Today’s

Teacher
Tools, Teachers and Technological
Terror!

In this digital age that we live in, the ICT tools teachers have at their disposal to
enhance the learning of their students are as numerous as they are diverse.
Early childhood educator Korryne Campbell seeks to tackle the question of
whether ICT tools truly do ‘maketh the teacher’.

Imperial General (when power of the human mind and human

talking about the Imperial experience (and maybe even ‘the
Death Star) - “This battle Force’).
station is now the ultimate
power in the galaxy, I
suggest we use it.”

Darth Vader - “Do not be

too proud of this
technological terror you
have constructed, General.
The ability to destroy a
planet is insignificant in
comparison to the power of
the Force.”

Star Wars Episode 4 – A

New Hope

It may be a touch harsh to describe From a galaxy far, far away to

ICT tools used for educational
purposes as generating ‘technological
terror’, but Darth Vader makes a valid
point about how the power of
technology has its limitations,
especially when compared to the
Canberra circa 1984-1990, to answer
the question of whether tools ‘maketh
the teacher’ I will begin by reflecting
upon my own early educational
experiences. I remember fondly
(mostly) my primary school teachers
and the methods that they used in their

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 Today’s
Teacher
teaching. Some of them were hard and
let you know that they were boss,
whilst others were softer and sought to
guide and nurture.
In terms of the ‘tools’ that each of
them used to teach, I can not say that I
really remember them ever drawing
upon anything more than the
curriculum approved textbook and
their own minds and experiences. To
my recollection, ICT in the classroom
during that time was relatively
rudimentary with a stand alone Apple
Mac PC in the corner of the classroom,
used sparingly, and often simply
gathering dust. If the tools truly do
maketh the teacher, did the lack of ICT
tools available to my teachers make
them less effective than the teachers of
today?
ICT tools do ‘maketh the teacher’
If there was ever a period in history
where the tools of education can
maketh the teacher, it is now. Take for
example, the Scottish primary school
teacher who used “mobile phones in a
groundbreaking initiative” (Macleod,
2008, p. 1) where she allowed students
to use Bluetooth, camera, video and
voice recorder functions when learning
languages. The mobile technology was
used to allow students to use voice
recorders to record their classes. This
allowed the students to listen to the
recordings at home in order to help
them with the correct pronunciation of
particular words when they completed
their homework (Macleod, 2008). This
is an example of the utilisation of
modern technology to broaden the
boundaries of the classroom and
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supports the argument that the tools of
ICT can allow teachers to significantly
enhance the learning of their students.
More broadly, Anderson (2009) states
that ICT has “heralded a paradigm
shift in education in that its use in
schools is changing how teachers teach
and how students learn” (p. 3). In
making this statement, Anderson
(2009) is adding weight to the
argument that ICT tools do make the
teacher. Anderson (2009) goes on to
argue that the teacher is “no longer an
all-knowing authority” (p. 3) and he
likens the present role of a teacher “to
that of a team coach or orchestra
conductor (p. 3). If Anderson’s views
are correct, it would seem that ICT
tools not only maketh the teacher, they
also change the very notion of what a
teacher should be.
ICT tools do NOT ‘maketh the
teacher’
If ICT tools really do maketh the
teacher, logic would dictate that these
times of technological advancement
would be producing a generation of
teachers who are able to access a range
of ICT teaching tools that are far
superior to those of the past and, in
turn, improve the quality of education
for students. This being true, one
would then expect modern day
students to be better educated and
better prepared for a workforce that is
driven and relies on the same
technological advancement. But it
would seem that this is not necessarily
the case. Elliot (2009) suggests that
whilst school and university pass rates
are improving in Australia, employers
are increasingly complaining about the
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Teacher
quality of school-leavers and graduates
and that young people lack “the
communication and collaborative” (p.
7) skills needed in today’s workplaces.
There is great significance in the fact
that employers feel that today’s school
leavers are not prepared for the
modern workforce. After all, is it not
one of the primary roles of our
teachers to prepare students for
transition into the workforce with the
skills to secure employment? Anne
Shaw (2009) reflects that the modern
curriculum will need to give students
skills to “address real-world issues” (p.
14) and at the same time allow
students to “use technology and
multimedia tools available to them” (p.
14). A vital aspect of Shaw’s
reflection, in my view, is the idea that
it is the modern curriculum that gives
students the skills to address real world
issues, not the technology and tools. If
it is teachers that are the implementers
of the ‘modern curriculum’, they are
the ones that ultimately determine
when and how teaching tools are
applied in the classroom.
Effective teaching is about making the
most of the tools at ones disposal.
Without the right teacher to do this, the
tools themselves are ineffective. To
answer a question posed earlier in this
article, no, I do not believe my
education was affected by my own
teachers’ limited access to ICT – they
were still great teachers who inspired
my own learning experiences. ICT
tools do not maketh the teacher just as
the Death Star did not make the
Galactic Empire the ultimate power in
the galaxy.
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References
Anderson, J (2009). The Role of ICT
in Teaching and Learning: Past,
Present and Future Perfect.
Proceedings of the 13th UNESCO-
APEID International Conference and
World Bank-KERIS High Level
Seminar on ICT in Education
Conference, Hangzhou, People’s
Republic of China: Hangzhou
Department of Education and
Xiacheng People’s Government.
Retrieved from
http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/u
ser_upload/apeid/Conference/13th_Co
nference/Papers/Jonathan_Anderson.p
df on June 22, 2010.
Elliot, B. (2009). E-Pedagogy.
Retrieved from
http://www.scribd.com/doc/932164/E-
Pedagogy on June 23, 2010.
Lucas, G. (Writer and Director), &
Kurtz, G (Producer). (1977). Star
Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.
[Motion Picture].
Macleod, F. (2008). Teacher hails
mobile phone as learning aid.
Retrieved from
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/T
eacher-hails-mobile-phone-
as.3632210.jp on July 27, 2010.
Shaw, A. (2009). Education in the 21st
Century. [Online]. Ethos. v.17 n.1 p.
11-17; Term 1 2009. ISSN: 1448-1324.
Retrieved from
http://search.informit.com.au.ezproxy1
.canberra.edu.au/fullText;dn=177177;r
es=AEIPT on July 5th, 2010.
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“Death Star” [Image – Online].
Retrieved from
http://scrapetv.com/News/News
%20Pages/Entertainment/images-
4/death-star.jpg on July 31st, 2010.