Do you even read, bro?

 

Issues and Opportunities for TL's as Education Evolves

The longer I teach, the less I know about the world my students exist in or the online world they carry so easily in their pockets. In some ways, it feels like my classroom has become an Apple Bar and I'm just around to provide access to the plug ins or offer an extra charger. High school students seem to function almost exclusively online and for luddites like me, access to this digital world seems largely out of reach.

In this, my 23rd year of teaching, I have decided that my focus is trying to wrestle some control back from social media and AI. By learning the apps, tools and online tricks they are using to get through, I hope to feel better equipped to keep teaching and actually engaging students. My pension notice tells me I have at least 15 years left so I might as well feel like I'm keeping up and doing some effective valuable teaching. 

 According to some experts, we are creating "an attentional pathogenic culture” – an environment in which sustained and deep focus is harder for all of us."(Hari, 2022) In this new, faster paced world, it gets harder and harder to use the teaching skills and ways of engaging students we used before apps and scrolling took over the world. And now that AI has entered the educational realm in a very real way, students have even more tools at their disposal that educators know very little about. This means that invested educators will be putting their student caps back on and head to their nearest online learning space to try and fill their knowledge void. No small feat for those of us who are far more comfortable in the quiet of a book or prefer paper and pen to our thumbs for writing. 

This is where a TL could become a very powerful asset to their school and colleagues. Learning how to connect, engage and support all digital citizens is a powerful access point to building a Learning Commons' brand and place in both students' and teachers' worlds. If a TL is able to bridge the divide between a bricks and mortar school and the online world where many students prefer to spend their time, the opportunities for connection are endless. Being a digital mentor and leader for staff is a significant role for TLs.  Miller and Bass(2019, p.16) suggest it is necessary, "being a [digital] leader means that you look for - and seize- those opportunities that will have the most impact on your community while meeting the needs of your students."

With all this in mind, my learning goal for this year is both simple and extremely daunting: figure out how to combat the AI infiltration of meaningful learning and how to harness the powerful engagement that the digital realm has on students. Seems simple, right?! 

Hari, Johann. “Your Attention Didn’t Collapse. It Was Stolen.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 2 Jan. 2022, www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media.

Miller, Shannon, and William L. Bass. Leading from the Library: Help Your School Community Thrive in the Digital Age. International Society for Technology in Education, 2019.