Page 18
Features
•••
THE STANDARD | December 2013
Technology power at our fingertips
Lead Features Editor Mina Omar looks into the future of technology in education with members of the ASL community
M
ost mornings, Director of Curriculum Roberto d’Erizans waits at Waverley Place to greet students as they begin their day only to be acknowledged by a fraction of the students who pass. “Students walk in wearing their headphones,” d’Erizans said. “They don’t say hello back simply because they can’t hear me.” Lack of personal interaction is something that has developed alongside the advances that have taken place technologically over the past few years. D’Erizans, while acknowledging this pitfall, feels that the role of technology within educational institutions is substantial and, at this point, permanent. “I think technology can serve as a powerful tool. One of the most important things to learn today is how to grapple with the access to information,” he said. “How can you
access the right information? How do you search for it correctly? I think technology can serve as a tool to get to those answers.” High School Principal Jack Phillips believes that technology plays multiple roles in classrooms and that it is beneficial because it is familiar to students. “Technology makes certain things more efficient than were otherwise possible. [Technology] provides opportunities for independent learning that you just can’t do in a traditional classroom setting and it offers access to things that were previously unavailable,” he said. The popularity of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) have provided additional opportunities for independent learning amongst students worldwide. These online courses have changed the face of education in a variety of ways. They are free and thereby available to anyone who wishes to
partake in them. This accessibility allows people from all around the world to take part in learning experiences together, something that was previously impossible. The revolutionary nature of MOOCs has brought into question the role a teacher plays in a student’s education. Technology Coordinator Mariam Mathew believes that advances in technology, especially the introduction of online courses, have hugely changed the role of teachers. “Today a teacher is more than just someone who stands and presents an idea,” she said. “A teacher is someone who is a facilitator of ideas. [He or she] helps students frame questions, think more deeply through things they’re being taught, address real life problems and hopefully have a passion for learning on their own.” D’Erizans expressed a similar sentiment, saying that the role of the teacher has
The Past
changed from being “the sage on the stage to a guide on the side.” However, he does not think that technology will completely alter the way educational systems are run. “You need the person with the expertise to craft the learning experience. You can learn a lot by looking something up online, but deep learning happens with a teacher,” he said. “The role of the teacher has changed, but we will always need teachers.” Phillips, similarly to d’Erizans, believes that technology cannot completely overhaul the learning experience and replace everything that takes place in the classroom. He hopes that valuable learning will continue to take place face-to-face in the form of discussions. “I think [technology] should only play as big of a role as it needs to play. It all depends on what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “I think about a Harkness conversa-