There is NO RIGHT Answer ...
EdTech stands for Education Technology.
EdTech is a study and ethical practice for facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.
In other words, use of technology in form of products/apps/tools to enhance learning, pedagogy and instruction. It is not replacing any current practices, but it is the use of those tools to aid in the delivery of education.
~ EdTechReview
I tell my students that there is NO Right answer when it comes to learning how to use a tech tool. You need to find the way to use the technology or tool that best works for you. Technology is always changing and evolving. Which is the reason I love to teach using tech. It challenges me and keeps me learning. To think about how much technology and its' uses have changed is amazing. To know that we've sent men to the moon on less technology knowledge decades ago and our smartwatches, cell phones, and tablets have more processing power now just blows my mind.
To think back to when my parents were in school and to know that they job I teach wasn't even a thought or blip in the world of education. The world we are preparing on students will not be the same world we know right now. So how can we teach our students to be prepared for their future if we have no idea what will be in their future?
Did you know that there are ten or more ways to copy something using technology depending on the device, app/software you are using? Do you know all of the ten or more ways? How many ways could you copy in 1970, 1950, 1930, 1900, or earlier? My point is that the world is ever changing including how we learn.
We need to teach our students to think of all of the possible ways to get the solution you desire. For example how many equations can you write were the answer equals 4? How many ways can you use the word SUN or JUMP? We need to teach critical thinking and ways to apply tools not necessary ways to use them. How I would use a tool is not necessary the way you would.
I like to let my students explore what works for them. You would not believe how many times I hear but your the teacher tell me if this is the right answer. My response normally is "You tell me". Did you get the desire outcome? Will your solution solve the problem if not what can you change? When I tell them that there is no right answer, they get frustrated with me. For so long they've been conditioned that there is a right and wrong way or right and wrong answer. There are a million possible ways to write equations were the answer is 4 like there are a million ways to use technology tools in education.
There is NO RIGHT Answer just what works best for you.
We learn best by exploring and discovery. Allow time for yourself and your students to discover what works best for them. Companies like Google believe in this and allow 20% time. 20% time empowers employees to be more creative and innovative. So doesn't education give students time to explore, create, and innovate? Why do we focus on memorization and drill and kill strategies. Why not let them explore and discover. When we learned to walk our parents didn't sit us down and talked about the science of walking and drilled us the facts. No we discovered hey if I stand here and then move my leg I move. We tried things and if we didn't get to our desire location we tried something else until we achieved what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. There is no one way in learning to walk, we discovered what works best for us. Some of us even became innovators during this process and found ways to get where we wanted to go fast or create short cuts. We are wired to think like this but some where in the learning process we lost it.
So how many ways you can you think of to copy something?
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