| | November - 20208IN MY OPINIONED TECH­A NECESSARY TOOL FOR STUDENT ENGAGEMENTBy Keith L Smith, MA, EdD, MBA, LM, RMHC(ret), Vice-President & Dean, School of Health Sciences, Purdue University GlobalBegin with the End in MindLet us start at the end, in keeping with Steven Covey's refrain, "begin with the end in mind." At the end of the day, we want students to succeed, to get that degree or credential, to advance in their career and life, to be a productive member of society. To get there requires students to be engaged in their learning journey. As educators, we need every tool at our disposal to help engender that engagement. W. Edwards Deming said, "learning is not compulsory...neither is survival." That is applicable to engagement. Without it, students falter, lose interest, and drop out, in the process of losing time, money, and confidence in their abilities. Ed-tech is a needed, key tool to get us to our desired end.Ed Tech as A Key ToolThat tool enables positive engagement in three basic arenas--engagement with curricular activities, engagement with instructor and fellow students, and engagement with university services (advising, library, financial aid, etc.). It provides access, communication tools, and learning enhancements that otherwise would be missing from a student's experience, limiting education to a face-to-face, physical campus-based, instructor-focused environment. A Tool ResistedWe know there continues to be resistance to ed-tech by many educators, be it ed-tech via online education and/or incorporating more ed-tech in a traditional setting. That is not surprising, as a change per se is always resisted initially. Many faculty are comfortable doing things as they always have. Learning new technology and technology-based teaching tools is an understandable challenge. COVID has forced the issue, but literature continues to have a mix of positive and negative responses to using tech to teach. At a basic level, even the transition of physical classroom discussion to online discussion threads presents issues to some faculty and students. Steven Mintz notes, "most students haven't been taught how to participate in a meaningful digital conversation." Necessity may win out for now, but in the long run, we need to help our colleagues understand that tech is simply a tool, nothing more, nothing less, not in principle unlike a whiteboard in a classroom, and with evidenced-based practice and training on tech tools, a huge asset in any setting, whether fully online, hybrid, or back in the physical classroom.A Tool AppliedSo how best to use this tool? The course environment provides key examples of the proficiency of ed-tech tools. James Comer pointedly says, "no significant learning occurs without a significant relationship." Ed-tech provides multiple means for students to communicate with their faculty and fellow students, pragmatically far more than via the traditional in-class format. Adaptive learning has been used with great success in several Keith L Smith
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