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ideas to enliven your teaching & current information about computer & media trends...use the Index for quick access to posts by topics
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7 comments:
I am not entirely opposed to this as of yet but I believe we have a long way to go to get there. Certainly budget constraints are a number one concern. Not only for the cost initially but the upkeep of the ever changing technology. There also needs to be much professional development for the teachers. So many of us educators are behind in the times and struggle with the time outside of PD opportunity to really explore all it has to offer. True that using technology does offer the ability to offer opportunity in 21st century skills but will having a computer infront of them all the time prevent them from the experience of collaborating in person with each other? In addition, with the high priority on testing in this country, they will need to figure out how to incorporate that into the mix so that our scores don't fall too far behind. Alternative testing measures need to be created. It can happen, but we need all the pieces put together first and a path to guide us to get there if it is going to be successful.
I think that technology is definitely becoming a lead factor in education. HOWEVER, I feel as though technology is taking the place of many needed life skills for students. Telling time, completing equations without calculators, and using proper language and grammar are all serious concerns that I feel correlate with the rise in technological dependence.
When it comes to learning a language, people need to speak with other people. Technology can be a very useful tool for teaching languages but speaking it and using it in everyday situations is still the best way to learn.
I think one-on-one computing classrooms is a good idea to some degree. I still believe that younger students should learn with technology only half of the time in order to acquire the basic skills they need. For example, learning handwriting is still an important skill as not all things we write are done on the computer. For older students I do think this would be beneficial though.
I agree with the fact that the use of technology as a tool in the classroom is where education is going. However, students absolutely cannot go without learning basic skills such as writing in cursive (signatures), or telling time. Even the use of calculators has taken away from student knowledge on basic math facts in terms of addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Most of my students cannot tell you most of the 50 states by name, let alone locations. Why? I've been told that with technology, students will be able to "look up anything they need to know on their mobile devices and computer." Really? What's happening to the knowledge, internalization and utilization of very basic skills?
Honestly, what struck me as most interesting were the comments people made to the article. It clearly indicates to me that there are some more "traditional" thinkers in our world that do not see the value of technology in education. So whereas budget constraints are absolutely an issue, perhaps the biggest issue we may have is the technological divide between generations. As an educator, I believe in adjusting my teaching to fit my students' needs. Students now live in a world of technology. It is time to speak their language rather than asking them to adjust to "foreign" world of schools where only print materials are available.
On a side note, I currently teach in a traditional school and wouldn't you know that our copy machines and printers are pretty much broken EVERY day. Maybe we can benefit from more technology-based materials for the simple fact is we have no materials with which to teach if we don't. :)
When it comes to learning a language, people need to speak with other people. Technology can be a very useful tool for teaching languages but speaking it and using it in everyday situations is still the best way to learn.
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