I read the article, Digital Ghosts in the Modern Classroom by Ashley Hinck. In her article, Hinck shares that many students take digital media classes with the expectation that they will gain useful skills that would help them find jobs/internships after graduation. Drawing from my own high school experience, I can relate to Hinck’s findings about students having this mindset about digital media classes, assuming that they will create artifacts in a clearly defined step-by-step process using familiar applications such as Canva, WIX, etc., and that would get them the A+ grade.
Hinck argues that digital shortcuts/templates have restricted the creativity of students, compelling them to think within certain constraints, rather than exploring outside the “box”. While I agree with her statement, I believe it’s rather the overuse of these applications in the classroom, which is limiting the creativity of students.
Applications such as Canva and Powerpoint are useful in the sense that they provide a starting guideline for students. They help students get familiar with different digital media formats and are user-friendly applications that require minimal difficulty. However, the problem starts to occur when these applications are repeatedly used for every class and all assignments. Overuse of these applications will eventually cause the students’ learning curves to become stagnant. They will be applying the same level of skills and knowledge, and do the same task – the only difference being the course subject.
As future educators, it’s important that we realize that there have been immense advancements in technology in the last decade, and there will only be more in the years to come. Today, technology consumes our day-to-day lives, and shortcuts/templates have become embedded into our lifestyles. We (students and also teachers) open a Powerpoint document, and without thinking, we begin selecting a theme for the presentation. This behaviour comes second nature to us; it’s the culture that we have grown up in/into.
That being said, it’s our responsibility as future teachers to also step outside of the “box” and help break that cycle just a little bit. The first step in doing that is understanding that these applications are simply a tool. It’s how we (teachers) use and incorporate these tools creatively into our Be Careful…There’s a Ghost Behind Youclassrooms is when the magic starts to happen and the ghosts begin to disappear.