Doug Johnson Website

Examining the Enchantment of Technology
Head for the Edge, September 1997

I don’t know if there are any empirical studies to back me up, but kids do behave better while they are using technology. Media specialists and teachers agree: the more computers are used in the library media center or classroom, the less discipline is a problem.

From what I’ve observed, it doesn’t really seem to make much difference what type of activity students seem to be doing with the technology. Drill and practice, keyboarding, word processing, searching the Internet, or working on a hypermedia presentation all seem to precipitate this often sought but too seldom found occurrence: our captive audience engaged in a learning activity that gives more satisfaction than the attention gained through misbehavior.

There may a number of reasons for this:

1. Novelty.
The “Gee-Whiz” factor is high with technology. That newest simulation, graphics program or animated Web site often grabs our attention with new bells and whistles. For many of children coming from low-tech homes, any computer itself can be a new experience.

What novelty doesn’t explain is why so many children continue to use certain programs for extended lengths of time, why not all software has staying power, or why children who have grown up surrounded with technology remain enthralled. In fact, the children who have had the most experience with technology are often are the ones most absorbed by it. (The “geek” syndrome!)

2. Entertainment
A good deal of software written for education is deliberately designed to have entertainment value. So much so, the entertainment elements often overshadow the educational purpose as happens with Microsoft’s Creative Writer and Fine Artist programs. I am as amused as the next person by bright colors, catchy tunes and cute cartoon characters of many children’s software program. For at least five minutes anyway.

Overall, entertainment hasn’t really succeeded very well as an educational tool. That’s mostly due to the fact that we are generally passive while being entertained, and the images and sounds do not change each time we use the computer program, launch the CD-ROM, or view the video. As I have discovered by watching Toy Story with my son at least 10 times, even the most clever and creative amusements become less so with repetition. (Just ask my wife about my jokes.)

3. Involvement
Activities then need to change is in some way each time we engage in them in to stay compelling. In the book Flow, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asserts that there are common characteristics of involving (flow) tasks. Among those are that a person’s skills are being used at a level that is challenging, but not frustrating; that the participant is receiving continuous feedback; and that the tasks have defined goals or standards of completion.

Computer games, including drill and practice programs, certainly have Csikszentmihalyi’s flow elements: one receives continuous feedback, a variety of levels, and a defined criteria for advancement to the next level. (And the “reward” interestingly enough is a more difficult assignment!) The problem with arcade-style software is that one rarely get to practice skills that go beyond kinetic memory or factual recall. You have to love those little Number Munchers, but students will never be asked to apply the learned math skill to a real life situation no matter proficient they become at the program.

4. Thinking Required
I will advance a final, contrary notion. Kids like technology, not because it makes learning easier, but because it makes schooling more challenging. As I recently discovered when shadowing a student for a full school day, it is BORING when you are only asked to just listen and repeat. It’s not hard to see how the “blank slate” analogy came into being - just look in kids’ faces who are being regarded as such.

There has never been a desktop publication created, a database designed, a videotape shot, a spreadsheet constructed or a question answered through electronic research without a good deal of actual thinking going into it. In fact with most productivity software, users get a double dose of thinking: they get to design both the content and the container of the content! Student fascination with technology is not with the technology itself. What technology users find compelling is the reflection of their own growing ideas brought forth by the technology. The best computer programs extract and enhance our creativity. They clarify and organize our thoughts. They color and diagram our plans. Whether in the form of a director’s video camera, a musician’s keyboard or a writer’s word processor, technology at its best makes our uniqueness visible to the world.

Wouldn’t it be surprising if we one day discovered that the most “difficult” tasks we ask our students to complete, those that really require originality, creativity, and reflection, are the ones they like the best!

from Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper, 1990.

“…the phenomenology of enjoyment has eight major components. When people reflect on how it feels when their experience is most positive, they mention at least one, and often all, of the following. First, the experience usually occurs when we confront tasks we have a chance of completing. Second, we must be able to concentrate on what we are doing. Third and fourth, the concentration is usually possible because the task undertaken has clear goals and provides immediate feedback. Fifth, one acts with a deep but effortless involvement that removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life. Sixth, enjoyable experiences allow people to exercise a sense of control over their actions. Seventh, concern for the self disappears, yet paradoxically the sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over. Finally, the sense of the duration of time is altered; hours pass by in minutes, and minutes can stretch out to seem like hours.”