The world we live in is ever changing. Technology and technological practices have changed drastically through the years. They quite literally change with every passing day. It is our job as educators to stay on top of the new trends and prepare our students for the world outside of school. One way to do this is by challenging them with technology use and being on the forefront of technological practices. One concept that is used in today’s classroom is deep learning. Deep learning goes beyond the worksheet and flash cards and challenges students to be creative and thought provoking. One of the aspects of deep learning is to, “discover and create digital learning tools and digital resources to explore new content (Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M., 2014). The idea that we as educators can use technology and technological advances to give our students the opportunity to achieve deep learning is a good one. Students deserve to be able to let their voice be heard through the work they do, and if we as educators teach this through different technologies, we will have prepared them as we should. Going forward on the classroom
One of the first things you learn about in college in your teacher program is Blooms Taxonomy. This for good reason, Blooms lays out the road map for success in the classroom and engaging students in a higher order of thinking. What makes blooms so effective is the taxonomy has different levels, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Huitt, 2011). All these levels work in unison to ensure the education process for the student is well thought out and a higher level of achievement is found. The great part about this taxonomy is that technology can be used in every facet. Chromebooks and laptops are in every classroom these days. Some schools even have 3D printers in use. The possibilities are endless when it comes to technology used within the Blooms model to achieve higher learning. Good educators and principals will strive to use and encourage the use of blooms in order to give students the highest quality of education experience they can.
Adoption process is a theory that impacts many parts of life not just education. However, it has a large impact on education process. There are 5 categories within the adoption process, innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards (Rogers, 1963). Innovators are people who may take risks or think outside the educational box of normalcy. Project based learning schools can be considered run by innovative staff due to the relatively new approach. Early adopters look to see success had by others before adopting. Early majority are open to new ideas but may be afraid to jump the gun on certain aspects of what is to be adopted. Late majority is characterized as skeptical with peer pressure needed to adopt (Rogers, 1963). Laggers find value in tradition and the old way of thinking, most likely not open to innovative practices or ideas.
The adoption of curriculum, new tech policies, different styles of learning can be a scary on taking for administrators. These people are in charge and expected to give their students the best chance at a high quality education that balances the needs of the individual school. For the needs of the student to be met administration needs to be innovative or at least a part of the early majority. E-learning is one of categories under the technology umbrella that needs addressed, especially with the impact covid-19 had on our country. Administrators and developers who can find the best way to go about this will be highly valued in the educational community, because in most systems E-learning days are now built into the calendar. Another technological tool administrators may look it is gamification. This is simply the idea of allowing students in some school activities and content the opportunity to use video games as a learning tool. This is a great idea to engage learners and spark interest in subjects that may lack in student interest.
References
Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (2014). A rich seam: How new pedagogies find deep learning.
London: Pearson. Retrieved from https://www.pearson.com/content/dam/one-
dot-com/one-dot-com/global/Files/about-pearson/innovation/open-I deas/ARichSeamEnglish.pdf
Hobbs, R. (2011). Empowering learners with digital and media literacy. Knowledge Quest,
39(5), 12-17. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
Huitt, W. (2011). Bloom et al.'s taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Educational
Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved f rom http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/cognition/bloom.pdf
Rogers, E. M. (1963). The adoption process II. Journal of Cooperative Extension, 1(2), 69-
75. Retrieved from https://archives.joe.org/joe/1963summer/1963-2-a2.pdf (
Zach,
ReplyDeleteI loved how you talked on challenges of administrators with all of the new technology and ways to introduce material during these times. I agree that E- Learning definiely needs to be looked at and adressed in the coming years. Now, we have become so accustomed to using these days, we must find a better way to achieve higher student learning during these. What are some ways do you think we could do that?
I agree that technology can be implemented throughout every step of Bloom's Taxonomy. I believe that it has the ability to enhance and provide depth at each level. The top level of Bloom's is create, I love having students create digital artifacts utilizing Canva, WeVideo, and other creative software that enables them voice and choice to take ownership of their own learning. As you said, "students deserve to be able to let their voice be heard through the work they do", and if we can provide them this with a memorable and impactful learning experience, then we should do so.
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