Distraction or disruption?
Posted on: October 31, 2012
Depending on your point of view, “new media” and mobile technologies are a source of distraction or disruption in education.
Viewed negatively, mobile smartphones provide distractions away from teacher talk to student chat. They provide learners with ways to look beyond the walls of the classroom.
Viewed positively, the devices provide disruptions to the established model of teacher talk. They provide opportunities to extend the learning space and time and connecting with people and resources outside the classroom.
Whether these technologies are a bad distraction or a good disruption is a function of mindset and practice.
I view my weekly chats at #edsg as a discipline rather than a distraction from dinner or family time. This disruption is a weekly opportunity to learn informally, to connect locally and globally, and to be inspired to write longer form reflections like this.
Disruption is only a distraction if you let it be. If you tame and master it, the disruption is a source of connections, inspiration, and learning.
November 8, 2012 at 9:11 pm
It is actually the view point that classifies the new media as either disruptions or distractions. It is true that technology has bestowed upon us many blessings but they are creating equal amount of difficulties. Smartphones distract the students into chat and stuff more than they assist.
November 8, 2012 at 9:18 pm
You contradict yourself when, on one hand, you say that they create as many blessings as difficulties, and on the other distract more than they assist.