We all know the value of google scholar so we can’t say technology is bad. It is good if used properly. However, there are also many pitfalls like you mentioned and as graduate students, we are expected to know this…or we will come to know this to be successful students. That being said, I will agree that many people’s attention spans are quite shorter than it should be. Is it because of technology or are people just bored? I remember my first year chemistry class having to listen to the Professor go on and on for 3 hours. I don’t like chemistry so that would have been a good time to be distracted. So really, it may be that people are try to be too many things at the same time(thanks to technology) but not interested enough to not be distracted.

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Yes, and in the same vein too, I think that it is very important encourage in our students the development of a kind of “filter” – a internal mechanism that uses critical thinking and a sense of ownership of their own thought process in order to filter the flux of information. This will guide them to find and build their own way in searching, selecting and learning information. This will also enable them to make new connections and develop ideas of their own authorship.
Thanks for the post and comments!

Great post and comments here! I think that question reminds us of the importance to “use” technology and not “be used” by it, meaning that, although the technological means did enable us with powerful resources, we are not really dependent of them to make things work on the classroom. What is really powerful resides on us, our minds, our ideas and creativity. Maybe it would be healthy have a day without technology once in a while.

I agree with the “it depends” scenarios that you talked about. If the technology (e.g. laptop, etc. ) is not needed to further clarify the class material then there is no need to use it. However, I do believe that we should try to incorporate technology in the classroom as it offers us with other ways of teaching the class that were not possible before. On another note, I think that each person should control their own distractions regardless of the ‘distraction tool or device’. In the absence of my phone or laptop, I can day dream, think about what to cook for dinner, draw something on a piece of paper, etc. My point is I could be distracted in a million other ways in the classroom rather than facebook. Also, I think that time management is key. You can silent your phone when you work just as much as you can force yourself to stay focused.

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Thanks, Bernardo, it is a great post! I like specially when you said that we need to make the best use of technology tools to “shape competent and critical professionals for the current needs in society”. I completely agree with your idea that “we are shifting our mind to improve our abilities to perform in a digital world” and that it is fundamental that we work to develop “critical thinkers for a different era”.
This is way better than be sorry for the past and thinking about what we have lost with the change. Ok, it is great to reflect about what remains essential regardless the resources we have, but I think we should do this looking into the present and toward the future.

Hi Bernardo,

I agree with you that managing and learning all those new technological tools requires a good amount of skills. And they can really help with learning. But sometimes it feels as if not using any of that technology in the classroom is a no-no nowadays. Some of best learning experiences have been in classes where all technology was a chalk board, a transparency projector and a piece of paper. As Aritra mentioned above, we need to ne able to preserve what is worth of the “traditional” teaching tools in combination with what it is worth (not everything will be) of the new ones.

What i think would be lost in over-dependence on technology is the ability to think through problems which is one of the ways we increase our mental abilities. The focus nowadays is on the solution rather than the process but it is the process that makes one exercise some area of the brain that hitherto would lay dormant. I could easily solve an equation using online tools but the process that leads to the solution will be lost on me and the next time i need to solve this problem, i will have to use the tool again. This tool might guarantee that I don’t make a mistake but I’m no better mathematically.

While I think that internet should actually be a basic human right, I agree with you that there are a lot of stuff out there that is wrong and misleading. It is our responsibility as educators to help the students filter this information responsibly and critically think what is and what is not credible.

I agree with you. I think that the internet (or Google) is a tool, just like anything other technology, that depending on our usage to it will result in negative or positive impact on our life. The internet made valuable information available to us and made connections and interactions to other people easier and much more efficient. What we do with our time and our interaction is up to us and only us.

I also agree that I am reading now more than before. I wonder how much of it is really important. For example, websites have figured out how to entice people to go from article to article, sometimes using deceptive titles, or attracting readers to stuff that is irrelevant (to some, not to others), like reality TV stars drama or something. Very good post, thanks for sharing!