Sally Song came via video chat to discuss her use of Office 365 in her classroom. She highlighted a number of aspects of Office 365 that could make life a lot easier for us as classroom teachers. More importantly, she demonstrated how Office 365 can be used to build a platform for students to showcase their learning, share learning with each other, and make learning meaningful for children.

I really liked what Sally had to say, and I really agreed with her notion not to be completely married to the idea of only using tech in the classroom. While tech can often enhance the learning, and make the learning more accessible for students, it is not the tool that actually probes student thinking, or guides them on their learning journey. That role still falls to the teacher, and being too reliant on tech might not only blur the lines for the role of a teacher, but could have devastating effects on students learning.

If one were to adhere to old paradigms of purely practice, repetition, and memorization for all learning, then tech probably could take the place of the teacher. While admittedly I have a vested interest in not making a teacher’s role redundant, I do believe that the teacher’s role guiding a student through their learning is essential. Tech can greatly enhance and impact this journey, if used appropriately by the teacher. Office 365 offers a number of means to accomplish this.