EdTech Philosophy
Technology is a powerful tool of augmenting learning, especially after the surge of the 2020 pandemic. Educational technology can advance students at all levels, essentially for higher educations. Teaching with technology has allowed instructors to create course materials and activities to promote student learning and engagement. For example, an instructor can create online course materials (e.g., 3-5 minutes presentations on learning topics) to study before the class. With technology, students can effectively interact and collaborate with other students through group activities via shared documents (e.g., Google Docs, Google Slides, etc.) and discussion boards. Students can post questions and answers to continue conversations with their peers. Technology also allows the instructor to assess student learning outcomes via online quizzes and polling applications (e.g., menti.com, polls on Zoom, etc.) to promptly ask student questions and feedback associated with the learning materials. The prompt feedback is further used to lead peer instructions where students are asked to discuss answers with other students and explain why a particular answer choice is correct while other options are incorrect. Teaching with technology also provides students with the skills and abilities to interact with other people outside of the class. Technological skills such as video making, writing, and online collaborations can enhance student’s future career paths. Although technology is a powerful tool to promote student learning, it comes with potential challenges. For instance, technology is often costly, and not everybody can access it at home. Students may experience financial challenges to obtain a computer, tablet, online app purchases, or access to high-speed internet to connect to the learning materials and activities. As an instructor, we need to consider student accessibility to technology carefully, so no one is left behind for the learning. That means we should not just heavily rely on student assessments via prompt polling questions or other sorts of immediate evaluations. Additionally, the use of technology in the classroom can potentially decrease teacher-student relationships. As the 2020 pandemic started, classroom learning for higher education has shifted to learning with technology and online learning. Students do not have to meet the teacher in person, and they can attend the online class anywhere they want via web conference software (e.g., Google Meet, Zoom, etc.). Unlike the in-person course, where students and teachers interact before, during, and after class, the online class takes away student-teacher interactions before and after class. As an instructor, I heavily rely on technology to run classroom activities. I may not realize that technology has replaced some social interactions with my students in the in-person classes. Teaching with technology can promote effective learning where students are not limited to a long lecture given by an instructor. Instead, they are exposed to interactive learning activities and engaging collaborations with other students. Technology can also promote teacher-student interactions so that students can send messages to the teacher if they are not comfortable talking in front of the whole class and schedule an online meeting with the teacher for office hours or discussions outside of class. The latter also enhances learning accessibility, such that I am available to students during and after class. I firmly believe that it is the instructor’s job to balance using technology and socially to interact with students and creating a welcoming environment for all. |