THIS IS TIME FOR COMMON SENSE

        A good definition for Educational Technology seems to be  “the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources”.  Based on this definition we could think in an endless list of technological resources that could be applied in order to raise the performance of our students in the classroom; so, my question is why are we framed with the idea that technology is nothing more than computers and smart boards?

It seems that the more resources we have at our service the less creative we became. It is time for educators to be professionals researching, testing and improving our techniques based on the student’s needs.

        My struggle is for rescuing the older technology that not because is passé it necessary means that is useless.  I am going to try to make my point taking the radio as an example. For those that belong to the “guava” generation that means people born between 50’s and 60’s, the radio was the major entertainment. Family members used to sit around the radio after dinner for listening news, announcements, music and full cast programs, which narrated the most amazing and exciting stories.  During this “happy hour”, children were developing several skills as listening, visualization, anticipation, critical thinking, imagination, but beyond all this benefits the main profit was developing feelings of belonging, unity and love, nurtured just by the fact to share in family.

        In this modern world, children are over stimulated with so many T.V programs, electronic advertisements, video games and Internet. For nobody is a secret the increment of the rate of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) during the last twenty years and then, paradoxically, educators and parents are looking for the ultimate method for the treatment of this disorders in the same source that overwhelmed them.

I invite my colleagues in Education to be critical thinkers, to be lead by the common sense and more important to be responsible, creative and professional at the moment to choose technological resources.

Here are some links related with technology advantages and disadvantages.

http://www.america-tomorrow.com/ati/nhl80402.htm  

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-ten-key-lessons   

http://it.pedf.cuni.cz/~bobr/hmind/index.htm  

http://edudemic.com/2011/04/classroom-technology/