Week 5 Blog: How technology can boost equity in education
Week Five Blog: How technology can boost equity in education
This weeks article examined how technology can help achieve
goals in the classroom. Teachers have
several responsibilities, but one of them are preparing students for the
workforce and sometimes for jobs that do not even exist yet! In education, there are always new trends and
this article in particular mentioned virtual reality, student-directed
learning, and collaboration. These skills are what the students need in order
to be successful in their careers. These
skills/trends can be “covered” through Create Your Own Classroom (CYOC), which
is a new flexible learning environment to meet the needs of all learners
because it allows the teachers and students the freedom to choose how their
learning is delivered and obtained. The article stated that by students
choosing what content they utilized and the ways they collaborate with peers
and teachers allows for life-long learning.
While I do see their point, I think this sounds great in theory, but may
not be effective in reality. Not all
students will take control of their own learning; some students only obtain
information when they are half-listening to a lecture or a reading. Leaving a lot of information consuming to
students, especially in K-12 grades, does not seem completely effective. Fully
implementing this design may work in undergraduate or graduate schools, but
even then some effectiveness could fall through the cracks.
I found the following survey and results to be very
interesting: “A survey commissioned last year by NBN
Co involving 1,000 students found that 75% use the internet to help with school
courses at home. It also showed 51% used online videos to help research
subjects they were studying” (Bachman, 2017).
Today, students and anyone with access to technology are able to utilize
the Internet to find information easily and quickly. Majority of students are
using the Internet to assist them in their learning, which is a lot. I think back to my days in high school, where
there were no computer carts in the classroom and going to the computer lab
once in awhile was a “great day”. However,
with students using the Internet they lack the skills to research. They usually just look at the first listing
of results without reading the article, checking for appropriate citations, or
actually opening the article to ensure the topics being discussed are the same
thing. If they cannot find it in the
first few sentences on the search page, then they shut down and say they cannot
find it. Students need to be taught and
held accountable when it comes to researching since majority of them are using
technology inside and outside of school for educational purposes.
http://www.educatoronline.com.au/news/how-technology-can-boost-equity-in-education-237978.aspx
I tend to giggle whenever I hear new buzz words in education, because it's so cyclical in nature. For awhile it was 21st century skills, then it was Web 2.0, etc. CYOC sounds like it may be 'the next big thing' for education, because in theory, it sounds incredible.
ReplyDeleteI, too, share your reservations about the practicality of it while implemented. Some students simply do not care to achieve the A. Some strive to pass and that's good enough for them. I would be fearful that placing so much flexibility and freedom may not be appropriate for all learners.
In terms of using the Internet to research, I can echo your frustrations with a lack of accountability and understanding of the process for students. 91% of people who use Google to search never look past the first page of results. If the answer doesn't appear on page 1, then users simply conduct a new search with different phrases or keywords. When you teach students the proper way to search and not to give up so quickly, you are teaching them a skill for a lifetime!