Learning in the Digital Age: A Brief Narrative

In my 24 years of teaching, there have been a number of changes in regards to technology and digital learning. In writing this brief narrative, I will focus primarily on how it has changed or affected my practice only because I have not really considered how it may have changed the learning experiences of my students.

In my first year (1994) as a teacher, I did not have a work or personal email, an online gradebook or any issues with students using their cellphones as no one had one at the time. In my second year of teaching, I was given an email account from the district. I have since changed schools (2000) and in doing so was given a laptop from the district which at the time was not a common practice. While at my current school, I have gone through three different online grading/ attendance systems (most current one is Powerschool), have been introduced to turnitin.com (which has changed my life as an English teacher) and four years ago our school went to a 1:1 (Chromebooks) program. Seeing that the school was moving in this direction, I volunteered to pilot the 1:1 and had my classes using Chromebooks for a year before the major rollout in 2015. However, I am not as well versed in the capabilities of the Chromebook as I would like to be and continue to learn new possibilities every year with them. I have also seen a number of cell phone policies come and go, and many of them with rather comic consequences. I have used Google Classroom for the past 5 years as well as a shared website with my co-teacher. This co-taught class is almost paperless as my co-teacher has a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to the use of technology.  I can honestly say that she has been able to push and pull me “out of the dark ages” in the past three years.

Technology, as I have seen it evolve in the public school system, is both a blessing and a curse. Blessings in that it has helped my workflow tremendously, but also a curse as many of the older issues facing education seem to get amplified via the digital age (i.e. cyber bullying, online cheating, ect.).