I’m sure you’ll have noticed that children seem to be able to pick up new technologies and use them really quickly. The problem with new tech tends to come only when you put it in the hands of teachers. You rarely find children telling you that they can’t use an app because they haven’t had a CPD session in it. So how is it that they can use these technological learning tools yet teachers cannot?
Marc Prensky wrote some time ago about the idea of “digital natives” and “digital immigrants”. The theory has gained some traction but I don’t believe that young people are natives to technology and adults are not. Rather I think it is the approach that teachers take to technology that can hinder them.
Carol Dweck’s growth mindset theory is a big presence in schools and has had a massive impact in how we approach failure. Yet when it comes to technology, it isn’t the kids that need a hand in coping with setbacks, it is the teachers. Students do not magically “get” new technology: they go through a rapid process of trial and error to work out how to use it. They do make mistakes. They do press the wrong buttons. But they persist. Teachers, however, tend not to.
The academics Ellen Mandinach and Hugh Cline wrote about there being four levels of teacher confidence with technology: survival, where a teacher knows nothing; mastery, where a teacher has had some training and is beginning to make use of technology; impact, where they are using some tools and are beginning to see results from their use of technology; and, innovation, where teachers’ digital literacy is on a par with their pedagogy. Children jump through these stages far more quickly than teachers.
This is why I am heavily supportive of an initiative called “student digital leaders” and have been for many years. I set up the national Digital Leader Network with a primary school teacher, Sheli Blackburn, a few years ago. Our mission was to help schools connect student digital leaders via their teachers.
The role of these digital leaders is to support the use of technology in schools through training, running support sessions, offering support in the classroom when things don’t work and helping teachers innovate in their practice through technology.
That may sound controversial but these groups have been found to have huge success in terms of upping technology use in their schools, growing teacher confidence in edtech use and making an impact on how technology is used.
Hundreds of schools across the country are embracing these edtech ambassadors. So I put it to you: students should be leading more on edtech in your school. Don’t leave it to the teachers.
Mark Anderson is a former senior leader and now education consultant. His book, Digital Leaders: Transforming Learning with Students in the Lead is available free on iBooks
