Recently someone remarked about digital natives being goal oriented which caught me off guard. I’m not sure about ‘goal’ oriented. I think this is why there is a disconnect between teachers and students today. Digital immigrants are ‘work’ oriented but this new generation of digital natives is ‘play’ oriented. If teachers emphasize education’s goal is to make productive and useful ‘workers’, » More: How to Connect with Digital Native Students…
1. What are the characteristics of students in the digital age?
Hi, My name is Cyborg. You may call me Cy for short. I, like you, appear to be a typical carbon based life form. My electrochemical CPU comprises 20% of my total energy output. As I say, like you, we appear to be quite similar. However, I am a digital native. Digispeak is my native tongue. I understand best when your tweets are 140 characters or less and your SMSs are 160 characters or less. And don’t bore me with your linear lectures thinking you are making things clear to me. I need lots of variables thrown at me at one time; visual, verbal, tactile, you name it. Just please, » More: Differences Between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants
I’m confused by #1 of the Students Education Proclamation which states: “Our education will be reflective of and relevant to the world of work.”
I sure hope there is more to life than mere ‘work.’ Have we allowed uncontrolled corporate greed to redirect the purpose of education? Do we remember why we educated ourselves prior to industrialization? Do we believe Plato, Pascal, and Galileo educated themselves for ‘work?’ Is the mind useful only for ‘work?’ What about art, music, culture? Do we think education’s duty is to regurgitate drones for the continual, mundane turning of society’s cogs? Wake up students! There’s much more to education than ‘work.’ Education should be relevant to ‘life’ and life is much more all-encompassing than the time and space to which we’ve limited ourselves.
I like this quote from H.G. Wells. Education is that function of society which is nurtured in order to perpetuate the dominant culture. As pressures from inevitable change mount, causing society to face imminent catastrophe, education is typically forced to research a solution that leads to a paradigm shift warding off the catastrophe. » More: Journal 5: “History is a race between education and catastrophe”
In his 1899 book, The Idea of a University, John Henry Newman warns of the dangers of superficial learning and, reciprocally, argues for the need for learning substantively.
“A man may hear a thousand lectures, and read a thousand volumes, and be at the end of the process very much where he was, as regards knowledge. Something more than merely admitting it in a negative way into the mind is necessary if it is to remain there. It must not be passively received, but actually and actively entered into, embraced, mastered. The mind must go half-way to meet what comes to it from without.”
Like Sir Ken Robinson alluded to in his speech on Ted.com, education often strip-mines the mind rather than furnish it.
Clearly research supports the conclusion that computer games enhance student engagement. The question remains however whether standards-based learning actually takes place. The outcry for more research is loud and clear: Where is the evidence that curriculum standards are met “more efficiently” using computers versus traditional teaching methods? Note the operative word is “efficiently.” » More: Games in School are Nothing to Toy with…
While studying environmental sociology during my undergrad coursework, I picked up on a somewhat hidden and almost insidious practice among humankind with regard to environmental policy. Once uncovered, I realized what is needed is not more “policies” per se but rather, complete lifestyle changes based on a new worldview.
Even today, conservation efforts are used by politicians and developers in order to “justify” the wasteful horrors we face daily; not eliminate them. Because we create and set aside protected areas, we seem to feel better about the NONprotected ones; as a bribe of our conscience. » More: Black is the new White…
Let me define the third view and then give some examples to illustrate how I discovered it during my advanced studies to become an educator.
Generally, debates are two sided with dialogue arguing the benefits of one side and the detriments of the other. Historically, this thesis versus antithesis has been used to find a synthesis that can be compromisingly agreed upon by both sides. However, paradigm shifts occur when a third view is presented that is neither a synthesis nor compromise among opposing views. Rather, the third view theory I am discovering lifts us out of the » More: Journal 4: The Secret of the Third View…
Toys, Tools, and Teachers (TTT) presents the three-way tug-of-war between the elements itemized in the title and the technology arena. The three elements represent three different perspectives, needs, and valuations of technology. Keeping these three differing paradigms in balance is the challenge investigated by the authors. However my question is: Will future technological innovations reduce the playing field from three to just two by eliminating ‘Teachers’ altogether. In other words, will technology eliminate the specialized role of ‘teacher’ by enabling families or even individuals to guide their own education? Two reasons for this question are hinted at by the authors’ own conclusive remarks.
First, technology allows for ‘individualized’ learning (p156). As processing speeds enable human » More: Technology is Progress but towards What?
The best part about online courses is the interaction and discussion among classmates. The text and lectures present theories, histories, etc, but the reactions among classmates as revealed in the discussions helps me to put the history and theory into a framework; a context if you will.
As I consider the rapid pace of tech innovations to come and read the frustrations of fellow classmates who live and work in the path of such developments, I learn not only the relevancies with regard to what’s needed but equally the irrelevancies with regard to narrow thinking within society at large.
Every technology has experienced its own ‘acceptance’ curve which begins slowly and accelerates near vertical at the end. Then a paradigm shift in technology pressures new developments to take that former invention to a whole new level (ie. telegraph to telephone to video-conferencing to text messaging, etc). And here’s the rub…
Whenever new technologies appear, the general public decries its necessity and/or frugality based on a linear thought pattern. Yet every instance of such innovations is unveiled in an exponential curve of acceptance and utility. This semester’s class, made up of technology minded, educationally thoughtful, forward thinkers STILL thinks linearly. A paradox to be sure but telling no less that humankind still has room for dreamers. Wake up!
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