EdTech & Innovation

Technology in the Classroom

I've wanted to write an article about technology and its uses in our classrooms forever.

• We've come a long way since PCs and VisiCalc emerged in the 1980s.
• Over the past 45 years, devices kept getting smaller, more powerful, and, best of all, so much easier to use.
• That, coupled with the explosion of information online, means that any student, any classroom, can have the resources of a Library of Congress to the Nth degree at her fingertips.

Given the scope of this subject, I will divide it into two articles.

• The first deals with technology in the classroom, what's used, how it's used, its pros and cons, and so forth.
• The second will examine the future of educational technology, its sustainability, and its use in school offices.

Technology in the Classroom

There's no doubt that technology enhances learning experiences for students. Learning Management Systems (LMS) organize and deliver those improved experiences.

A Learning Management System is a software application or web-based technology used to plan, implement, and assess a specific learning process. Think of it as an electronic lesson plan book on steroids. Typically, an LMS provides an instructor with a way to create and deliver content, monitor student participation, and assess student performance. Source: IBM

This video explains Learning Management Systems.

AI is fast transforming the way businesses operate. So, I was curious how AI might affect our K012 classrooms. The inevitable sensational headlines, such as "Will AI replace teachers?" generate tons of speculation by the talking heads on TV and blogwriters looking for the next way to scare their readers. However, having been a teacher at both the K-12 and college levels, I can tell you that AI will not replace our teachers any time soon. With that in mind, let's look at some of the ways AI can enhance teaching and the things AI cannot do.

Successful Uses of AI in the Classroom

AI is another tool that can be used successfully by both teachers and students. I look at AI the same way I have viewed slide projectors, televisions, smartboards, computers, and all the other bits and pieces of technology that have appeared in our classrooms over the years, i.e., they help present the material I am teaching. People learn in so many different ways. Depending on the material you are presenting one of these technologies might spark that "Eureka!" moment we teachers all seek. While our student may not run into the streets as Archimedes did, she will have that look that says, "I got it!" Ultimately, it is always up to us teachers to remember that one size does not fit all. Each student learns in her way. Varied ways of presenting what you are teaching will help make the material understood.

Personalized Learning

Susan D'Agostino's article in Inside Higher Ed, Designing Assignments in the ChatGPT Era, got me wondering how teachers will handle their students' use of ChatGPT. ChatGPT is so easy to use and its answers so precise that it's inevitable that ChatGPT's answers will show up in essays and term papers. That's fine as long as students attribute their answers to ChatGPT as they must do with any source. However, our digitally adept young people will find workarounds to make ChatGPT's work appear to be theirs. I hate to be cynical, but that's the way things work.

Here are some suggestions on how to design assignments in the ChatGPT age.

Use pop quizzes frequently.

Pop quizzes are a valuable tool on many levels. With a group of students you know well, a pop quiz allows you to spot-check retention and identify material that needs to be retaught or explained. As you do with all your teaching materials, design your pop quizzes, so they are systematic and comprehensive. While informal oral quizzes can be effective, a written pop quiz provides the documentation you will need if a dispute over ownership of the answers arises.

I asked ChatGPT the best way for a teacher to use pop quizzes. Here's the answer:

Pop quizzes can be a useful tool for teachers to assess students' understanding of material and ensure that they are paying attention in class. Here are some best practices for using pop quizzes effectively:

1. Use pop

Artificial Intelligence, specifically ChatGPT, is knocking on school doors everywhere. So, rather than let some reporter tell us about AI and ChatGPT, I asked ChatGPT to explain itself to you and me. Here are the questions I posed, followed by ChatGPT's answers, all of which I have put in blockquotes. The questions are mine. The answers are ChatGPT's.

What is AI?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans. AI systems are able to perform tasks such as perception, problem-solving, decision-making, and language understanding. There are various subfields of AI, such as machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing, which are used to create specialized AI systems that can perform specific tasks. AI has many practical applications, such as in self-driving cars, speech recognition, and image recognition.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) architecture, which is a type of neural network designed for natural language processing tasks. ChatGPT is trained on a massive dataset of text from the internet and is able to generate human-like text in response to prompts. It can be fine-tuned for specific language tasks such as question answering, conversation, and text completion. ChatGPT has a wide range of potential uses, such as in chatbots, language translation, and content generation.

In this video, Adam Twarog explains ChatGPT.

Disclaimer: I am writing this article about IT infrastructure with small private schools in mind. I am basing my suggestions on my over thirty years of working as an IT professional in private schools and selling technology equipment and services to them. I hope these talking points will save you some money and give you and your staff some peace of mind so that you can focus on the important job you have, namely, teaching your students. ~Rob Kennedy, MCT, CSE

Most medium to large-sized schools will have professional IT staff on their payroll. But, while small schools need professional IT advice just as much, if not more, than the larger schools do, finding the money to pay for the needed expertise is always a major challenge in a small school. Here are some practical, low-cost solutions to secure your important data.

1. Put all your applications and data in the cloud.

This is probably the least expensive way for a small school to deal with securing your important data. For this essay, I define important data as the confidential personal and academic information your families and students have entrusted to you. Important data also includes the school's financials and business correspondence.

Ten or fifteen years ago, you would have been told that you must have a server and a complicated network infrastructure to keep everything secure. Nowadays, you can keep everything secure in the cloud. Yes, literally, there is an app for that. Check out