Technology and Education: Challenges and Opportunities

by Rabbi Reuven Spolter
Jewish Studies Lecturer

I’ve been struggling with the issue of cellphones in my classes at Orot.
Last semester, Orot Israel College invited a speaker who spoke to the entire student body about our collective addiction to cellphones. Even more impressive than the truly frightening statistics and stories he told was the total command he had over an auditorium of 450 students, and his absolute refusal to allow anyone in the room to take out a cellphone. If someone took one out, he stopped his talk, and waited until the person put the phone away.
I was blown away, and convinced that I needed to do the same thing in my classes. When the new second semester began, I started each class by asking the students to put away their phones in their bags, telling them two things: First of all, their staring at their phones served as a distraction for me (which it really is – try talking to someone who’s staring at their phone). Second, I told them that, “If you’re there (on the phone) you’re not here." You cannot be on the phone and focusing on the class.
The students reluctantly acquiesced, and put away their phones, at first. For a while, I really stuck to it, and I must say that educationally, it was productive. The students were certainly annoyed, but the classes were better – more productive and focused.
But, as the semester has progressed, I have backed off – not because I don’t think that the cellphones are a distraction, but because I simply don’t have the energy to fight with my students anymore. I had hoped that the students entering my classes would, after a certain point, remember that I asked them not to use their phones in class and put them away on their own. Wishful thinking. Before each class I have to remind them – over and over – to please put away the phones until the end of class. And then there’s the laptop issue: a number of students bring laptops, and it’s painfully obvious that they’re not only taking notes. How as a teacher do I distinguish between cellphones and laptops? Why should there be any difference between them?
As part of my work at Orot, I serve as an administrator for the M.Ed. (Masters) program for Educational Administration at Orot’s Rechovot Campus. Students in the program recently participated in a site visit at Amit Amichai High School (for boys) in Rechovot. The Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshivat Amit, Rav Avi Rokeach, explained that three years ago the school made a strategic decision to invest in technology. They recognized that the students’ lives were intimately involved in technology – not just as tools, but in the way that the kids think today. If we were able to translate the materials that they learned – Gemara, Chumash, mathematics, etc – using the technological language of the students today – then they could dramatically improve the educational experience of the school. Every student and teacher received a tablet, and they invested in putting all of their materials on the tablets so that the kids would be ready to learn.
Three months into the project, they recognized that the experiment wasn’t working. Despite the incredible investment in technology, they realized that the tools – the technology – wasn’t the answer. It wasn’t that the tech wasn’t working. It really was. But the investment didn’t really create the change that the school was looking for. It was the same school, the same students, the same learning.
We took a tour of the school and saw a number of classes in which the students were working in groups; they had projects in English, mathematics, science; many of the classes of course have frontal learning. In each class, students were working with each other on laptops and also using their phones. There was a lot of learning taking place, but also a lot of email, Facebook and Whatsapp as well. We asked school staff how the teachers prevent students from using the laptops and phones to play and waste time. The teacher said that he doesn’t make them learn or stop them from playing. Rather, he gives the both the freedom and independence to make the right choice, and not waste their time in class (and have to do the work at home).
Is tech the answer in education? It is definitely not the answer – but it’s certainly part of our students’ lives. How to use that technology, or limit its ability to distract our students represents a challenge that educators struggle with on a constant basis. As technology grows even more integral to our lives, the questions grow more pressing.
Does a school that encourages engagement with technology produce graduates that are substantially different than other schools? Today, it's far too early to answer this critical question, which will have important implications for education long into the future.