Technology Weaponized for Learning

 My parents are, for lack of a more polite term, old. They are the kind of people who fought every technology upgrade that came their way until they had no other choice. Growing up we didn't have a printer in the house until I was almost seventeen, in spite of me having to write dozens of essays for classes (Which were emailed to teachers on our equally outdated dialup internet). 

Because of the hesitance that my parents exposed onto my life, I ended up being behind the curve on my own technology literacy for much of my early adulthood. I didn't understand basic hotkeys in word or excel, I struggled to type, and the internet was a complete mystery to me. And while I was slow to develop my ability to utilize technology, once I saw that it was the way of the future, I worked to embrace it completely.

And yes it's still a journey, and I am nowhere near the finish line when it comes to technology literacy, I am far more capable than I realized. And as a result I can also see how the future generations can struggle to learn about technology from many of us (who will be our parents ages sooner than we realize). And so, as educators, it seems that if we don't define what technology is used for in our classrooms, they will learn it is either unimportant or not something we utilize in knowledge based circles. 

So it's clear that we as educators have to turn the technology, which students will inevitably have with them and around them whether we want it or not, into a weapon for acquiring knowledge. There is so much potential for the future of our classrooms, but it requires us to embrace the future and not approach it with fear. If a student is so engaged in classroom activities (which they are doing on their phones, tablets, or laptops) that they have no choice but to use the tech to learn, that will help quell the stigma that has lingered in education for so long. Either we find a way to weaponize the technology towards our intended purpose (learning) it will be weaponized against up. 

Tech in Education