This
concentration of population and income has certainly brought with it a new kind of media integration
into the social and educational lives of students. These students are weaned on electronic media, so it is
not great surprise that they are also uniquely engaged by it. The demographics and tendencies of this
new group of learners demand that we cannot sit passively by and let technology define itself in our
schools. We must take the initiative to properly design, research, and, most importantly, implement new
technologies. Our students are already using advanced technologies in every other area of their lives;
the intentional use of technology in learning is only the next logical step for education as a social
science.
This inevitability of student involvement with technology need not be a negative proposition. In
fact, when harnessed, this raw trend is rife with possibility. Robert Reiser, Instructional Systems
professor at Florida State University (2001) believes that the coming years will yield “greater changes in
instructional practices than the media that preceded them” (p. 62). This sort of rational optimism is not
just ideal, it is necessary for our schools to be able to meet the needs of twenty-first century learners. If
we are to make use of the technological trends in student populations, outcomes must be a priority, and
outcomes follow changes in practice.
In order to make the best use of technology integration, we have to be aware of what is going
on technologically with student populations. It is with this principle in mind that we must identify what
programs students are using. We do this to identify the best place to start, so that students are already
Tech Happens 4
literate in whatever program we choose to integrate. Overwhelmingly, the most popular type of student
involvement is through Web 2.0 technologies like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. These technologies
focus on the social aspect of the internet, and they engage users one with another. Students can use
true social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to collaborate and communicate with teachers, and
they can use resource sharing sites, like YouTube, to be able to produce and publish multimedia
projects. These types of technology are quite useful to educational implementation because, like
education as a discipline, they rely upon social principles to function effectively. Aside from the obvious
benefits, there is also a fiscal benefit: they are often free of charge.
Converting these technologies to the classroom is easier than it might seem. The fact that
technology is already integrating itself is the main reason—remember, technology happens. The rise of
technological literacy in contemporary generations is a burgeoning research field. Amongst these
researchers are Dimitri Christakis and Frederik Zimmerman. Christakis and Zimmerman (2009) approach
technology from a “media optimization” standpoint and call into question the efficacy of lab-based
studies which “inherently tell us very little about real-world behaviors and effects” (p. 1181, 1182). This
is a distinctly positive viewpoint for a classroom teacher. Rather than approaching integration with
sweeping reforms and a one-size-fits-all approach, this viewpoint would give a certain degree of liberty
to teachers while still focusing on outcomes of choices made. Truly, this is a best-of-both-worlds
solution that blends freedom with standards. It also is distinctly suited to Millennials, who are used to
custom tailoring their media-driven experiences to suit their needs: again, this can only be considered a
win-win situation.
Similarly, there is another touchstone that is potent, rarely-used, and profitable for engagement
of Millennials: games. Educational games offer a unique type of engagement that teachers and students
both crave: fun. Typically, there are four different types of games: simulations, which are “designed to
Tech Happens 5
reflect reality;” games, which are “competitive activity with a prescribed setting;” simulation-games,
which are “reality-base” games; and exercise, which “structured, non-competitive, *and+ experiential”
(Allery 2004, p. 504). Students are familiar with these types of games, and are regularly playing them
outside of school. Simulations are indeed powerful; the U.S. Army has even backed the creation of a
wartime simulation. It is with this sort of potency in mid, that we must explore the usage of games and
simulations in a classroom setting. Students are already literate in this media, and it would be unwise to
ignore those implications; technology has happened.
Aside from the structure and media literacy that is already in place amongst young people,
games offer other, excellent opportunity to savvy educators. Games excel at promoting two things:
cooperation and engagement. Since Piaget revolutionized educational thought, cooperation and
collaboration have been hot-ticket items in the world of emerging pedagogy. Games offer a medium
that is greatly suited to this sort of pedagogy. Students can work together, either cooperatively or
competitively, to reach a goal. All the while, they might be accomplishing challenges and immersing
themselves in content which otherwise might not seem interesting. Similarly, the level of engagement is
necessarily increased with video games. By definition, a video game is multimedia; that is, it engages
participants at multiple levels of sensory involvement. This sort of medium is paramount to
differentiated instruction.
However, with great power, it is said, comes great responsibility. Educators must be careful to
not to let games become a crutch. Sadly, many students will only ever experience games as fillers, but
implementation of games into the school curriculum must never become ancillary; it must become an
intentional, structured experience with achievable objectives. It must not just happen, but must be
purposeful.
Tech Happens 6
To be able to implement properly, “a new design paradigm implemented,” Gunter, Kenny, and
Vick, professors at the University of Central Florida (2007) insist. This sort of paradigm would include
four parts: attention, relevance, confidence and challenge, and satisfaction and success. Games would
have to be able to “capture their interest,” or attention; “meet… learner’s needs,” or relevance; build
“positive expectation for success,” or confidence; and “provide meaningful opportunities,” or
satisfaction (p. 511-221). By following a systematic model for design, we can make sure that a certain
level of consistency that ensures that standards are met: efficacy rather than willy-nilly, unpredictable
results.
Technology integration can certainly be a daunting task. This is certainly something of which we
must be aware, but it is not an excuse to remain ineffective. To be able to meet the needs of twenty-
first-century learners, we must adapt our pedagogies to effectively engage our students. We can be sure
of one thing: they are going to be using technology in their out-of-class lives. If we take this for granted,
then we are left with one of two options; we can either fight technological encroachment into our
classrooms tooth and nail, or we can embrace change and use technology to suit our objectives. We
must never lose sight of the principle that change is inevitable; progress is not.
Tech Happens 7
References
Allery, L. A. (2004). Educational games and structured experiences. Medical Teacher, 26, 6, 504-505
Christakis, D., & Zimmerman, F. (2009). Young Children and Media. American Behavioral Scientist, 52, 8,
1177-1185.
Gunter, G., Kenny, R., & Vick, E. (2008). Taking educational games seriously: using the RETAIN model to
design endogenous fantasy into standalone educational games. Educational Technology
Research and Development, 56, 5-6.
Pew Research Center (May 10, 2011). Millennials: A portrait of generation next. Retrieved from
http://pewsocialtrends.org/files/2010/10/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change.pdf
Reiser, R. A. (2001). A History of Instructional Design and Technology: Part I: A History of Instructional
Media. Educational Technology Research and Development, 49, 1, 53-64.
Spector, M. J. (2010). Educational Technology and Change. TechTrends, 54, 6-7.
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