As teach­ers, we exist at the inter­sec­tion of tra­di­tion and inno­va­tion. With the rapid evo­lu­tion of dig­i­tal tools, our role is not only to instruct but also to crit­i­cal­ly assess the impli­ca­tions of tech­nol­o­gy in learn­ing envi­ron­ments. Jesse Miller, a lead­ing voice in dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy, recent­ly shared insights into the com­plex­i­ties of social media, pri­va­cy, and AI in edu­ca­tion. His mes­sage was clear, dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy is not just a skill, it is a neces­si­ty.

For years, dis­cus­sions about tech­nol­o­gy in edu­ca­tion framed a gen­er­a­tional divide, but Miller points out that this no longer holds. Whether young or old, we all rely on mobile tech­nol­o­gy in ways that extend beyond per­son­al con­ve­nience. This shift is cul­tur­al, not just tech­no­log­i­cal, which means stu­dents need more than just expo­sure to dig­i­tal tools. They must learn how to eval­u­ate infor­ma­tion, use tech­nol­o­gy eth­i­cal­ly, and under­stand the con­se­quences of their online inter­ac­tions.

Miller was crit­i­cal of BC’s cell­phone ban in schools, argu­ing that it was polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed rather than based on research. Per­son­al­ly, I am thank­ful for this pol­i­cy. Over the past decade, the bat­tle to get stu­dents to put their devices away and focus on class has become increas­ing­ly dif­fi­cult. The con­stant strug­gle to redi­rect their atten­tion was exhaust­ing, and while the deci­sion may not have been based on research, I appre­ci­ate final­ly hav­ing a clear pol­i­cy to fol­low. This has removed much of the dai­ly con­flict, mak­ing it eas­i­er to main­tain focus in the class­room.

Pri­va­cy is anoth­er grow­ing con­cern. Many teach­ers unknow­ing­ly store stu­dent infor­ma­tion on per­son­al devices, putting pri­va­cy at risk. Cloud stor­age and auto­mat­ic sync­ing mean stu­dent images and data could be uploaded out­side Cana­da with­out teach­ers real­iz­ing it. Miller stressed the impor­tance of know­ing where data is stored, who has access to it, and how it is being used to ensure respon­si­ble dig­i­tal prac­tices.

Teach­ers also expe­ri­ence frus­tra­tion when use­ful dig­i­tal tools are restrict­ed. Recent­ly, I found an online BINGO game that had excel­lent trans­la­tion capa­bil­i­ties, allow­ing me to incor­po­rate mul­ti­ple lan­guages into my class­room. This would have been a great way to include my Eng­lish lan­guage learn­ers and make their cul­tures more vis­i­ble in our shared learn­ing space. The site required no logins, emails, or per­son­al infor­ma­tion, yet when I arrived at school, I dis­cov­ered it was blocked on our serv­er. I request­ed access, explain­ing its edu­ca­tion­al val­ue, but my request was denied. The only expla­na­tion I received was that many online apps are blocked by default, and the tech depart­ment would not inves­ti­gate fur­ther or offer alter­na­tives. This kind of broad restric­tion, with­out con­sid­er­a­tion of a tool’s mer­it, can make it dif­fi­cult for teach­ers to inte­grate tech­nol­o­gy in mean­ing­ful ways.

AI is anoth­er tool that brings both oppor­tu­ni­ties and chal­lenges. Miller sees AI as a way to enhance edu­ca­tion rather than replace human inter­ac­tion. AI can help ana­lyze stu­dent work, iden­ti­fy learn­ing pat­terns, and per­son­al­ize lessons, but it also rais­es con­cerns about mis­in­for­ma­tion. Stu­dents and teach­ers need to be able to eval­u­ate AI-gen­er­at­ed con­tent crit­i­cal­ly and under­stand the broad­er impli­ca­tions of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence in edu­ca­tion.

Social media, once a valu­able plat­form for pro­fes­sion­al learn­ing and net­work­ing, has become increas­ing­ly polar­ized. Many teach­ers have left Twit­ter due to its tox­i­c­i­ty, but Miller warns against aban­don­ing dig­i­tal spaces entire­ly. He encour­ages teach­ers to seek com­mu­ni­ties that pro­mote mean­ing­ful dia­logue rather than falling into echo cham­bers. Plat­forms like Dis­cord or BlueSky may offer alter­na­tives, but no space is with­out its chal­lenges.

Miller’s insights high­light the need for greater dig­i­tal account­abil­i­ty in edu­ca­tion. Teach­ers must be con­scious of how they col­lect and share stu­dent data, advo­cate for poli­cies that reflect real class­room needs, and use dig­i­tal tools thought­ful­ly. Tech­nol­o­gy will con­tin­ue to evolve, and as teach­ers, we must ensure it serves stu­dents in ways that are eth­i­cal, effec­tive, and inclu­sive.