Technolandy

Day 176 (of 2025/26) #tEChursdaAI again, instead of banning… Pro-D and guided gradual release of responsibility…

Sigh – I am observing too many rants against technology (specifically laptop type devices) on the education-social-media sphere… talking about the flop and fizzle out of ‘digital education revolutions’… and I am reflecting on the fact that many jurisdictions moved way too fast… to much tech, not enough pedagogy and philosophy. I yearn for the ‘good olde days’ when we carefully gave our teachers a laptop. It came with a training session (not a one-day event) that pushed their thinking and doing about what mobile devices were capable of. How that could be leveraged not to do old things in new ways (ugh – essay writing) but to transform competencies such as communication and do things in ways that could not be done without the tech marvel.

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The usual provocations:

“Are video games good or bad?” → wrong question; what are we learning through them?

“Is AI cheating or helpful?” → wrong question; what human skills are we cultivating?

“Are laptops a failure?” → wrong question; what did we actually ask teachers/students to do with them?

“Should kids have social media?” → wrong question; how do we teach participation in the world they already inhabit?

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Then we started just handing out one of the most powerful tools available to personalize the learning experience. But without the ‘why’. When computers aren’t fully understood – and when the focus is on the ‘tech support’ over the ‘user interface’ we pivoted into one-size-fits-none labs and actions. One school I was at got a note how happy things must be because of the lack of tech support needed – we broke their heart saying nobody was using the PC desktops – everyone was bringing in their own devices or using the Apple products that we had (so much better for graphics… and ergonomics… sidebar: I used to HATE that kids and staff would ask for a keyboard and mouse when grabbing a laptop. HATED IT. Then one year I punished myself by saying I would use the provided device.. took me about a week to realize that the keyboard/touchpad experience between my Macs and the (pick a name) PC were drastically different… I suddenly realized why the external input devices were needed… 

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The best technology disappears into the task. The worst technology becomes the task…

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Federal government is aiming to ban social media for kids younger than 16 (with some allowances around AI)… https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/carney-government-to-ban-social-media-for-kids-younger-than-16-but-will-allow-exemptions

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Again, I’m not a fan of eliminating the use of tech until a particular birthdate is reached.  I’d prefer a plan for some teaching and learning – as we often refer to this: guided, gradual release of responsibility…

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As a VP once described it to our school (an admittedly simplified version):

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Watch me

Watch me again

Watch me yet again

(Repeat until they are salivating)

Practice

FIx mistakes

Share ideas and discoveries

Do on your own

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It’s not like good habits (netiquette) are going to be innately uncovered and used… if anything there will be more ‘age appropriate exploration’ ahead of times and learning from friends… 

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Now as tech-positive as I am, I’m not going to say that there aren’t worrisome issues around the social medias – The dopamine hits are real. The algorithms are designed to keep attention. But I also wonder if we sometimes focus so much on removing the digital space that we avoid asking why it has become such a compelling space in the first place.

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Cuz who’s going to regulate and monitor the youth in the digital spaces? Digital ID for online verification is terrifying (and if it makes me nervous, you can bet that you should be nervous too)

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The answer to technology has rarely been “more technology” or “less technology.” The answer has always been better teaching.

We don’t need to choose between embracing every new tool and hiding from every new tool. We need to do what educators have always done:

Model.
Practice.
Reflect.
Adjust.

Watch me.
Watch me again.
Try it.
Mess it up.
Learn from it.

Because the goal was never the device.

The goal has always been the learner.