Education is fluid, forever changing and adapting to the world around us. After reading through these articles, I couldn’t help but think about my role as a teacher and the impact of the choices I have made in the classroom. As an educator, making decisions and figuring out what is best for my students is something I am faced with everyday. New advancements in technology should be a crucial factor in that decision making. It is easy to place chromebooks, tablets, and iPads in schools and make the claim that technology is being used, but are the students using it as a tool to enhance their critical thinking skills and transform the learning experience? Or are they simply using it as a time-filler? It is our job as educators to make every interaction that students have with these new technologies meaningful.
As I read the article “A Rich Seam”, I thought about a time in college when I needed to print a job application from a website. My new printer would not connect properly to my computer and I spent hours on google trying to troubleshoot the issue. I have always been tech-savvy, and I was thankful in that moment that I could read and comprehend the terminology to solve the problem. Unfortunately, not everyone has the same success. Educators need to work together to provide students with meaningful experiences so they are able to be successful members of society. A recent study done in the United States stated that 59% of adults ages 18-35 claim that they learned and developed most of the skills they use in their current job outside of school (Fullan and Langworthy 2014). Putting all of the focus on teaching standards and test scores and less on real-world skills is harming our students in the long run because they are not prepared for what is beyond grade school.
It is important that educators are using technology as a tool to enhance the learning experience and not to replace old practices. After reading these articles, I thought about ways myself and my colleagues can practice using technology in meaningful ways in the classroom. One thing I have noticed that is a common issue among educators is the resistance to change. While some teachers may be excited to embrace new technologies and practices, others are hesitant to take the leap. It is important to stay current and up-to-date with the advancements around us, and I would like to push myself to be an advocate for meaningful technology use in the classroom.
References:
Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (2014). A rich seam: How new pedagogies find deep learning. London: Pearson.
Hello Alex, I concur with you. Students are no longer taught the art of been a critical thinker, everything is basically handed to them. As you stated we can have all of the computers, latest hardware and it does not mean anything if a student does not know how to comprehend what they have learned. Being a librarian I stress this to the teachers all the time that if a child does not understand the meaning of the word they will not understand what they have read. As educators we really need to find the link between technology and education.
ReplyDeleteAlex, I agree with you that technology is constantly updating and changing. 10 years ago it was nowhere near what is today, and if you flash forward 10 years from now it will have increased even more than where we are today. I also agree that we as educators must make the use of technology meaningful, and not just as a way to eat up time. It's difficult sometimes to do that. There is no doubt that teachers are resistant to change and the use of technology because I see it in my own school system. I believe it is just because it is different and gets some teachers out of their comfort zone. Technology is something that has to be used in today's world, and we as educators need to be able to use it.
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