Stepping into a modern day classroom, you will find that it is filled with a ubiquitous array of multimodal and digital resources, yet a majority of these revolutionary resources are likely not school issued, rather they were brought by the young people themselves.  Digital mediums for communication, expression and multimodally engaging in one’s own life, such as social media (e.g. Twitter) and interactive technology like iPads, enter the classroom in the pockets, bags and backpacks of many of the students and educators, yet only until recently have these digital mediums become a part of the educational environment.  Even with government campaigns and innovative research, the role and the implementation of mobile devices, social media and video games in the classroom curriculum have many unanswered questions, and with the fast-paced progression of these technologies, likely will continue to stimulate further ambiguity and possibilities for research for teachers, curriculum designers and the academic community.

In this technological era of iPads and Twitter, learners and educators alike have access to some of the most intuitive and engaging forms of communication and expression ever available.  These technologies are a part of their everyday lives, typically used outside of the classroom (Corrin, Lockyer & Bennett, 2010).  Only until recent developments in educational research and the constant declarations of various innovative leaders in creativity, such as the late Steve Jobs, iPads and the like, have had to remain contained in their respective pockets or bags during school hours, for fear that these technologies would interfere with the learning happening within the classroom.

Yet, with contemporary society tasking educational curriculum and teachers to play the role of preparing young people for the escalating expectations and demands of the globalized workplace (Regelski, 2006), it was beginning to seem futile to exclude these technological advances that youth were already embracing to connect on a global level.  Many professional development programs for pre-and in-service teachers emphasize that there is a necessity in understanding how technology can be incorporated into a teaching practice (Ham, 2010).  Yet, the question then becomes, how are those technology integration programs designed and evaluated, and are they relevant and applicable for how the youth themselves are engaging and learning with these technologies outside of school walls?

It seems that North American curriculum and policy designers have finally embarked in their realization of the importance of digital and social media within the education process, as seen with the American campaign of “Educate to Innovate”, as launched by President Obama.  While initiatives such as this can be seen as a stepping-stone to critically thinking about the importance of technology, math and science in young people’s lives, the educational curriculum in Canada and the United States has only recently begun to lean towards incorporating contemporary technologies into the classroom.  Furthermore, finally moving past the misconceptions of technology only being for games and play, many teachers and schools are beginning to let youth bring in their own iPads and iPhones into the classroom, especially as recent research has shown that video games and multimodal technologies have become an inherent and essential part of how young people learn (Kenny & McDaniel, 2011).

Granted, as a whole within the literature and media, curriculum designers and policy makers seem to be placing a focus on the role of technology within young people’s lives.  Yet, it is not clear where the line of demarcation lies between what is educationally beneficial and what is simply a demonstration of allowing technology in the classroom, nor is it clear what constitutes as being a useful part of the learning process. This aspect of determining how and what technologies are educationally relevant contains a wealth of ambiguity and the need for further in-depth research.  I posit based on the fast-paced evolving nature of modern technologies, curriculum development requires a way to keep up to date, without producing contradictory questions about what is the most current and relevant technologies and forms of learning for young people today.

This ambiguity has not apparently diminished the focus of social media and technology as possibilities for use in educational contexts, as many recent research reports have posed the benefits of iPads in the classroom and encourage the use of “apps” they deem educationally appropriate for particular learning objectives (Dickens & Churches, 2011).  Some of this interest in using educationally-focused iPad applications/”apps” can be attributed to the ground-breaking reports by researchers like Jenkins (2009) and Abrams (2009). Jenkins’s reports on participatory cultures have posed suggestions about the role of digital technologies and social media within young people’s lives, and how those digital and social medias can be incorporated into formalized learning through enabling and understanding the multimodal and intrinsic ways that young people engage with technologies.

Not every teacher has the opportunity or background to know how to incorporate technology into their classroom, yet many attempt to do so without having a clear understanding of the implications for learning. I posit that a part of this interest in placing novel technologies into the curriculum without fully understanding the ramifications may be attributed to a slight “bandwagon effect”.  The media-driven sensationalism and rallying about the importance of iPads and technology as definitive ways to develop innovation and creativity have led to many to be enamoured by the frenzy of buzz-words, such as “engagement” and “innovative learning”.  This mass acceptance of the technology in education revolution has been propelled to epic proportions, where digital media and video games have been lauded on many occasions as the perfect future method to completely transform the educational environment (Kenny, & McDaniel, 2011; Gee, 2003; Prensky, 2001).

In glancing at some of the schools that have been given access to technological resources for learning, such as the aforementioned popular iPads, I question whether this sensationalist view of technology as an immediate conduit to relevant learning has led to a mass acceptance that youth will automatically benefit in their learning by simply making the devices available.  Jenkins (2009) noted that the spectrum of technological knowledge and understanding is not equal across all students, as not all young people have equal access to become proficient in these digital and social medias.  While it may seem that all young people are highly capable of using iPads and digital media to learn and express themselves, it is not a universal, nor something to be ignored when considering the incorporation of these technologies into the classroom.

I do not intend on detracting from the potential for digital and social media to revolutionize how formal education functions and could foster learning using the mediums that are relevant to the youth themselves.  I do want to point out that the assumptions that seem to be evolving from current hopes to incorporate new media and technologies into the learning process, may be generalizing the educational functionality of modern technologies, as well as the expectation that young people will be arriving in the classroom with equal experience and proficiency in these technologies.  While young people are engrossed with technology and social media within their everyday lives, using it to communicate, express themselves and learn in novel ways, simply allowing them to use their iPads, or providing them with classroom sets of iPods, does not implicitly mean they will be learning educationally beneficial material. I put forward that due to the intricate and fast-evolving ways that young people engage with these technologies, educational curriculum that is developed in collaboration with the young people themselves, that allows them to play an active role in discussing how they are learning, may be in order.  Instead of researchers compiling a list of the educationally relevant applications for the iPad, could it be possible for young people to have critical discussions about how and what they may learn from certain apps, and use those relevant discussions to inform what and how those technologies are incorporated into the classroom lesson?

Cheers,

Deanna

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References

Abrams, S. S. (2009). A gaming frame of mind: digital contexts and academic implications. Educational Media International, 46(4), 335-347. doi:10.1080/09523980903387480

Corrin, L., Lockyer, L., & Bennett, S. (2010). Technological Diversity: An Investigation of Students’ Technology Use in Everyday Life and Academic Study. Learning, Media And Technology, 35(4), 387-401.

Dickens, H., & Churches, A. (2011). Apps for Learning: 40 Best iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone Apps for High School Classrooms. The 21st Century Fluency Series. Corwin Press.

Gee, J. P. (2003). What video gaines have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ham, V. (2010). Participant-Directed Evaluation: Using Teachers’ Own Inquiries to Evaluate Professional Development in Technology Integration. Journal Of Digital Learning In Teacher Education, 27(1), 22-29.

Jenkins, H. (2009). Confronting the challenges of a participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Kenny, R. F., & McDaniel, R. (2011). The role teachers’ expectations and value assessments of video games play in their adopting and integrating them into their classrooms. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 42(2), 197-213.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital game-based learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Regelski, T. A. (2006). Reconnecting music education with society. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 5(2), 1-20.