Brenda's Blog

Embracing Technology
With "Eyes Wide Open"

When left to my own resources, I am an eternal technology integration proponent. I have trouble seeing anything but the positives about integrating technology into teaching and learning and I operate from that premise, full steam ahead.

Several years ago, my overly confident perspective came into question when I was required, as part of graduate course work, to analyze Neil Postman's influential article, The Judgment of Thamus. Right off the bat, Postman bugged me -- he was such a technology naysayer! But as I read the article, I was taken on a Postman-led journey through a thought provoking discussion designed to challenge technology enthusiasts like me to consider how every new technology innovation has a two-sided effect, that of being "... both a burden and a blessing; not either/or, but this and that."

Suggesting that our culture abounds with technology enthusiasts, Postman determinately chose to exercise a dissenting voice, one that he believed was "... needed to moderate the 'in' made by the enthusiastic multitudes" and in doing so, prompted many technophiles (like me) to look at technology with a fresh set of eyes, or as Postman so expressively stated, "...with eyes wide open." Postman's treatise communicated a message I needed to hear -- that society is in need of technological gatekeepers who are cognoscente of the fact that "...a new technology does not add or subtract something. It changes everything."

This turned out to be an "aha moment" for me. I started to look more critically at how, when, or if I should use technology. For example, when using the Internet with students, not only should I consider its potential to connect students to engaging learning opportunities, I also need to remember that without proper preparation and scaffolding, my students might become virtual tourists, aimlessly surfing around the Internet without finding Web sites of any substance or without realizing much learning gain. As a technology gatekeeper, I need to take time to weigh whether the addition of technology to a learning event is worth what is "lost in transition," whether that be precious classroom time or a disregard for a more appropriate traditional approach that turns out to be more effective than the use of technology, even in a digital age.

Postman's message to educators, penned over fourteen years ago is all the more relevant today -- on your way to learning improvement; watch for not only what technology will do for teaching and learning but what it will undo.

Who Is Brenda?

Brenda Dyck is a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). In addition to teaching preservice teachers, Brenda is the moderator of MiddleTalk, a listserve sponsored by the National Middle School Association (NMSA). Her "HotLinks" column is a regular feature in NMSA's magazine, Middle Ground. Brenda also is a teacher-editor for MidLink magazine.

10/10/2006
Updated 06/02/2009