As I teach future teachers who experienced the pandemic as high schoolers, I have found that many of them have experienced lots of the awfulness technology integration. This bad experience has left them with a lackluster approach to using technology…And I don’t blame them.
On the other hand, this is a generation of teachers who realize they need to understand educational technology options enough to continue teaching if they are faced with face-to-face closures of schools. As an instructor of edtech, it often feels like I spend a third of the semester just convincing them that technology CAN BE integrated meaningfully.
When I ask them what they fear the most, the answer is almost always “off task behavior.” I hear this so often that I’ve actually started the semester off with a lesson titled “Classroom Management of Tech Rich Devices.” I model what it means to be an educator aware of what is happening with the devices in my classroom. I strive to meet my students where they are and navigate them forward to a path of more ease in using technology.
The other resounding thing I hear these 20-something year olds say is that they are concerned about the addictiveness of technology and finding balance. They see this problem in their own lives and worry about it for their students. When I introduce the concept of digital citizenship to them, they respond with an open mind. They see the importance of teaching digital citizenship even though most have little to no recollection of it being taught to them while they were in a k12 environment. One of my favorite things about teaching preservice teachers is introducing them to the idea of teaching digital citizenship and how to embed the concepts into their curriculum.
With generative AI changing the landscape of education, we can’t have the next generation of educators turning a blind eye to technology. We must help them feel empowered by the possibilities. We must help them overcome their inhibitions. We must help them to understand what good technology integration looks like in supporting the learning in their classrooms. We must show them they share the responsibility of teaching their students what digital literacy looks like.
