Monday, November 26, 2007
New Technologies (ICTs) > New Skills Needed (knowledge + information = innovation) > New Schools in the Networked World (a relevant education)
Twenty-five years behind a bond desk here in New York has taught me at least this one important lesson: "The only constant on Wall Street is that things are always changing". It appears that never-ending type of change has finally arrived in the rest of the world as well. In all of human history, the relatively recent advances in technology, particularly communication technology, have brought a change to the course of human events that, in my view, lacks an historical equivalent. How come so few people see it? Robert J. Hawkins has some advice for those that poo poo the notion that schools need to change in order to prepare students and teachers to meet the demands of a "Networked World". He points out that "While much has been changed with the advances of science and technology, education and the way that students learn and teacher's teach has remained largely unchanged".(Hawkins, R., Ten lessons for ICTs and Education in a Developing World) Someone better wake up. The future is hurtling towards us at mach speed, and teachers should be the first sound the alarm to implement reforms in the way they educate their students AND themselves so both will be equipped to thrive in the information age. Educators need to be visionaries who can create innovative, dynamic, flexible and , above all, relevant educational practices to teach the skills necessary to those who will implement this new technology "as a tool to increase their productivity and creativity".(Hawkins) Hawkins' warning is an important one. Those who have the means to effectuate change, and choose not to, will have no excuse, and will go the way of the Dodo bird. Is anyone out there paying attention?
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4 comments:
I think the problem is not sooo much with the teachers, but with the "accountability structures" (i.e. standardized tests)imposed from above. While the powers that be at the national and state levels talk out of one side of their mouths about 21st century skills, etc., at the end of the day, it's a school's results on "the test" that signifies whether it's a "good" or "bad" school. And at the moment, those tests (certainly most of them) don't include the kind of communication, collaboration, production kind of skills that good ICT integration builds. Personally, I think it's just a matter of time. As the pre-digital folks age out of the system, the change will accelerate. Until then it's a bit like moving the rock up the hill.
We all talk about integrating technology in the classroom. But I am curious about how specifically to do that. I suppose a deep discussion of that is not quite appropriate to this class. What I am finding in my other classes is that research often is disconnected with what goes on in the classroom or it never gets implemented in the classroom. One other thing I am finding that education lacks a common vocabulary. So the same term can mean several different things and different instructional models can be more similar to each other than different. So there appear to be several systematic problems preventing integration beyond the issue of pre-digital folks.
So many teachers apply different approaches in the classroom today that I don't think it is fair to say that not much has changed in the way we teach over the past 100 years. I do agree that we need to rethink how we will be integrating the technology into the curriculum effectively to enhance learning.
Agreed, re: the only constant being change--I find it relates not only to wall street, but...well, just about everything!
The field of education is constantly in flux due to change: curricula, standards, national reforms, state reforms, international accords, etc. And now we've gotta contend with education!
Still, I feel most compelled to join Howie Budin's camp on "technology for democracy" and I think one way educators can prepare students for this information age crossover is to utilize the tools of ICT for citizen journalism, expression and sowing the seeds of imagination. You don't need a lot to make great things happen: you can still do incredible things with Word applications and simple blogger pages (this site is an example of that, right!?) but we're now moving onto mobile communication devices (like the school Sarah is studying in NJ) and I have to manage three different online collaboration media for different classes this semester just to be a student in good standing: studyplace, moodle, classweb--actually 4 media if you count checking in on blogs for this class!
So there is one response: one thing educators can do is try to get together and decide (at the very least within an institution) "hey, we're going to stick with 'Moodle' or 'Studyplace'" instead of forcing students to learn how to multi-task and have 46 web windows open.
Can you even remember when you used to look at the internet with only ONE page open? I find, for me, that it's now standard to have Firefox open with about 4-6 tabs (each with a dif. page open) up.
ahh.
Well, I'm awake. I'm listening. Unfortunately, in a situation that evolves and morphs so rapidly, can anyone ever actually be "caught up" on the best practices?
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