From 40 Years: Combating Technology's Challenges by Building Relationships
Journalistic Learning Initiative
Empowering student voice, improving academic outcomes & promoting self-directed learning via collaborative storytelling.
To get a better look at things, we often will take a step back to see the bigger picture. This is why we seek the advice of experts, accomplished craftsmen, and veterans in any field—their decades of experience give us valuable perspectives. This week, we got to speak with one such expert in private and public education.
David Flatley, a former superintendent of schools in Long Island, New York, has over 40 years of experience. From Flatley's point of view, the most significant change in education has been "the impact that technology has on our work."
When he began his education career, Flatley used a Gestetner machine to make copies, a duplication device that relied on manual cranks of a handle to produce around 12,000 prints in an hour. Invented in 1879, the Gestetner didn't make it into the 21st century. Not only can today's copiers far outpace their predecessors, but the digital landscape changes the game entirely.
"Technology is a wonderful tool. It's also fraught with huge challenges for kids," Flatley said. From his years of experience, Flatley sees said challenges in three specific areas. First, the break-neck speed at which technology advances and how destabilizing it can be for young people, despite adults calling them 'digital natives'. Second, the easy access and exposure to developmentally inappropriate content, and lastly, the potential for technology to be isolating, contrary to the socializing goals of education.
Flatley suggests that educators can support students in these challenges by fostering "real, genuine types of learning experiences" in the classroom; the kind that builds healthy relationships for students. "The most important word I've come to learn in education is relationship," Flatley said, pointing to the positive impact student-to-student and especially student-to-teacher relationships can have on young people.
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JLI in the News this Week!
You may have come across a news article mentioning JLI this week, especially if you live in Oregon. That's because we've partnered with the Oregon Department of Education to make our AI-powered career exploration tool, Sassy available to educators and students across the state!
Till next week,
JLI