Posted by Michaela Tinnes on Jun 19, 2017; 4:23pm
URL: https://nabble.aealearningonline.org/Topic-4-Narrative-Voice-tp3794p8311.html

"Technology creates more problems than it solves," is something you may hear from old-school grumps that refuse to jump on the technology band wagon. I am not ashamed to say I've been one of these old-school grumps, and until recently I refused to welcome the advances of technology, especially within the classroom. As a substitute all I could see at first was problems. The biggest was monitoring the vast world wide web that was immediately at the fingertips of the students. All I could see was the distractions and temptations to get off task. All the gaming sites, Pinterest, Netflix, TV shows, chats, etc. In my position, this was all very overwhelming. But then I walked into my first "flipped classroom," like described in our modules in this course. Immediately I could see the benefits of this class. The students were so excited to watch the lessons the teacher had previously recorded and participate at their own pace. They could rewind if they needed slower pace for notes, they could go back if they missed something, they could record their questions to ask later in class, the possibilities really were endless.

That was my light bulb moment. I went from an old-school grump saying "Technology just creates more problems than it solves," to "Maybe technology really does open the door to endless learning opportunities."  This led me to a thought that I found very challenging, "was it really technology causing all the problems, or was it the operators?" What I mean by this is that prior to the positive experience that I had with the flipped classroom, all I had witnessed was students turned loose on their computers with hopes that they may make the right choice and do their lesson. There was no guidance, no direction, no oversight, no encouragement, etc. I realized then that there was a right way, and a wrong way to implement technology in a classroom, and many of the "problems" were largely preventable when the technology was used in an appropriate manner.  This challenged me because by refusing to learn about technology and the opportunities, I had become part of the problem with technology that I was so against in the first place. I didn't have the knowledge, or the skill set as an educator needed to help the students use the technology appropriately.

The fact of the matter is that technology is seemingly here to stay, so I challenge you readers with this, "In regards to technology, are you part of the problem, or the solution?"