Why wouldn’t it be reasonable? Everyday I support teachers and administration with technology. I can’t tell you how often I’m beckoned to fix a printer and everytime this comes, I sense a hint of futility rising up through my morale. Here we have amazing tools that allow us to create media rich content and apply it to real problems but most of us just want to be able to print something and hand it out. I compare the printers in our school to an assembly line. We create an original and then mass produce it through print. More often than not, our laptops, and iPods become a really expensive typewriter. It is rare that I observe teachers connecting knowledge, imagination, and creative works to other learning communities. Ken Robinson points out that, “Conventional academic programs are not designed to develop them and often value the opposite approach; encouraging solo research rather than collaboration, preferring data to be presented in an accepted format, measuring success according to academic merit.” (2011) I think I know why we are still not connecting with our peers in a new way because we are not provided with a supportive environment. The new tools allow us to build content in ways only the most experienced digital editors could. An eight year old can create a movie trailer or a video tutorial about the use of fractions in music. Yet, our Standardized tests mandate we teach to a curriculum that is based on rote learning. I am encouraged with the new State Standards but we have not kept pace with how we learn and we learn in ways that are so different to the ways I learned in school.
Some believe that our system is not ready to allow mobile devices in the classroom and I understand there concern. Digital ethics is a concept lost on some but not most. Those ethically impaired will make adverse choices whether they’re using a smartphone or a dodgeball. I hope I can one day hand over the keys of my car to my son even though I know there are those in the community that are negligent because he is equipped with defensive tactics. We might be holding back with offering the freedom of digital creativity not because we worry about how it might under-mind the growth of our students but how it might effect our place in the classroom. Students are learning in a way that is difficult for us to filter. They are mining for new ideas and connecting in ways in which we fear. Ken Robinson points out a historical pattern which we should ponder when we decide how technology should be used in the classroom.
“Some skeptics argued that it was waste of public resources to attempt to educate the children of the working classes: such children were essentially uneducable and would not benefit from these efforts. They were wrong about that. Others feared the social and political consequences: educating the working classes would give them ideas above their station and lead to a social revolution. They were not wrong about that.”(2011)
Creative Tech Plan Appendix A:
Student Supply List - K Through 12
iPad
Stylus
Skype Headset
headphones.
Google Account
Here is a story developing as we speak showing the inherent value of transformation.
“Educational researcher Dr. Sugata Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiments have shown that, in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they’re motivated by curiosity and peer interest. In 1999, Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process learning how to use it and how to go online, and then teaching each other.” (TED, 2013)
Some believe that our system is not ready to allow mobile devices in the classroom and I understand there concern. Digital ethics is a concept lost on some but not most. Those ethically impaired will make adverse choices whether they’re using a smartphone or a dodgeball. I hope I can one day hand over the keys of my car to my son even though I know there are those in the community that are negligent because he is equipped with defensive tactics. We might be holding back with offering the freedom of digital creativity not because we worry about how it might under-mind the growth of our students but how it might effect our place in the classroom. Students are learning in a way that is difficult for us to filter. They are mining for new ideas and connecting in ways in which we fear. Ken Robinson points out a historical pattern which we should ponder when we decide how technology should be used in the classroom.
“Some skeptics argued that it was waste of public resources to attempt to educate the children of the working classes: such children were essentially uneducable and would not benefit from these efforts. They were wrong about that. Others feared the social and political consequences: educating the working classes would give them ideas above their station and lead to a social revolution. They were not wrong about that.”(2011)
Creative Tech Plan Appendix A:
Student Supply List - K Through 12
iPad
Stylus
Skype Headset
headphones.
Google Account
Here is a story developing as we speak showing the inherent value of transformation.
“Educational researcher Dr. Sugata Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiments have shown that, in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they’re motivated by curiosity and peer interest. In 1999, Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process learning how to use it and how to go online, and then teaching each other.” (TED, 2013)
The struggle is not with our students but with ourselves. Students would adjust to the new world because they already have. They do not fear apps or touchscreens. They are native to this new world. We are the immigrants that continue to speak our old native language and dress in the way we are accustomed to. How many teachers would have to adjust to a new life as an instructional technology teacher. Its a mouthful for sure but it is a scary endeavor to many of us. However, if we were to visit our teaching philosophy we would all certainly find an overarching similarity. We are in this to help students succeed.
Click Here -> Girl dubbed 'The Next Steve Jobs' captivates Mexico
By: Carola Sole
Click Here -> Girl dubbed 'The Next Steve Jobs' captivates Mexico
By: Carola Sole
A Possible Counter Argument from abha Dawesar: Life in the "digital now"
There is a human connection to learning and memories. Does the absence of learning from those who we love create a hollow definition of knowledge.
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