This week, my Google alerts sent me another substantial set of articles related to technology and teaching English as a second language. Two of the articles stood out to me, both opinion pieces, both about technology. One blog, entitled "Innovation Week a good model for education-technology integration" was written by Patrick Tchakounte, a junior at Texas State University. The other, entitled "Why Technology Won't Fix Education" was written by Matthew Glotzbach, a former Google employee who is now serving as the CEO for Quizlet, an educational technology company. These articles made me carefully consider the role that technology is already playing in our classrooms, and what role it will continue to evolve into in the future.
Tchakounte (2018) makes some excellent points about the importance of technological integration, particularly at the university level. When I read his statements about technology building communities, I immediately thought out our ESL students and their families. "Technology can help build a community...Technology can help contribute to improving social relations around the community by increasing connectivity and creating a sense of purpose. The contribution of technology to humanity is revolutionary and forms an ecological atmosphere that assists in reducing cultural barriers and fostering social cooperation" (para. 2). When used appropriately, technology can be an excellent way to include families, make students feel a part of a larger school community, and assist ESL students and families by ensuring that they are included as much as they desire.
Glotzbach (2018) tempers his excitement for technology integration into education with the understanding that educators are still a vital resource. "Edtech should, and does, enhance traditional classroom teaching...Investing in technological innovation is great, but we need to similarly invest in human capital—educators in schools. Without focusing on supporting teachers on the front lines in the classroom every day, it doesn’t matter how many billions are invested in edtech. The learning environment won’t succeed. People have to come first" (para. 13). It can certainly not be said that Glotzbach is against technology integration; after working for Google for twelve years, he moved on to serve as the CEO for Quizlet, a company that incorporates technology into the classroom in innovative ways. The points that Glotzbach are making are key to proper technology integration; our focus must always be on the people. The educators must be trained and confident, and the choices we make in our ESL classrooms for technology use must be planned and beneficial for our students. Technology has the power to revolution the classroom setting, but only if it is implemented in an innovating, beneficial way.
One of the forum posts I replied to this week made a very similar point, we can't focus on technology for its own sake. Now that classroom tech is really maturing we need to move past viewing the tools as important to viewing the skills needed to use the tools as the moat important area to develop. Students won't be using the same apps in the future, but they will need to be able to collaborate globally, problem-solve, and communicate to a diverse audience. If a tech tool helps further those skills, use it! If not, find something else that fits the bill.
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