Personal Learning Technology

The Dreaded Inquiry Tool

While reading about the online inquiry tool, a slow anxious feeling continued to sit in my chest.  My first thought was, “Oh my God, Personalized Learning Technology will take over my job.” “I’m going to become unemployed.”  I saw visions of students with sound canceling headphones on their heads with their eyes glued to a computer monitor, sitting in rows and columns inside a room of white walls. I’m sorry, are we creating students to become lifelong learners or are we producing robots?

The Inquiry tool sounds just about perfect! (sarcasm) It’s formulated so precisely that this tool can differentiate instruction, provide endless streams of information for learning, and everything has an algorithm.  This is suppose to break down the “one size fits all” theory?  It will be cost efficient and a dynamic learning experience, all done with the right pace, difficulty, and tailored to the students’ specific needs. Adams claimed in the article that is was the “key to economic growth.” “The American Dream.”  American dream for whom?  It sounds like a factory producing EXACTLY what society wants them to become.

Products.  This is what comes to mind of what our children will become.  Products of the school society we will have created. Products produced and marked and tracked with the intention to make our economy grow.  Are we truly creating innovating learning environments this way? The objective behind the inquiry tool is to get our students ready for 21st Century Skills, developing curriculum in a way to get our students ready for college and careers, through the power of technology.  What about the power of human interaction?  What about the social and emotional needs of our students?

“Oh wait!”  The inquiry tool can also measure grit, tenacity, perseverance along with any other physiological process.  “Are you kidding me?!” Children are already showing a decrease in social skills, let's just hook them up to a computer that analyzes how they are feeling as well.  That way no one will know how to have authentic human relationships. I have to wonder as well, if a student’s learning is so precisely mapped out for them, how will the react when they find themselves in their first challenging college assignment or a daunting task which they need to be able to tackle on their first job? I predict they would crumble under the pressure, because there wasn’t a human teaching them for the last 5 years, it was a computer, who is always accurate but did not teach them how to persevere or problem solve. Yes, this inquiry tool scares me.  Just a little.

Balancing Talk with Technology to Truly Personalize Learning

I agree with Coiro when she speaks of a difference between personalized versus personal approaches.  She makes a good point in explaining how “students have the ability to move through sequenced activities at their own pace but, often they have little choice in selecting the activities they engage with and even less control over how they demonstrate understanding.” Yes, students do go through their personalized lists independently, but it also lacks collaboration of other students that enables engaging conversation that leads to other types of interests and learning opportunities.  It also lacks looking at problems students may be having at home or at school or within their community. The critical theorists must be having a fit!

She also mentions blended learning and when done the right way, there are teachers (Thank God) and students that use both digital sources and accountable conversations. Progressively, I still see a classroom with students engaged in conversations, moving around the room, and discussing issues and text with evidence and enthusiasm.  I just can’t imagine sitting in front of a computer dictating everything you do in your day and mapping out exactly what you need to learn.  Kids are already restless and tired from sitting all day.  What will happen if most of their time is on a computer?  I predict health issues, depression, and obesity will rise.   

Coiro does give suggestions on how to implement both digital resources and an active engaging classroom of discussion.  Critical literacy is still important to incorporate in our curriculum because students need to know their lives, opinions, and interests matter.  Students need to know their voices can be heard.  It may be these students who may change the way our education system is going, so we need to prepare them well!