In Defense of Old School Tools

by John T. Spencer

I have a class set of netbooks.  Visiting teachers will often mock the little machines by asking if my students can make videos or do extensive photo editing.  Actually, they can, but often they don't.  Sure, as a class, we will create a documentary.  In small groups, students will create podcasts.  However, the most powerful tools are often simply old-school tools with a social twist.

Word Processing: Sometimes we forget that one of the greatest gifts of a computer is the chance to edit and revise text.  Sounds a little lame, perhaps, but to a class that is used to paper, the opportunity to constantly edge closer to mastery is powerful.  Add the social sharing aspect with Zoho or Google Docs and it's now possible to use a solitary medium for cooperative learning purposes.

Spreadsheets: I rarely read a tweet about the HUNDRED MOST AWESOME WAYS TO USE A SPREADSHEET.  As a tool, it can feel cumbersome and even a little anti-social.  Yet, we use it to crowd source shared knowledge, to create large-scale community needs assessments and as a great visual opportunity to see math concepts fleshed out (think simple interest rates or algebraic equations).

Concept Maps: Again, a slightly older medium that is often forgot, the concept map is powerful in the opportunity to display one's mental process in such a visual method.  True, students can create paper-based webs, but the concept mapping process allows them to move a map spatially.

Blogs: At first glance a blog is simply a digital version of a journal.  However, blogs have become our running dialogue on learning.  Whether it's their vocabulary (they are able to tag it with subject and name, so that they can see vocabulary across the subjects) blog, their private blog (which functions as a journal, a scratch pad for their final works, their reflections in various subjects, etc.) or their public blog (where they communicate with the world), the class blog  or various small group project-based blogs, a fairly simple medium becomes a powerful tool for digital literacy.

Slideshows: I realize that PowerPoint can really suck.  I get it.  However, I have found Google Slideshows to be a great way to teach sequencing of events or to get students to create a visual representation of complex subjects.  For example, I might ask students to choose ten symbols to represent the Cold War.

Internet: Perhaps the most powerful tool is the most overlooked* - the simple ability to search a massive amount of information and synthesize it as a result.  My students use a Google Document with a table where they write the inquiry question, the facts, the source and the bias of the source.  These are then used in creating articles, writing scripts, recording podcasts or participating in debates.

Don't get me wrong.  We might use some social media like Twitter or Schoology.  Students might do some online video editing or use a very specific, targeted site like Wordle or Google Maps.  However, it is often the simple, old-school tools that have the ability to transform learning.

*I changed the wording after a comment by gasstationwithoutpumps.