YouTube Transcript:
Technology_ The best or worst thing for education | Scott Widman | TEDxYouth@BSPR

I want to start off with the question
technology in the classroom is it better
or worse for our students today and I
want to kind of get your guys insight so
let's see it thumbs up if you think
technology in the classroom is more
beneficial to students all right now
give me a thumbs down if you think
technology in the classroom is more
harmful to students okay
good to get you guys's insights listen
little secret I must admit I've been
teaching middle school for five years
now and I have no idea whether
technology in the classroom is the best
thing in the world or the worst so
example if I'm having students use
cellphones to do some research I'm
always impressed when I see the kid
who's got multiple tabs open they're
cross-referencing sources and citing
information all at the same time and I
think wow technology in the classroom
what a valuable tool but then you see
the kid who's streaming Netflix or
literally doing a tick-tock mid class
and I think wow technology in the
classroom what a needless distraction
this is the problem right if my job as
an educator is to do what's best for my
students in terms of technology I don't
know what's best for my students so I
did what everyone what the question does
I googled it right
long story short googling did not go
well kind of muddied the waters turns
out if you google technology in
education you're gonna find hundreds of
articles that can convincingly argue
both sides from every angle so
admittedly no help there
but the key takeaway is this topics
debatable right and if it's debatable
despite the countless and noble elements
and pissing missing pieces to the puzzle
there are three things that we know to
be true about technology and regards our
students number one we know that
technology can be dangerous right
schools face things like cyber bullying
it can bring problems out of the
classroom into the classroom whether it
be academic dishonesty right it can
technology can make it easier to cheat
that's true and
recent evidence suggests that technology
can even mimic symptoms of addiction
which is concerning for a lot of reasons
but either way we know that technology
is a minefield and we got to be careful
the second thing we know technology can
be infinitely valuable it can advance
student learning in a way that no
teacher or school could ever replicate
it can act as a vast reservoir of
information that not only can turn any
expert into a layman or any layman into
an expert but can do so with a few short
flips of the thumb right so number two
we know technology can be infinitely
beneficial so if you keeping score at
home we are tied up it's one to one we
know technology is good we know
technology is bad and admittedly we're
no closer to answering our question but
the third point that we know to be true
about technology helps clear it up a
little bit third thing that we know is
that technology isn't slowing down in
fact it's speeding up it's safe to say
that technology isn't a fad like bottle
flipping doesn't have an expiration date
it's not going anywhere and if that's
the case and you're a student in 2019
you were born sometime after the year
2000 that makes 100 percent of our
student body card-carrying members of
Generation Z now Generation Z is most
commonly referred to as digital natives
and this term says it all because
they're defining quality is the fact
that they've never experienced the world
without the internet without cell phones
without complete access to the entire
world and if that's the case then that
means that to our students technology is
less of a device that they possess and
more of an environment that they inhabit
right so hypothetically if school is
experiencing cyber bullying issues let's
say they may decide to ban technology
because this the problem is clear
technology has a negative impact on
student learning and the solution is
simple no technology means no problems
but this solutions only
temporary when you consider eventually
that bells gonna rain right and at that
point students are gonna leave the
classroom they're gonna open their
locker they're gonna take out their
phones and they're gonna exit that
safety bubble at that point students are
gonna find themselves in a familiar
digital environment with the same risks
and dangers but this time maybe
inexperienced and underprepared so when
we re-examine the question is technology
more beneficial or harmful to our
students we realize that it's the wrong
question to ask because it doesn't
matter if technology is more beneficial
or harmful to our students when we
remember two things number one as
schools and educators our
responsibilities to do what's best for
our students and our students have a
device in their pocket that is both
infinitely valuable and infinitely
dangerous that's why it becomes clear
that utilizing technology in the
classroom is less of a choice and more
of a responsibility right because as
educators were men's horse and that
means it's our obligation to prepare
students for the challenges of being
digital natives as teachers we have
students practice skills all the time
but navigating digital waters takes
practice too and that's why it's our
responsibility to be able to provide
students with opportunities to develop
their digital literacy skills and become
lifelong independent learners thank you