Reimagining the Role of Technology in Learning

Noel Gardner, Director of the STEM and Health Sciences Program, Jackson State University

Noel Gardner, Director of the STEM and Health Sciences Program, Jackson State University

Noel Gardner holds a doctorate in computational chemistry and has over a decade of experience in the fields of education and research. She has previously worked as a principal investigator (PI) for the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars Program and a co-PI for the STEM-UP Academy (Implementation NSF Grant) at Hinds Community College.

In a conversation with Education Technology Insights, Noel sheds light on how technology helps to keep up with the emerging trends in the educational space.

What are some of the new developments in the education-technology space that you have come across?

I have recently observed that there has been a noticeable decline in the number of African-American male students enrolling in STEM courses. Until a few years ago, male students outnumbered female students in the discipline, but there has been a paradigm shift in that aspect. With that in perspective, I have had to tweak my teaching methods and employ techniques and tools to interest students in enrolling in the STEM program that I work for.

Considering the fast-paced world that we are living in right now, it is important to introduce new teaching methods. We are currently dealing with an entirely different generation of students who generally have shorter attention spans. To ease the learning process for students, we need to replace obsolete teaching methods with modern, technologically advanced methods that will also enable them to retain classroom learning for longer periods of time. Social media as a technological tool has been greatly rewarding in bringing more students into the classroom as well as the STEM space. For instance, tools like Rocketbooks encourage note-taking among students.

What is the approach that you take to overcome the challenges in the educational space and enhance student engagement?

When finding solutions, it always comes down to having an adequate budget because, mostly, budgetary constraints hold off the implementation of the said solutions. Such a scenario calls for unconventional approaches. For instance, a colleague of mine and I received a grant to set up self-assembled laboratories for the duration of a 16-week semester. It was an effort to make students understand how chemistry and biology are interconnected, and through the activities conducted in these laboratories, students gained hands-on experience, helping them merge theoretical understanding with experimental learning. 80 percent of the students who attended the laboratory classes said they were able to better understand the real-world applications by having an interdisciplinary lab, and 30 percent of the students who were not initially STEM majors wanted to change their field of study.

Once we change our thought process and tear down the silos we have built for each discipline, we can have a meaningful impact on the education of the students.

If you had to offer a piece of advice to other professionals starting out in the industry, what would that be?

The best advice I received and would like to pass on is to always keep an open mind and be flexible. The education sector is subject to constant change, and every student is different. The change was even greater when the pandemic brought to light the disparities in the accessibility of resources for students from different social strata. When virtual classes began in institutions, it was presumed that all the students had the required technological assistance. However, many students did not have devices compatible with online learning or access to Wi-Fi. Although we're in a tech-driven world, a lot of people still don't have the privileges that we presume.

To bridge the technological gap between students from different backgrounds, it's crucial to be flexible and open to changes. We may have ideas and plans that we think might be beneficial for students, but when you step into the classroom, and you're teaching those students, you realize that they need something different. You must act on that realization and come up with alternatives that will help you disseminate knowledge and information in a way that students can actually comprehend.