A common sentiment among teachers is that North Penn is almost unrecognizable compared to when they started teaching there. 

Some educators have been able to see the difference over decades, yet changes have still been noticed from year to year.  For once, this year, the district is pushing back with the new cell phone policy, but will that be enough to combat years of students depending on them?  Does school-sponsored technology truly promote learning?  And are students’ brains actually “rotting”?  Here are the perspectives from some of North Penn High School’s teachers: Joel Evans, history; Dr. Jack Galuchie, Latin; and Richard Smith, English.

North Penn is an avid supporter of technology in the classroom.  Chromebooks are provided to each student, and every classroom is furnished with at least one screen and/or projector, wider than some students are tall.  Countless online programs assist the community along the digital journey.

Of course, the technological transition was expedited by Covid-19, and the virtual education that ensued.

“There’s more of an openness to learning asynchronously, especially at the college level… But at the high school level, we had very limited success with being able to pull off meaningful educating of students, mainly because kids need interaction with adults in their daily day to make them better learners,”

As classroom spaces shifted, the students within them did not remain unchanged.

“I think that COVID, the learning at home, there were things that were positive with it, like students’ self reliance… but also I wouldn’t subject anyone to online learning as a child, I think the isolation and being on a computer screen was not the best that could happen,” Galuchie shared.

Outside of North Penn’s walls, digitalization is occurring in the realm of standardized tests, with the last paper SAT and AP exams being taken just months ago.

“Every piece of research says that having a test booklet, or having a pen and pencil test actually helps kids learn information and use the test as a learning tool for what they call a ‘novel learning situation’ but the reason why they’re doing that stuff online is to be able to make more money, because it costs money to print the booklets,” Evans stated.

Smith had a different perspective, claiming that online tests “expedites the process of getting results which is probably a benefit to students.”

The abundance of online resources allows for students to see beyond the narrow inches of a textbook.

“Students have the ability to work when and where they need to.  So I think that has been fantastic in teaching a dead language… hav[ing] most of Latin literature available at your fingertips, that’s pretty incredible,” Galuchie reflected.

Besides just providing access to information, Evans notes that it enables “being able to create products that students would not have been able to create before, and adding a deeper layer of understanding by kids being able to create their own knowledge.”

With new ways of teaching and learning, of course, come new ways of cheating.

“I think some students have always looked for an easy way out; some of these ways are more accessible or harder to track than they’ve been in the past. If we teachers can foster a learning environment that values students’ effort and growth more than a “successful” outcome on a test or essay, students are more likely to submit original work,” Smith urged.

However, though cheating is made easier with technology, it isn’t too much of a change.

“Students have been cheating since people have been asking questions.  There is really good evidence that people have cheated throughout all times to answer tests, because tests give you access to better jobs, and larger incomes, and we value test scores, and therefore people are going to cheat,” Evans stated.

Technology is often blamed for changes in how students act both inside and outside the classroom.  As the years go by, teachers have picked up on this pattern as well.

“I have seen some of the respect that students have has lessened, as with online interactions they’re kind of ‘hidden behind a keyboard’, and those lines can blur when you’re in reality, and sometimes I think some of the students don’t understand what is appropriate to say to adults and other students and what should be kept in your head,” Galuchie observed.

Evans has realized students “are less willing to ask questions, they are less willing to engage in conversation with their peers.”

However, Smith stated an important fact: “Technological advances are transformative to people regardless of age.”

While students may feel looked down on for their phone obsession, adults, including teachers and even administrators, have just as much trouble putting them down.

“I watch teachers take out their phones, and use their phones, or play on their phones when I’m in meetings.  I’ve watched people from our ESC take out their phones when I’m literally talking to them about very important issues… It’s not just kids.  We’re under this illusion that it’s kids — it’s everybody,” Evans claimed.

“App companies like Meta and ByteDance have intentionally created addictive apps,” Smith said.  To him, phone use is less of an “interest”, and more of an addiction.

Many claim that the instantaneous worldwide access cell phones have become commonplace has shortened attention spans drastically. 

“I’ve had to cut down on the use of video…  Video is a way of experiencing the rest of the world without having to travel there, and the minute a video goes on they try and take their phones out… this is for you to experience something else inside the classroom.  Back in my day, when the teacher rolled the projector into the room, you were like “Yes! Movie day!”.  But now kids are like, “whatever old man, I don’t need to see what you put up on the screen”.  Even if it’s Mongolians using golden eagles to hunt arctic foxes!”, Evans exclaimed.

While it’s most noticeable in a school environment, Mr. Smith notes that it’s not only students who have shortened attention spans, it’s everyone.

While North Penn High School had been quite relaxed with cell phones in previous years, a cell phone policy has now been enacted.  Teachers are thankful that change was made from the top down.

“It was getting out of hand with cell phone use in the building,” Galuchie stated.

Evans appreciates how administration now stands behind teachers working to get more students to achieve their full potential, without the distractions of cell phones.  “It is one of these things where if you have the backing of the authorities around you, it’s easier to enforce rules,” Evans reflects. 

“I think the new cell phone policy has had a tremendous positive effect on students’ socialization and learning. Students are more inclined to interact with their classmates if their phones are in their bags. If they make friends or even acquaintances in a class, they’re more inclined to enjoy the class even if the material is challenging or not related to their personal interests. In terms of student learning, when a person focuses on a single objective, they’re much more likely to complete it because their attention isn’t split in multiple directions,” Smith commented.

Galuchie stated that cell phones have been the greatest change he’s seen since he’s started teaching.  While they’re still a relatively new invention, they’ve already revolutionized the world.

Similarly, Smith says that access to entertainment at one’s fingertips is the most important change that he’s seen.  “Teachers and students alike have the ability to distract themselves from the hard thinking that allows intellectual growth to occur. We also have access to all of our friends and family which means staying focused on a task can be difficult,” he stated.

Taking a different perspective, Evans says “it’s the ability for kids to create products that had never been able to be created before… just the multi-modality of demonstrating your learning with a product is pretty impressive”.

Some teachers believe students have become too dependent on their technological tools.

“I feel they are too reliant in terms of trying to get the correct answer instead of trying to work through the answer sometimes, just jumping directly to look for the answer, and not how to get to an answer,” Galuchie claimed.

However, Evans completely disagrees, saying that students aren’t too reliant on technology. “No. No. That’s it.  No. Period.”

Yet students can’t be singled-out for technology usage.

“I think I have become reliant on technology in the classroom to an extent. I think Canvas is a great learning management tool, and I use it quite a bit; obviously it relies on internet access. The same applies to GoogleDocs,” Smith reflected.

Artificial intelligence is now growing out of the pages of science fiction books, and right into the hands of students and teachers.

Evans supports it, using it himself and having his students use it as well. “Any information you take in, you have to be the one that vets it, and makes new understanding out of it, or rearanges it for your own worldview, or it helps you see a different worldview.  It’s just information, it’s not replacing other information, it’s not replacing thinking,” he claimed.

Galuchie is neither opposed nor invested.  He hasn’t used it himself, yet knows fellow teachers who have, and has used materials that other teachers have created with AI.

Smith is opposed, yet recognizes that artificial intelligence is here to stay, saying “I would prefer if students created their own ideas, so I discourage them from using generative AI in a capacity that threatens their imaginations and limits their creativity. I think humans’ ability to create is a beautiful and important piece of living an examined life. Ironically, our penchant for creation led to our inventing something that could eventually replace most people’s desire to create their own ideas. Ultimately, I believe generative AI is the present/future, so to deny its potential impact would be counterproductive.”

For many, AI is a cause for concern.

“As someone who watched Terminator 2 through most of my childhood, the whole idea of AI kind of scares me,” Galuchie remarked. 

Mr. Smith, focused on the concrete impact rather than the possibilities, says his “most pressing concern about the current status of generative AI is its environmental impact.”

Looking towards the future, teachers are both awestruck and apprehensive.

“I would say in terms of technology, it’s a little bit of both. I think it’s “oh my gosh this is incredible”, what we can have, what we can do, everything we have access to, where we can access it. But also, that’s a lot of stuff to have at your fingertips, that may just be a little too much for people.  I think it’s a double-edged sword,” Galuchie noted.

Evans emphasizes the importance of reading, regardless of the multiplying opportunities to not have to, saying “Living life isn’t easy, so people are going to look for the easiest way to live life.  That means that they’re going to rely on technology to pick up the slack of hard work that they don’t want to do.  And one of the hardest things to do for the human brain is reading.  I fear that there’s going to be too many times that people rely on technology to read them out loud, or to summarize things and people aren’t going to be able to do the incredibly difficult hard work of reading something and digesting it over a sustained amount of time.  Just read kids, read anything.  Read the cereal box, I don’t care.”

To teachers, technology is both a present gift, and an uncertain future.

“All technology should be used to make our lives easier or more fruitful…  The problem at North Penn is that the people who make technology choices don’t consider the end user, and change technology so much that teachers don’t trust being able to have a technology from year to year,” Mr. Evans remarked.

“I think the sheer kind of information and computing power that you can hold in your hand is incredible — I think it’s too much at a young age.  The idea of you wouldn’t teach a kid how to drive by entering them in the Indy 500, you’d want to build up to that,” Galuchie stated.

Teachers are given a unique glimpse into the power of technology which will be harnessed by, as well as act as a harness to future generations.

Looking towards the future, Galuchie said “I would just like to know more about what the effects are going to be, which is kind of impossible to know.”