I was recently participating in a MOOC (massive open online course) and one of the assignments was to assess our own digital footprint. I was a bit nervous about Googling my own name, but forged on anyway to find out what my public online presence might look like. I was mostly relieved to discover that I had been, largely, practicing what I preach about digital citizenship. What surprised me was the number of pictures of my children that were associated with, not only my name, but also their names. I’m usually careful about where I post pictures of the kiddos and how they are tagged. It really hit me that I have already started to create their digital footprint without their knowledge or consent.
I tell you this story because it relates to so many of the conversations I have been having in schools over the last two years. I have found myself in the very uncomfortable position of being the “anti-tech” person in the room. For a person with the job title “Instructional Technology Coordinator,” and someone who is as interested in innovating practice and I am, that is more than a bit worrisome.
Let me be clear. I believe in the power of technology to change teaching and learning. It can create new collaborative opportunities, deepen learning, facilitate student choice, speed up the feedback loop, and automate tasks so that time can be spent on personal interaction. So much has been written on technology’s role in education and almost everyone agrees that it has the power to radically shift classroom environments.
The big “but” in my story is that the technology comes at a price. Those free apps and online accounts aren’t really free. For those of us who remember agreeing to our first iTunes account, did you read the 31 pages of the Terms of Service before clicking on the “I Agree” button? If you are like me, you were in too big of a hurry to experience this new thing that Apple was providing to you! Since iTunes launched so successfully, the Web 2.0 apps and websites are full of these types of Click Wrap agreements. By clicking the button, you agree to everything contained within. In
exchange for using the product, you likely give permission to them to use your information for advertising, research on usage, ownership of the material you create on the website, and the list goes on. That’s a lot to consent to with one little button. The government agrees, which is why they have ruled that anyone under the age of 13 cannot enter into such an agreement. Sometimes parental consent can override that restriction, but not in all instances.
But there is so much out there!
We just want to be innovative in our classrooms!
I hear this all the time, and I understand. Here’s where I get the “anti-tech person” label. My job is to make sure we can balance legal compliance, student digital footprints, and classroom innovation in a way that is responsible to all our learners. I have to ask of any technology that we use as part of our classroom what it does, how it relates to the content, and the impact it has on a student’s digital footprint. The reality is that the technology is not a magic bullet. The technology is only as good as the teacher, the purpose, and the implementation of it. Bringing in technology for the glamour or the appeal of the flashy new thing does not enhance learning. It merely shifts it from one mode to another. Instead, let’s focus on great teaching and learning, and the technology that can get us to transformative.
