A Valentine for Education Technology
A Q&A with Gardner Campbell
In conversations with educators, have you ever heard one of them say they "love" a certain technology? We hear that all the time, particularly when it's about a technology someone may feel fortunate to be using in one of their current projects or initiatives.
So, with Valentine's Day this week, we are wondering what it is about education technologies that educators actually love. Gardner Campbell is an associate professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and a technology thought leader who has both taught with and studied education technologies for nearly 30 years — at times using the word "love". Here, we ask him what he loves about education technology.
"The technologies I love are those communications technologies that truly change and enhance teaching and learning." —Gardner Campbell
Mary Grush: What do you love about education technology?
Gardner Campbell: That question makes me think about Othello, who at the end of the Shakespeare play says that he loved not wisely, but too well. The notion of love in the context of education technology may leave us just as perplexed as poor Othello, but it might be something that's worth some thought.
First, how do we distinguish love from temporary enthusiasm? It's a hard thing to do, because it requires us to think in terms of deep meaning over long periods of time. But we can try to learn from our history with education technology and ask: What are the things that emerged that still seem vital today? Along with that, you can consider strong feelings you may hold for certain technologies — as I hold for those that tap into the deepest human aspects of teaching and learning.
Grush: So with all that in mind, how would you pick your most lovable education technologies?
Campbell: I would start by making a distinction between technologies of management and technologies of communication. I like certain kinds of management technologies that help me with record keeping and organization. But I don't love them. I love technologies of communication because, I think, they're at the heart of teaching and learning — creating opportunities for human beings to think together, to study something together.
I love technologies of communication because, I think, they're at the heart of teaching and learning — creating opportunities for human beings to think together, to study something together.
And communication technologies offer the chance for community; something that you don't get working just on your own. When minds come together, something synergistic happens, something greater than the sum of the parts.
Grush: So with the communication technologies, it seems you are actually getting something out that's much more than what you are putting in.
Campbell: Yes, those are the technologies that leverage computers or other devices as communications platforms on which you can build a sense of community. At the peak performance of these technologies, users may even begin to experience what I'd call communion, with this mingling of minds. Those are the technologies I love.
Grush: What does that mean in a practical sense, stated in terms of education technology?
Campbell: I love the way these types of education technologies allow us to be present to each other, and to transcend the limits of time and space. In the traditional classroom, it's great to be in the room together, but those class sessions are usually of limited time; they offer limited opportunities for community building. But when you are using computers as communications platforms, now you can interact at a great distance. You can interact over different spans of time. You can mingle in ways that are not so bounded by time and space, and sometimes overcome other obstacles as well.
Grush: Could you give me an example?
Campbell: Yes, I've had many surprising moments with these technologies.
One of the technologies that I love is video conferencing, when it is done in a way that is not only about putting regular classroom meetings online; when it's not simply a set of classroom management features. When you can bring people together with that kind of a communications platform and realize that you can have really deep experiences, it's truly miraculous. I love that, and the real-world example I like to cite is the annual Milton Read-a-thon. What I'd always done in the past with my Milton class was to meet together in a room, where we would read Paradise Lost together. It was a reading circle where each person would read a little, aloud, before handing it off to the next person to continue. We were all in the room together, and there was a wonderful feeling of community, of a kind of union. The readers would talk about how coming through the experience they formed a bond with the others that seemed almost magical.
But then, when we were all in lockdown in the earlier days of the pandemic, I thought that I wouldn't be able to provide that closeness and support for Milton Read-a-thon participants. So I resigned myself to offering what I thought would be a scaled-down and less satisfying experience over Zoom.
However, in making some adjustments for an online experience, I soon realized that I was able, actually, to enhance aspects of the Read-a-thon and thus the course as well. For the first time, I could choose to invite the wider Milton community to the event, encouraging people to join from many different points across the country and potentially around the globe!
In making some adjustments for an online experience, I soon realized that I was able, actually, to enhance aspects of the Read-a-thon and thus the course as well.
I was very surprised how compelling it was, just to be in this Zoom environment and watch someone else read passages aloud. You would think it would be like watching paint dry, but it wasn't! It was vivid, because what you experienced was a closeup of a fellow reader trying to make sense of the language as they spoke it aloud… It was really striking, almost cinematic. And we had people participating in this event from many different U.S. states, along with a reader from Hungary, and another from Brazil…
Grush: So how did all that lead to learning? Or even to change for teaching and learning?
Campbell: My students who were there in the event talked about how extraordinary it was to be among all these people, from all these different places, and to hear readers with different accents — for some, English was a second language — pronouncing the words of Paradise Lost with such care, and with such love in their voices as the reading went on.
Those experiences simply wouldn't be available to us, were we sitting in the same room. And while our new platform for the Milton Read-a-thon was a wonderful experience all on its own, I was astounded and humbled by how amazing it was to be in a video conference doing the readings for the very first time in this way.
Grush: Do you ultimately need to be purposeful, to foster some of these changes?
Campbell: Yes, you should be purposeful if and when you look at the growing opportunities for true communication and community — and, if you will, communion — using these types of platforms. Again, the key is to understand the medium, and not simply try to replicate online the exact same things you had been doing for years in the classroom — you need to be thoughtful about how different media give you different opportunities.
The key is to understand the medium, and not simply try to replicate online the exact same things you had been doing for years in the classroom — you need to be thoughtful about how different media give you different opportunities.
Grush: So don't count on "just stumbling" onto changes for the better?
Campbell: That's right. I guess in some ways I had beginner's luck. But I learned my lessons well and I now know what things to keep in mind, for change.
Part of your purpose can be transcending time and space with whatever platform allows us to be together in ways that help us get beyond barriers of time and location. But there are other barriers to overcome: For example, we were able to move beyond barriers of age and certain barriers of ability, which I love. These are things that are precious to me.
So again, what I'm talking about here is not handy management technology; not the things that save you time and cut your costs… Those types of likable technologies are important, they have their place, and they deserve their own discussions, certainly.
But the technologies I love are those communications technologies that truly change and enhance teaching and learning. These technologies are at the heart of teaching and learning.