Chris Knight: Teaching and Technology

Chris Knight shares how educational technology has changed over the years.

At the dinner table growing up, my mom and dad — who were both public school teachers — would often discuss the education reform idea of the moment. In the 90s, parents needed more choice and schools needed accountability. In the aughts, students needed a “common core” of skills to compete in the global economy. I internalized the sense that public education was always reinventing itself, trying something new.

I became a public high school teacher in 2010. And the great policy change of my first decade in the classroom was the encouragement of new technology. As smartphones became universal, dated school rules against “cell phones” ceased to be strictly enforced. And by the late 20-teens, there was a near consensus that every child needed to be “one to one” with a Chromebook or iPad in order to be successful.

Now here we are post-pandemic, and it’s clear that this experiment in educational technology hasn’t turned out so well. Our students are just as brilliant as they ever have been, but they have to contend with more distractions than students ever have had to before.

What is to be done? First off, public schools need to become community leaders on digital technology use. This includes not only within school walls, but also working with parents to develop healthier habits at home. Well-resourced private schools are ahead of the curve here. Our community public schools need to take a similar approach.

Second, and most importantly, we need to recognize that digital technology often functions as a collective action trap. Take away an individual’s phone, and they’ll be upset. Ban phones in your classroom, school or other public space, explaining clearly why you’re doing it, and you will get a surprising amount of buy in.

Of course, this movement against excessive classroom technology could be just a passing fad, dreamed up by a few luddite teachers such as myself. But I don’t buy it.

Case in point: in my social studies classroom I just announced laptops would be banned second semester. The most visible reaction: my students’ nodding heads. With a Perspective, I’m Chris Knight.

Chris Knight teaches at a local public high school. He grew up in Sonoma County.