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Mitigating Anxious Responses to Technology #1

Julia Aboud

260723439

EDEC262

Department of Education

McGill University

Mitigating Anxious Responses to Technology

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Although I do not wish to generalise, I have found that my generation was taught very early

on in our education how to use basic technological softwares, such as Microsoft Word, Powerpoint

and Excel, and of course are familiar with all the social medias available to us— and yet that we

have remained rather static in our technological knowledge. Many of us do not explore unfamiliar

softwares in our own time and it became clear to me in the first class during our introductions, that

many of us consider ourselves to be “bad” at technology, despite the fact that we haven’t reached

beyond our comfort zone to explore. Many of us are stuck in this mindset, and as a result do not

further our knowledge, which could impact our ability as educators in the future.

However, despite my impression that I was not technologically inclined, I found myself

enjoying navigating both Weebly and Audacity. Although they both involved some trial and error

— such as when I tried to add a sub-header on Weebly — I managed to overcome these bumps and

found them very manageable after all. I especially enjoyed using Weebly due to the creative and

aesthetic aspect involved in developing one’s own website, and I look forward to adding to my

digital portfolio throughout the semester.

In regards to the frameworks we have read about and discussed further in class, I found the

TPACK particularly useful and applicable, as it highlights the importance of keeping up-to-date

with technology — a rapidly evolving field, “Any definition of technology knowledge is in danger

of becoming outdated by the time this text has been published” (Koehler & Mishra, 2009). If we are

to fall behind in our knowledge of technology, according to the TPACK model, we will struggle

with integrating content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and technological knowledge, a

heavily intertwined relationship. This could easily impact the quality of the education that our

students receive.

Although it may seem obvious, in order to teach different technological softwares to your

students, it is important to have explored them in-depth as an educator. Exploring different

softwares like we did allows us as educators to truly understand the best way the softwares should

be taught to students. Exploring leads to challenges, and through figuring out how to overcome
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these challenges, we learn how to help students once they too are faced with the same difficulties.

According to Schrynemakers (2011), technology and social media have become so deeply

intertwined with education, that it would be foolish not to familiarise oneself with the many

technological resources available to us. She give the example of Google’s “scholarly articles” and

Apple’s iTunes U and TED talks (Schrynemakers, 2011), which are just a few of thousands of

technological tools which, when used correctly, could prove invaluable to teachers.

Being given the chance to step out of my comfort zone in exploring Weebly, Canvas, and

Audacity and learning of different educational frameworks has highlighted the importance of

technology in education for me, and inspired me to keep exploring what is available to me out there.

References

Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge?

Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.

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Schrynemaker, G. P. (2011). Lessons from Constructivist Theories, Open Source Technology, and

Student Learning. Free and Open-Source Software for E-Learning: Issues, Successes, and

Challenges (pp. 39-54). Pennsylvania: IGI Global.