This week’s readings provided me with the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding into how the provincial government views the issues our students are facing regarding the use of technology. While I found all three readings interesting, I was particularly engaged in the second document titled “Government of Saskatchewan: Digital Citizenship in Saskatchewan Schools”. Not only was this document written by two outstanding educators from our very own University of Regina, but it was also done so in consultation with many representatives from school divisions across the province. Maybe it’s just a personal bias, but I found it far more relevant for me as an educator than many of the documents our province has created for education - largely due to the fact that members of my profession were the ones who had a hand in creating it. The first notion in this document that jumped out to me was the explanation of “One Life” versus the “Two Lives” approach to technology within our schools. Essentially the “Two Lives” approach views the student’s school lives and personal lives as separate entities that should not become intertwined within the classroom, especially in regards to technology. This is explained well within the document when it states: “studying issues related to the personal, social and environmental effects of technological lifestyle have no place in school…[leaving] our children to fend for themselves as they come to grips with issues of digital citizenship, cyber safety and the responsible use of technology” As I’m sure any educator would understand, this approach is definitely not something that is practical or responsible for us to utilize when working with our students. A major flaw in this approach is the fact that it assumes that educators would be so naïve to believe that issues facing students outside of our walls, wouldn’t find ways to manifest within our own classrooms. From my own experience, a lot of the issues that I’ve had to deal with over the years in regards to the inappropriate and irresponsible use of technology, were issues that took place at home, outside of school hours. This is also a viewpoint that is shared by the Regina Catholic School Division, as they explain on their digital citizenship page: “For young people, [cyberbullying and marginalization] start outside of school, yet inevitably infiltrate classrooms and hallways leaving teachers, counsellors and administrators to solve new 21st century problems.”(Regina Catholic Schools –Samaritans on the Digital Road. 2017) Thankfully, the “Two Life” approach is not one that many schools (if any) are using within their buildings, as they instead are opting for the “One Life” approach. As you can probably guess, this approach is the complete opposite to the one previously mentioned as it outlines the importance of educating and guiding our students at school as they journey into the digital frontier outside our walls. Not only is this approach instrumental in creating digitally responsible citizens, but it is something that is relatively easy to incorporate into other curricular areas. Currently in my division, these digital concepts are intertwined within our Religion curriculum and tiered for the various grade levels. On our Education Technology web page, teachers have access to various units that teach digital citizenship from a faith-based perspective. In addition to the faith-based digital citizenship resources, we also have an entire PAA Faith-based Digital Citizenship Blended Course that Grade 7 & 8 teachers have access to. This course is unique as it is a combination of online and face-to-face learning within classrooms, and also aligns with the Religion, PAA, and Ministry Continuum outcomes. While the previous content of this post revolved around a concept that I wholeheartedly agreed with, there was also something in our readings that left me questioning its authenticity. When reading the Government of Saskatchewan: Technology in Education Framework Document, something that caught my attention was Outcome TL (DF)1: Saskatchewan’s educational system promotes the development and deepening of student and educator digital fluency. This outcome was of particular interest to me as it largely deals with how the government wants educators to increase the use of technology within their own pedagogy. When looking at this from the outside, it’s something that makes complete sense and is definitely something that I believe most educators would agree with. The issue that I have with this declaration is that in order to have educators using technology within their classrooms, they need to have access to technology. Unfortunately for school divisions across the province, providing teachers and students with technology costs money, and as of late, there seems to be a lot less of this going around the education sector. If the government really wants to see this outcome met for all students in our province, they need to stop slashing funding to education and instead provide school divisions with the means to bring this vision to life.
3 Comments
3/13/2019 10:07:48 am
Great post Matt!
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Carter Davis
3/18/2019 08:30:00 pm
Great Post Matt,
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stephen wihak
3/20/2019 02:28:46 pm
Hey Matt,
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Matt BrescianiI'm a middle years teacher in Regina, Saskatchewan, working towards a Masters Degree in Education. Archives
April 2019
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