Robert+Raphael

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TECHNOLOGY HAS ITS PLACE: LET'S KEEP IT THERE

Please don’t take the souls of our kids away. Not for the sake of “learning.” Don’t do it. They already have enough problems as it is. They are stressed by diversity training, behavior modification and coursework overload. They are berated, seduced, bullied, pushed, pulled and rolled over. They are standardized, commonized and categorized. They are neglected at home and at school. Some have no friends, some have many friends. Whatever they are, they become that by spending time with each other and finding out how to get in and out of trouble on a daily basis.

No, leave them alone. Despite all of the things that happen to them inside the brick-and-mortar building, taking them out of it groups them into Cyberville, where they can effortlessly immerse themselves in computers and forget having to deal with the real world. Computers are cool. But like anything that is cool, it must be used wisely. If we overexpose ourselves to technology, that technology will get the best of us; and it will be our fault.

Is mobile learning the future? No, it cannot be. What it can be, and should be, is one aspect of that future. Just because most of us have phones in our hands 10 hours a day does not mean we should attempt to make it 17 hours a day. Learning at a distance can be useful, but keeping them there is not beneficial to anyone.

// Wait, that doesn’t make sense: If those kids are under all that stress, why do you want them to stay in that environment? //

Because it’s life. Students learn to face all of those things and make it through. They encounter all of those obstacles and end up with their heads held high and a diploma in hand. It’s what they’ve been dreaming about since they were kindergartners. And they get to walk up and accept it; in front of all those other students that gave them such a hard time over the years. It’s a source of pride, self-esteem, a sense of accomplishment; and it gives them toughness —̶̶ something seriously lacking in society today.

Computers and phones? That’s not life, that’s existence, and it’s not even much of that. Sure they’re fun. Sure, they can enhance learning. But it’s not a substitute for real life and actual social interaction between actual people. How often have you felt like saying that, to the kid with the buds in his ears and the screen in his face? Yo, wake up, unplug, put down the phone, and look up here. At me. I’m talking to you.

// (Robert Raphael is a substitute teacher in Madison County, IL, and a student at Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis. He is studying Educational Technology through the university’s distance learning program.) //

__References__ Cohen, S. (2013, February 11). Distance learning can augment but not replace experiential learning.Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-cohen/distance-learning-can-aug_b_2661440.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

Edmundson, M. (2012, July 19). The trouble with online education. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/opinion/the-trouble-with-online-education.html

Tucker, S. (2001). Distance education: Better, worse, or as good as traditional education? Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, IV(IV), Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter44/tucker44.html

Uzuner, S. (2009). Questions of culture in distance learning: A research review. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(3), 1-19. the edit button to edit this page.