I couldn't even finish the article. Couldn't get past this:
...technology can
provide feedback throughout the learning process. In both Google Docs and
Office 365, teachers can leave real-time comments on students’ work while
they’re writing.
I'll state the obvious first. The feedback doesn't make all writing better. It might (MIGHT) make the feedback process easier for the teacher, but by sleight of hand, the author has played upon the unspoken assumption of technophiles that when something is done through technological means it gets done more smoothly, more efficiently (in the procedure) and therefore more effectively (in the outcome).
That, of course, is a debatable assumption, but please recognize it as the assumption it is.
Second, just how is leaving comments something done in
real time? What does real time mean
here? That the student and teacher are
on the technology at the same time, so the student can get instant feedback at
the very time that they're working? If it's something less than that, what the
teacher has done is a leave a comment at one point in time, that the student
will see at another point in time, and then you don't have anything that could
seriously be called real time. And if
real time does mean simultaneous, then the teacher can really only serve each
student one at a time, sequentially. Just
like a teacher would do in live (real time!) interactions.
And, of course, a teacher can give real time feedback throughout the learning process without any technology--well, two chairs and a desk, perhaps.
So in the end, it might be logistically easier (a bit) to give feedback by way of a computer, but writing gets better through technology? Shouldn't the title be Teacher Feedback Can Be Slightly Easier Through Technology? But that's just not as stylish an idea, is it?
No comments:
Post a Comment