DoCurious Asks How Can Schools Strike the Right Technology Balance?

How Can Schools Strike the Right Technology Balance?

Walk into any school today and you'll hear the same debate: Is technology enhancing education or damaging it? We've watched this argument intensify as screens and tech multiply in classrooms, there are numerous articles–pro^[1]and con^[2]–and we hear it discussed directly from every DoCurious school partner. One of the most common concerns is that the choice of technologies feels disjointed and not fully aligned with the school’s core goals. We assert that the question isn't whether technology belongs in schools; it does. The real question is how much technology and where and how it’s being used. And then deeper, how to create the right plan for your school.

Technology Benefits and Risks

Technology in schools has key benefits, including saving both teachers and students time^[3]. Forexample, teachers can post reading lists and exams online much quicker than handing out hard copies. And those materials can be edited and updated on thefly. Tests taken digitally can be graded by teachers more quickly, leaving more time for things like spending 1:1 time with students and developing curriculums. Technology opens up new ways to make learning more engaging, from gamification to content personalized around individual skills and interests. Technology allows on-the-fly analytics, such as how much time students spend on materials and confirmation of submittals.

Technology also brings a number of risks if it becomes a crutch and replaces the core activities students need to grow to become balanced adults. Tech can be used to create personalized content and make tests easier to take, but it misses the key elements of social, emotional and physical growth. For example, there is ideally an emotional bond between a teacher and students that technology can’t replace. Side by side classroom learning can build a sense of community and develop social skills, which is much harder to do with technology. And using technology often reduces physical activity, a significant goal of most K-12 educational institutions. Further, because young people are inundated with technology, too much technology in school risks the education experience losing its distinctiveness and melding into the rest of the over-screened world. If technology replaces key elements of student development, the now-missing components become limiting factors that inhibit student growth, just as with plants. And, like plants, too much of any one good thing can be detrimental togrowth.

The Solution is Balance

The answer, we believe, comes down to balance, and optimizing that balance means creating a technology plan that supports, not upends, your existing goals. Think about how a farmer grows crops: plants need water, light, and soil in specificproportions. Too little of one becomes a limiting factor that stunts growth. Too much of one, even something essential like water, can be equally harmful. The farmer knows the management of those elements has to align with the overall goals, which means optimizing the choice of ingredients, timing and amount. 

Student development works the same way. We all want students to grow and prosper into mature andsuccessful members of society. That requires balancing the traditional elements, such as a variety of subjects and appropriate classroom sizes, with the broader developmental elements such as cognitive, social, emotional and physical.

How to create a plan that manages the benefits and risks?

DoCurious suggests first identifying all the elements your school considers important to well-rounded student growth, like cognitive, social, emotional, and physical aspects.

Then identify how technology can help in each of those areas, weighing the plusses and minuses for both teachers and students. As noted, plusses include speed and efficiency; minuses include emotional and cultural detachment.

From a budget mindset, consider the extent to which a given technology can be more cost-effective by applying to multiple areas (as opposed to multiple single-use technologies).

Also consider the impacts of technoloy use on the institution’s brand image and on the relationship with parents. The right amount of technology can reinforce a school’s image as forward-thinking. Further, showing how a school uses technology in a balanced way can preempt concerns about too much tech.

Next, and this is a key element, consider how the candidate technologies complement one another in terms of student developmental goals, the needs of teachers, parents and administrators, ease of implementation, and economies of scale. Does adopting a suite of technologies increase teacher’s abilities to spend more time on the quality of the learning experience, such as more time to consider innovative subjects.

Develop Your Own Plan

We all recognize planning for this type of technology balance is not easy and unfortunately there is no one-size-fits all model. We’re recommending this step-by-step approach to create a plan that anchors on student developmental goals to best ensure the right technology in the right amounts used in the right places. Like plant health, we know that student growth and emotional health requires abalance and creating your school’s thorough and balanced technology plan is agreat place to start.

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^[1]ttps://www.teachhub.com/technology-in-the-classroom/2019/11/benefits-of-technology-in-the-classroom/

^[2]https://ies.ed.gov/learn/press-release/more-half-public-school-leaders-say-cell-phones-hurt-academic-performance

^[3]https://www.numberanalytics.com/blog/7-statistical-gains-from-edtech-in-modern-educational-classrooms

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