#techquity: doubting/believing

Webinar focus: Is it time to give up on computers in schools?

About this webinar: The influx of digital tools in schools can polarize educators. Whether the devices are student’s prized smartphones stuffed in backpacks and pockets, or shiny new Chromebooks purchased to help a school meet the demands of online standardized tests, debates spring up about screen time, software choices and, importantly, the guiding principles behind the integration of these tools. These debates are signposts of transition for schools, and the claims teachers make about technology’s role in the classroom reveal the creative tension that accompanies this transition. In a recent talk she gave at ISTE 2015, education blogger Audrey Watters sought to inspire still more critical thinking on the subject of educational technology by asking, “Is it time to give up on computers in schools?”

In this webinar, a panel of teachers discuss the claims Watters advanced in her talk, many of which raise issues of equity. Using an adaptation of Peter Elbow’s Believing and Doubting Games, participants in the webinar engaged critically with Watters’ claims and the viewing audience was also active on Twitter through the hashtag #techquity (see Storify of Twitter discussion below).

Guests for this webinar include:

• Joe Dillon (Host), Instructional Coordinator for Educational Technology, Aurora Public Schools in Colorado
• Remi Holden, Assistant Professor of Information and Learning Technologies, University of Colorado at Denver
• Chris Rogers, Lead Director, JustMaybeCo
• Nicole Mirra, Assistant Professor of English Education at the University of Texas, El Paso.
• Al Elliot, 5th Grade Teacher at Green Valley Elementary School in Hoover, Alabama and Ph.D. student at the University of Alabama, Birmingham

Download the Live Chat Archive (PDF)

Photo/ Jason Miczek

#techquity Discussion on Twitter