Please turn ON your phones ...

Flipped teaching really is a "thing" and it's interesting watching it in action. I'm lucky enough to have great mentors, watching the good and the bad. The "spending more time with students" part is inspiring. The use of technology to do so .... errrrr .... not so much. It really is surprising how far "this" generation teachers are from being digital natives. As an education system outsider (I'm from the IT private sector), from what I've seen so far, the public education system hasn't quite wrapped heads around making online learning welcoming and accessible to all students, regardless of computer experience. As a volunteer in these classrooms, I see teachers struggling to see devices as tools, not distractions, computers as learning resources, not pacifiers. Already, I've been told not to promote an android flashcard resource because it could distract students, and questioned when using the computer to finish math homework. Guys - we need to tell students to turn your phone ON, go to that computer to research your answer to teach critical thinking skills and model using digital toolboxes. THIS is how we start to narrow the digital divide, learner by learner. The lower SES folks use android OS for internet access to far a greater extent that any other class. It's my goal to model that you can do more than game and chat on 'em. Frankly, I find lack of effective introduction to a technology exercise more distracting (you know, where no one can log in because you left it up to digital virgins to figure it out on their own) than the time a student might take away from a scheduled learning e-module to practice a flashcard pack using their phone.