When Technology Becomes a Teaching Trap

I went to the mall today to pick up a few things. I stopped at a small jewellery store and chose two items for my daughter - one for her birthday, and one for Christmas. When I was ready to pay for them, the sales lady used an app on her phone to send the purchase through to the computer. We then walked three steps to the computer to pay for the items. The store was not large - perhaps five meters across and 10 meters long. The store was not busy - I was the only customer. Why then did we have to go through such a show in order for me to purchase these two items?

It reminds me of what we can be guilty of as teachers. There is a not-so-silent voice that perpetuates this idea that using technology will make us more productive. It will make us more efficient. It will improve life for all. If we're using technology, that automatically makes us future-focused and twenty-first century-ish.

The trouble is this: If we weren't good enough without it, we'll never be good enough with it.

I love technology, and I use it in the classroom every lesson of every day. I 'speak' both Google Apps for Education and Microsoft Office 365. I use the best of both worlds and manipulate tools to suit my purpose and the purpose of my students. But if using technology adds more pressure, more steps, and takes longer to achieve the purpose that I set out to, then I'm using it wrong. A good friend once encouraged me not to look for "workarounds" when using technology, but to "look for new and better ways of doing things".

Technology becomes a trap for teachers when we expect it to make us better teachers. When we get it into our heads that the technology will teach the students, engage the students, relate to the students. When we forget that technology is just a tool. When we do the basics well, technology will enable us to fly with our students, and launch them onto greater heights.

Let's use technology what it was used for - to genuinely make us more productive and efficient and let's avoid the trap of relying on technology to make us look good. If we genuinely are looking forward to the future, and preparing our students for their world, these things will follow. Technology will be the tool we use to equip our students, not the bedazzlement to show how futuristic we are.