Striking a balance

Scotlight Thoughts on technology Fastforward to the future www.scotlight.com

technology in education

written by Charlotte Gordon and Alexander Menchtchikov designed by Sienna Reinders

Scotlight Thoughts on technology Fastforward to the future

www.scotlight.com/technology-in-education/teachers-seek-a-balance

Thoughts on technology

Charlotte Gordon

Since students have returned to the classroom, the way technology is used in schools has changed in many ways. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, technology was primarily used in classrooms for presentations and word processing. During the pandemic, teachers employed technology in new ways in order to accomodate online learning. When readjusting to inperson learning, teachers were tasked with deciding which elements of technology to keep. Post-pandemic, students now submit most of their work online and spend much of the day with their computers on their desks.

“I think technology can be helpful if used in the right way and in the right amount,” said Melissa Hero, a Carlmont biology and mobile apps teacher. “Sometimes it can be really helpful for students who might need assistive technology, to have it read things to them, using text to speech.”

While it’s clear that technology is here to stay, few teachers entirely embrace or reject technology. Most teachers try to strike a balance, but some subjects more easily transfer to technology, such as English, whereas math is much more computational and lends itself better to being on paper.

“You don't use technology just to use technology. And there's just not a lot that is going to enhance the learning right now,” said Carlmont math teacher Robert Tsuchiyama. “I could use Kahoots and things like that but with the honors classes, the pace is just so much faster, we don't necessarily have time.”

Teachers have to work to balance the usefulness of technology without minimizing the benefits of in-person interactions.

“When using Google Docs for peer feedback, it's easy to share documents and to collaborate,” Hero said. “But you don't want to do that every single time because you want students talking to each other. So sometimes when we're doing things on computers, I might say only one person can have a computer and that can help get more face-to-face conversations.”

Technology makes it easier for students to collaborate and organize their assignments. Canvas, an online management system for students, teachers, and parents, provides a platform for tracking assignments and grades and allows all its users to see where a student stands in a course at any given time. A study conducted at Northwestern reported that 92% of student respondents felt comfortable using Canvas, similar to the percentage reported by faculty.

“Technology can help in terms of organization, students will misplace papers, when everything is on device in the cloud, it's much easier for students to find things,” said Ian Hagmann, a Carlmont physics teacher.

However, doing classwork on the computer may deprive students of the reinforcement of handwriting notes. Researchers at Princeton and UCLA found that there are strong connections between handwriting notes and memorizing them, whereas, with typing, there is little connection. Researchers showed students TedTalks and 30 minutes later, students were asked questions about what they watched. On factual-recall questions, participants performed equally well across conditions. However, on conceptual-application questions, participants who took notes on their laptops performed significantly worse than those who took notes by hand.

For students who miss class, many teachers now have a library of lecture videos created during the pandemic to compensate for the minimized learning hours on Zoom.

“Lecture videos were initially just made for distance learning, because there was asynchronous work and you can't just look at a book and know how to do the work,” Tsuchiyama said. “It's worked out really nicely because when students miss time, they can keep up with the work.”

Carlmont sophomore Katie Peacock accessed these videos while out from class for sports as well as illness.

“When I had COVID earlier this year, the videos my math teacher created were super helpful because I could just watch those videos and keep up with all the learning,” Peacock said. “Throughout the year, I have also used the videos to study.”

While the didactic aspects of school may benefit from technological solutions, the effects on students’ wellbeing are debatable.

“I think a negative aspect of using technology in the classroom is in this day and age, everyone has technology in their pocket with their cell phone, and a lot of times people are on their phones nonstop,” Hero said.

There are many advantages to using technology; it is better for the environment, typing is faster and neater than handwriting, and students don’t need to manage piles of papers. However, technological approaches may have a hidden downside, as students miss out on valuable interpersonal connections.

“If a student gets a text and we're going over something really important, they can't help themselves. They have to see who sent the text and what's going on, they are so distracted by it,” Tsuchiyama said.

Students may use their phones to avoid feeling uncomfortable in social situations, but avoiding unfamiliar people may leave students isolated. It’s easier to look at a phone than risk rejection, and this avoidance is bleeding into education.

“In the old days, when students came into class, it was like ‘hey guys, calm down, calm down, stop talking,’ even though class hadn't begun yet, it was always settle down time,” Tsuchiyama said. “Now, it's completely the opposite. I'm upset that it is so quiet because everybody's on their phones and no one is talking to each other.”

Teachers aren’t the only ones who recognize how the presence of phones change social dynamics.

“If students don’t have their phones out in class, they are much more likely to talk to the people around them and connect with people. Whereas with a phone, it's easy for students to just be absorbed into the screen,” Peacock said.

As phones have become ubiquitous, some teachers are innovating ways to use the phone as a learning device.

“As far as phones go, phones are very useful in science

classes as experimental devices. They can be used for videos, timers, and metronomes. They definitely have a place as analytical equipment,” Hagmann said. However, phones in students’ hands also provide a steady source of distraction. A study conducted by Harvard revealed that undergraduate students used their phones for an average of 11 times per day during class. “At this stage in their life, I don't think many students are mature enough to stop the impulse of wanting to look at their phone all the time. Even adults don't do this well. So it should be regulated, but not locked away or a free-for-all,” Hagmann said. That said, Hagmann recognizes that phones are sometimes less disruptive than bad behavior. Even though phones certainly distract students, students "Now, you're looking for a that would otherwise be distracting others distraction or some way to are only distracting themselves. “Phones can be kind of fill your mind that especially distracting if you are someone isn't the work that you feel who doesn't really like school or really want to do work,” disconnected from." Hagmann said. “Now, you're looking for a distraction or some way to kind of fill your mind that isn't Ian Hagmann the work that you feel disconnected from. Many students have two options. They either try to find distraction in others or the phone itself. With others, one kid can derail a whole class, or a group of students, or table or whatever, it can kind of pile up.” Teachers also acknowledge that the internet’s pervasiveness, whether on their phone or computer, means that a few clicks away from school sites leads to a rabbit hole of distraction. “The computer opens up the door just like the phone does to just being distracted by anything,” Hagmann said.

Scotlight Thoughts on technology Fastforward to the future

www.scotlight.com/technology-in-education/the-future-of-tech

Fast forward to the future

Alexander Menchtchikov

In the past four years, Carlmont saw its most radical change in its use of technology. Its pivots between online learning and in-person instruction through 2020 and 2021 have been surprisingly efficient for a lot of students.

“It started out pretty messy during my freshman year, but once we started having synchronous Zoom classes during my sophomore year, it was a lot better,” said senior Swaraali Save. “Teachers did a good job using features like screen sharing and breakout rooms to simulate a real classroom.”

When Save was a freshman at Carlmont, she faced the typical realities of high school. What she did not expect, however, is to spend half the year behind a screen in the comfort of her own home, spending time with her classmates and teachers through video boxes on Zoom.

“It was hard to stay on track and pay attention at times, especially with lecture-based classes like math, but I liked the convenience of being able to attend class from my own desk. It was also nice having so much free time since the school day was shorter, plus there was no commute,” Save said.

For the Sequoia Union High School District, a lot of transformation was necessary to run a whole year of distance learning.

Zoom made tremendous strides in the wake of the pandemic to become the primary choice for videoconferencing and marked the most significant technological change for students in recent years.

Save questioned whether running a whole school year of learning exclusively online would work to the extent the district wanted it to. It turned out to be undoubtedly a success, aside from the apparent limitations of such a model, as students could still interact with their teachers and learn through Canvas and Zoom.

Prior to the pandemic, the district had a relaxed perspective when it came to the adoption of new technology. However, because of the pandemic, they were forced to rely on it throughout an entire year.

Since the year of distance learning, the district has implemented universal computer use using a “Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) model. If students cannot do that, the district can rent out Chromebooks to its students.

“Our district is on its way to becoming a one-to-one student device district. Currently, each site receives enough Chromebooks for all incoming 9th graders, so that by the 2024-2025 school year, we should have enough devices for each student,” said Barbara Reklis, the district’s coordinator of instructional technology and innovation.

Previously, teachers had to schedule Chromebook carts for their students if they wanted to utilize technology in the classroom. The pandemic emphasized not only the benefits of students using technology but also the benefits for teachers.

“Before students brought their own devices, teachers had to reserve a cart like three weeks in advance, but they just weren’t using it and it wasn’t very effective,” said Melissa Hero, a science teacher at Carlmont.

John Rowe, a business teacher at Carlmont, runs his classes almost entirely online, whether it’s using Canvas to turn in assignments or using computers to take notes and participate in class activities.

“Even for us teachers, it’s easier to use technology to grade things now instead of having piles of papers on our desks all the time,” Rowe said.

Changes in schools always came in slight increments every few years, according to Rowe.

The necessary adoption of Zoom marked the first time such a drastic change had occurred in schools in recent memory, and it happened in a minimal amount of time.

In the case of the BYOD model, the district’s hand was forced, and universal technology use was necessary to maintain education in such circumstances. Eventually, Reklis sees a supply of Chromebooks that would eliminate the BYOD model and provide devices for all students. “In general, tech use in our schools is growing and growing. Three years ago, many teachers used technology in their instruction, based in large part on their own comfort level. Now, the question is more about whether technology will enhance or distract from the lesson, not simply whether or not to use it at all,” Reklis said. As the district takes a further step in its advancements, there are questions of whether there will be more progress made in this field. Rowe has been one of those who are critical of the speed at which schools progress when it comes to using technology.

“In some regards, education is going to stay the same, and that’s mostly because it should. We’ve been doing it for a long time, and we figured out what works and doesn’t work,” Rowe said. “And there’s more to learning than what you learn in your books. It’s learning how to interact with your friends, and not only that, but also, you know, it’s a lot of fun being in high school.”

The extent of any advancements will be limited, as the way teachers educate their students has proven to be highly effective, and there are no plans to change that. Essential subjects such as math and English have been taught consistently throughout the past few decades, and there are no plans to pivot from that due to the effectiveness of such education.

For Rowe, the furthest extent to which he sees technology being incorporated in schools from here is through gamification and simulations, which help students learn content while also having fun doing so.

Gamification is the application of typical elements of a game into other areas of activity. This technique is typically used as part of marketing strategies but has also bled into education. Kahoot, Blooket, and Quizlet Live are all examples of how students have used online games to learn content and compete against each other. Simulations could also play a vital role in the further advancement of technology use in education. For example, Rowe’s students used a business simulation competition run by the Distributive Education Clubs of America, known as DECA, to virtually experience the content taught in his classes.

“That virtual business simulation we played used to be software that we’d download in the past, and now it’s online. That’s just another example of how recently that shift to online content is being made in our schools,” Rowe said.

However, beyond gamification and simulations, Rowe thinks it is unlikely that there will be more technological advancements any time soon.

For instance, many workplaces have begun exploring AI technology’s benefits and have often benefited from using it to assist employees. While its possible upside is unmatched, it’s far from being utilized in schools and educational institutions.

“I think we’re a long way away from seeing AI be used in schools. They’ll definitely try to make money with it first, so you’ll see self-driving cars and all that, but eventually, AI will help everything,” Rowe said.

Even if access to AI platforms is attained in schools, there needs to be more clarity around its impact on academic integrity. Even with the tool of Google, the district has pushed students to answer open-ended questions rather than ones you can search up. To Reklis, AI has a chance to undo such progress.

“We need to make sure our students are demonstrating their thinking rather than their technology. As we have learned with the prevalence of search engines, like Google, we need to adapt how we are assessing student understanding,” Reklis said.

Any movements towards using AI

Scotlight Thoughts on technology Fastforward to the future

www.scotlight.com/technology-in-education/the-future-of-tech

are hard to predict, but in the recent future, its application will be subtle, such as Google’s and Grammarly’s developments within their software.

The universal adaptation of AI is far in our future, but it is a realistic outcome to consider as the world of technology moves forward.

For now, the technology that will come within the next few years will consist mainly of gamification and simulations as schools grow accustomed to the newfound reality of every student having access to a device.

“The next leap forward can only be made once we as a district truly comprehend how technology can help our students learn,” Rowe said. “Before that, I think it’s unlikely we’ll see much movement from here.”

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