When checking out the Educational Technology website given to us in the discovery exercise, I found an awesome blog written by Bob Sprankle on a question that he asked the blogging community. The question was, "what should they (administrators) see as evidence of technology present in my classroom?" Apparently, several people responded and the general consensus was that the instruction should be obviously student centered, the teacher should be the facilitator, and it should be apparent that it is not just being used inside of the classroom. The other part of the response that I liked was the idea that technology should not just be "integrated" but rather "infused" into the classroom. In this day of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Sexting, Texting, etc. students no longer need to be taught technology. It is what they have grown up around. Students should be exposed to the educational benefits of the World Wide Web. I suppose this sums up my thoughts about "School 2.0."
I think that the future of education is terribly dependent on Web-School 2.o. Perhaps even high schools will start offering online classes. Maybe the idea of school buildings will become obsolete and outdated. As stated in the Atomic learning video on Web 2.0, schools and education continue to evolve. It is certainly not stagnate. Maybe the strong technological movement in the schools is just another effort to move us farther away from the one room schoolhouse with chalkboards and crayons. The idea of having the world at your fingertips is amazing and very useful. I just hope that the one-on-one student/teacher relationships continue. Education is not just about teaching the facts, it's about teaching life skills and making a difference. I don't see myself standing in my music classroom teaching Finale. I see myself teaching students music that they will grow to appreciate and expanding my mind to appreciate theirs. Hopefully, it will not be all about MP3s, hyperlinks, and audio files.
Peace.
Insight thoughts, Maggie. The technological movement is merely an extension of the materials being created, of course. They're a vehicle to teach but they're nothing if the teacher doesn't have the capacity to deliver them in an effective manner. In the end, they're nothing if the educator can't connect with students themselves.
ReplyDelete