Between Classroom 2.0, Fireside Learning, and here, there’s been a building sense of “do I really believe this stuff?” Apparently I’m not the only one.
Open Thinking & Digital Pedagogy » Letting Go
And I think there is something big here for me. After reading this article, it wasn’t that I was surprised. I felt guilty. Really guilty. As a professor of edtech and media, i have the opportunity to effect hundreds of preservice and practicing teachers. I have typically focused on helping improve technological competency, media literacy and instructional practice with these individuals. This seems OK, doesn’t it?
Alec is referencing an article by Robert Cringley and you can find the link in the post. This is an interesting follow on to “Why Teach?”
March 30th, 2008 at 1:58 PM
I’ve often heard it said that change for the sake of change is worse than not changing at all. I’m not sure why reading the post on open thinking and watching Matthew’s video makes me think about that, except that I do think education has been changing over time and some of the changes have been just more of the same, only in a different format or method. I’ve also heard people say that technology for the sake of technology is not a good thing either. I’m musing that people who see it this way, feel that change is not really necessary. I believe that change is necessary and I agree with the writer here that if things don’t change, students will be “checked out” in mass like we’ve never seen before. The video makes a good (although exaggerated) point. Students are using technology more and more, but I wonder if the computers are just a different way of doing the same thing that’s always been done. Even though the teacher may not be lecturing or otherwise directing the class, the technology is carrying out what the teacher imposes. I think we all have a fear of the unknown. It’s hard to “Boldly go where no one has gone before” . We don’t know what education will really look like and without a model, it’s a frontier left to be tamed by those with the most unrest in the current system.
March 30th, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Ongoing change is a necessary thing. After all, life in today’s world is not the same as the beginning of 20th century. With these changes, I think we retain the skeleton of our instruction, but instead add new types of meat to its bones. Joe, you’re right. The future of education is a little fuzzy right now and without a clear depiction to assist us in planning for it. Maybe within the next couple of years we will begin to see where we are headed and take the necessary action to deal with those issues.
March 30th, 2008 at 10:32 PM
I do believe that we have change over a 100 year period, but I don’ t think we have changed in the way that benefits the students. We have changed from chalk boards to dry erase boards. Overheads are now projectors linked to our desktops so that we can show our word documents or power points with ease. We also have the use of a smartboard or interwrite board where we can change things on our computers from the boards as if we were using a mouse. We can also write on them like a chalk board. So we are only changing the way we deliver the information not what information we are delivering. We are also not allowing the students to work up to their abilities or capabilities by keeping them in the classroom and not taking advantage of the flat classroom capabilities.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Change is not coming quick enough for some of our teachers. They think if they keep their head stuck in the sand it will just go away. Unfortunately I fear that they will go away it they don’t learn how to keep up in this new age.
March 31st, 2008 at 4:59 PM
I think the article Letting Go, by Alec and it’s references to Bob Cringely’s writings really makes a person think about how much, and how quickly things need to change, or the students will simply not care to learn. Espeically if the system continues with the same approach it has for the past 100 years. I watched the Mr. Winkle video, and the clips of the students sitting there, bored and uninterested is a real eye opener for me.
March 31st, 2008 at 5:25 PM
[...] Lowell http://durandus.com/phaedrus/2008/03/30/letting-go/ posts an article linking to Alec’s Letting Go blog, and the links to Bob Cringely’s [...]
April 6th, 2008 at 1:21 PM
I think that the more aware and prepared a teacher is the more useful our profession will be in the future.