A discussion on how technology has, and continues to, impact the classroom
“This story is part of a series covering the usage and development of technology within the classroom.”
Contributers
Audio-Visual: JT Lawrence
Copy-Editing: Abigail Stark
Graphic Design: Haylee Silva
Research & Interview: Naja Young
Research: RJ Rood
Website Manager: Molly Stinchfield
Transcript
Naja Young: Welcome back to Communities of Hope. I am Naja, and I’m conducting an interview with a professor here on campus, and I’m gonna have her introduce herself really quickly.
Dr.Blagden: Hi everyone. I’m Dr. Bladon. I teach the STEM ed courses at Roger Williams University. I teach courses in elementary ed, ed studies, secondary, as well as courses in our amazing STEM Minor and our brand new STEM Master’s program, which we’re really excited about.
Naja Young: How would you describe the most significant shifts in technology over the time that you’ve been teaching it?
Dr.Blagden: Well, I’ve been teaching for at least 15 years, and there has been quite a bit of a change. When I first started teaching, technology was mostly presentation form. Teachers had maybe a projector, maybe a smart board if you were lucky, where they would project information for students.
Since then, now technology has come about where students and teachers. Can use technologies as more of a hands-on with that construction, constructionist learning, like pre-service teachers are now designing coding and robotics lessons for elementary students, and really that integration piece is much more prevalent now.
Also, AI with coding and robotics kind of goes hand in hand with teacher planning and prep, and that interaction with students, with those subjects as well has become a lot more than it has been.
Naja Young: Yeah. And you were talking about how robotics is used with like kids, and I know you specifically, we did something last semester, we worked with kids and we used a little keyboard robots.
Is that something that you really enjoy doing and you feel like it’s beneficial for the kids?
Dr.Blagden: Absolutely. I’ve been teaching robotics and coding. I taught it for about 10 years in Massachusetts before I came to Roger Williams, and I’ve seen a huge growth in student engagement, computational thinking, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, a lot of skills that teachers might not know.
That first off, when they do robotics and coding, all of these different things students are learning at the same time. And then the really, the integration piece is important. The teaching literacy and math and socializing and science through the use of coding robotics makes it a really authentic way to learn
Naja Young: What distinguishes the technology and AI now from how it used to be and the revolution that have happened back then?
Dr.Blagden: I guess there, it’s two twofold. It’s changed a lot for educators and because instead of just accessing information and giving students access to information, now teachers are able to play around with technology more with their students and they can, there’s. So much out there with AI that students and teachers can both use it in many different applications, which is really great.
And also the AI revolution now is so fast. I do remember when the internet came out. I was young and I’m sure it had its quick steps as well, but the way that AI is evolving, I think it’s, it’s tough because teachers have to keep up with this very quick movement of how to teach pre-K to 12 students with this AI revolution.
But I think it’s great for teachers, especially in elementary school, there’s a lot of instructional design and reflection AI tools, um, that teachers can use and it helps with the integration of STEM lessons and a lot having to do with that. So.
Naja Young: So AI, you say it’s, it’s moving so fast. It’s obviously evolving a lot faster now.
Where do you see the biggest impact in schools?
Dr.Blagden: I see a huge impact with pre-service teachers because I teach pre-service teachers the impact of lesson creation, lesson ideation, integration, reflective practice. I like lesson planning. All of those things that used to take a long, long time are much quicker now because we have these extra supports.
So I see a huge impact with at least new teachers running it going into the fields who don’t have that experience, and teachers who are been in the field for longer have, and I really think it’s helpful for new teachers to have these extra supports.
Naja Young: Do you believe that AI and technology amplify teacher’s abilities to teach more than replace them?
Dr.Blagden: Absolutely with teaching people are really important. Relationships are what drives a classroom community. Without that, the student engagement plummets the student learning plummets. People need people, so I don’t see it taking over teacher’s jobs because students and teachers have such a strong relationship and I think it, it’s helpful.
To do some of the extra things maybe for educators so they have more time to even build these relationships with students. ’cause that’s really the centering point to classrooms.
Naja Young: How do you think it’s best for teachers to ensure that the AI things or the technology that they’re using is equitable and actually successful for their students?
Dr.Blagden: Well, that’s our job at Roger Williams. We spend all four years teaching students how to fact check, how to data check their work, how to use experiences, use the knowledge that they learned in classes. To be able to analyze these tools, figuring out what’s going to work for you, what’s going to work for your students.
That’s also why people are important. AI isn’t gonna be able to differentiate for your students.
Naja Young: Do you see AI influencing or changing the curriculum design or the way that teachers give out assessments in the future?
Dr.Blagden: For sure, especially in upper grades, maybe not so much for elementary, but in upper grades, I don’t see teachers assigning essays for students to write at home.
And maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe this is pushing teachers to change their assessments, make it more project based, have students show their knowledge and learning in school with the teachers. Um, instead of having so much assessment be done at home, it’s pushing us to reevaluate how we assess students, and I think that’s a good thing.
Naja Young: What misconceptions do you encounter most often when you talk about your work?
Dr.Blagden: I think AI is scary for people who don’t quite understand what it is for what I do, and teachers with misconceptions with AI, I think they are partly nervous about it because it’s new, but they also can focus just on the negatives of it. The negatives of AI are the same as the negatives are of the internet. You know, if you’re not gonna do your work by yourself, then you can have a friend do your work. You can have it, you could look up something on a website, you can buy an essay. So using AI to, to not do your own work, of course, that’s a horrible thing. But again, that comes back to assessment. How are you assessing your students? Are you really assessing their authentic learning or are you assessing how well they could fill in bubbles? The inequity of sending work home for students to do by themselves, that that has a part in it as well. Teachers should really be assessing the best they can with their students.
Naja Young: What do you think are the most important questions or concerns that educators and students should have? In the next five to 10 years, and how can we ensure how technology progresses to serve education, help to teach students instead of replacing how they learn?
Dr.Blagden: I think the teacher prep programs that we have at universities is really gonna be the forefront of this STEM education revolution. I, I say that a little biased since I am in higher ed and teaching STEM, however, we are training our pre-service teachers how to use. AI correctly and how to use it efficiently and how to use it as a tool that supports them and is equitable and helps work become more accessible. And we’re teaching these pre-service teachers in hopes that they not only internalize this themselves, [00:08:00] but they also teach their own students.
These same practices of using AI correctly, just like we teach them to use the internet correctly, just like we teach them to use every other tool correctly. And I have, I have a very positive outlook on life, so I am hopeful that this pre-service teacher training will make a big difference in the AI revolution going forward.
Naja Young: Thank you. Um, it was super great talking to you.
Dr.Blagden: Thank you so much for having me today. I really appreciate the interview, Naja.