On November 6th we had the opportunity to take part in a mini-conference of sorts with other educators and preservice educators. The format of this conference was very different to anything that I’d seen before, with a multitude of different topics being discussed at once. Instead of having one person give a talk about that topic, it was up to the people in the room to discuss their thoughts on the topic as a whole. Since it was done by Zoom, there were many different breakout rooms which we were able to freely move between, each for one of the topics. This aspect meant that we didn’t have to interrupt anything to switch topics, as it was as simple as clicking on the room you wanted instead of having to get up and leave, then enter another room.

I’ll admit that I don’t think I really took advantage of the format of the conference, and in fact spent almost the entire time in one room, partially because the topic was interesting, but also because I felt bad leaving. It sounds weird, but I still felt like if I left – especially soon after saying something myself – it would be disrespectful to the people currently talking.

The room I ended up spending the bulk of the time in was on the topic of using technology in the classroom. We talked about a myriad of different things and we were quite lucky because one of the educators who went to that room actually works with implementing technology in the school district he was in. Some of the things we talked about were:

  • Usage of phones in classrooms
  • Trivia style games like Kahoot for formative assessment
  • Equity in technology
  • Safe and legal usage of technology
  • Phone “confiscation”

There were others, but those were the main points. I found it interesting to hear all the different opinions on the usage of phones in class. Many were worried about distraction, or inappropriate usage, which I think is really fair. I sometimes wonder if bans on phones in class are almost a bigger distraction, because students trying to sneakily look at their phones might actually be more thought consuming and distracting than them just being able to check. I also worry about them getting brain fog by wondering if someone messaged them when they don’t have their phones.  Kahoot and other trivia based games are interesting and can work, but there was warning in the group about something called “Kahoot bombing”, where a student will post the Kahoot code online and a bunch of random people on the internet will get in the game and use inappropriate names etc. so that’s something to look out for. One of the most important things I thought we talked about was equity in using technology. While we may want to incorporate technology often, it is important to remember that not every student has the same access to technology at home. Keeping this in mind, I think it’s important to try to limit tech-involved lessons and assignments to levels that can be completed at school, this way all students are given as equal a shot as possible. Even with this, the digital literacy level of students will vary (as with any topic), and having a deeper understanding of how the technology works is the first step to helping.

Overall, while I wish I had moved through a couple of other rooms, I found the conversation really interesting and useful. Technology in schools can be really helpful, but I think that we have to have more serious conversations about it, and its implementation, before we dive headfirst into every new thing that comes up.