Teaching: What? Why? How?
20 02 2008Do you remember the times when the idea of having a computer at home was science fiction? And what about text messaging or videoconference?
We may be familiar with new technologies or not, but we cannot ignore them. They are in our daily lives and we have to cope with them.
Now think, who has taught you to use a mobile phone, an ipod or a computer? What do you use them for? How have they changed your life? How often do you use your computer? What do you use the Internet for? Do you remember the time you first downloaded a song? Have you ever entered a chat room? and I could be adding more and more questions…
My “ICT-mentors” told me about this video and suggested a brilliant idea. It is about 21st century university students: how they learn, what they need to learn, their expectations for life, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime…
And this is your task: you watch it and give your opinion. You can use these questions as guidelines if you want: Is teaching up-to-date or is it still something from the old times? Are ICTs useful tools for students? How have ICTs changed teaching and learning? or any other ideas that cross your minds.
Then you write your conclusions in no more than 150 words and, needless to say, you post your comment here. After all, we are using the so-called “Information & Communication Technologies”, aren’t we?
Deadline to post your comment: 28th February
And as always, thank you CL and MV.
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Hi,
Nice to meet another teacher blogging!
Congratulations on your blog. I find it really interesting,;your posts, resources…
Thank you for sharing them with us.
Don’t thank me for this one, thank Mike Wesch and his students!
Your blog is certainly shaping up, congratulations!
During the last years we are facing new challenges in our society. Globalization, economic liberalization, free market or the acceleration of technological progress are a good proof of it and if not, it’s enough having a look around us … Don’t you think that these aspects are becoming more and more common in our daily lives?
Talking about computers, the internet or things like that, was something unimaginable some years ago but nowadays it’s just the opposite: we have to cope with them and not talking about these “new ways of understanding life” could be considered as a symptom of being old fashioned. Their impact in our broader daily life activities is so important that we can say that the new information technologies are used everywhere: shopping, social networking, identity creation, parenting and what’s more, they are becoming not only a spotlight of entertainment but also a good tool used in information work, career development or education.
This last point will be perhaps one of the fields in which the use of technology is more recent and, probably, controversial. Many people warn of the possible harmful effects of using technology in the classrooms as it could help children to lose their ability to relate to other human beings. However, from another point of view, it’s also considered as a good tool not only for teaching but also for learning. Teachers can use multimedia technology to give more colourful and stimulating lessons while pupils can develop valuable skills at the time that they have fun, satisfaction and personal growth.
From my own point of view, using technology in education could be a “double–edged sword” but it depends, obviously, on how we use it. Using it in a bad way could make that students will be plugged into computers but, we can’t forget, that use it appropriately, interactively and with guidance could provide useful tools to solve problems and develop skills that otherwise would be impossible. If nowadays we live in a society in which the ICTs play an important role, I think that the faster we learn them, the best so in this sense…Don’t you think that a good solution to learn them in an appropriate way is teaching them at school instead of learning them by our own? It obvious that ICTs can changed the traditional way of teaching and learning but it doesn’t necessary mean that education will be worse… it simply means that it will be different and if we want to adapt to modern life, we have to get use to live with them. If new technologies are very important in modern societies and can bring us new opportunities to learn…Why don’t we take advantages of them? You don’t have any excuse… never is late so…ready, steady, go¡ … Start practising now¡¡¡¡
Are ICTs useful tools for students? I am absolutely convinced about this fact. Nowadays we can seek any information on the Internet. Few seconds after pressing a key, hundreds of sites appear on your screen.
As the years are going by, education through new technologies are replacing traditional education system. ICTs provide the students with the opportunity to attend a class through the communication networks. Thus, we will take much time out for our hobbies.
However, also there are some drawbacks. The amount of information is so broad that we can feel overwhelmed. Therefore it will be easier to study ordered and structured knowledge. Besides being a useful tool for studying, it is also for entertainment. Although it is a big advantage, its misuse involves a huge waste of time. Finally, we have to take notice of laptop prices. They are so expensive, and many people can not afford them.
Despite the drawbacks, I think that we have to see the positive side. It is a challenge for the world adapt to the new technologies. Teachers and students have to take advantage of them, because it is one of the best ways of developing skills, solving problems and, of course, have fun while doing so.
Stop one minute, look around you and you realize that “Information & Communication Technologies” are already part of our daily life.
New technologies are developing so quickly that some people are unable to face the change, and, actually, they are becoming to be considered some kind of illiterates. Nevertheless, this phenomenon is happening in the wealthy side of the world, meanwhile in the Third World people go on living many years behind. The big deal here is to guess how better is our life now than a few years ago, when computers were not so common?
We could say that new technologies are making life easier, and of course, they are broading our knowledge in many fields, as medicine, for instance, which are far useful. But, according with the video, in many cases, the new tools are an artificial necessity which are not helping us but increasing companies’ profits.
I use computers in my academic life, and to my mind, my possibilities of learn are better now than twenty years ago. But sometimes we use this tools much more than we need, making education rather impersonal.
We should find a balance in the use and developing of new technologies, and, as far as we could, spread the wealth generated by them to the Third World.
Time goes by and the world changes and Spain is not different. We are catching up with the most developed countries, and this is changing our way of life. But, where is the limit?
I sympathise with many students of the video, since their and my lectures seem a waste of time. I sometimes am in a lecture and think why do I have to pay a fee for this subject? If the teacher doesn´t do any thing. This is not laughing matter because the fees cost the earth. The more I think, the more depressed I feel. I have passed many subjects in university and although I usually attend the lectures there aren’t many reasons why to go. The teacher just sat, handed in some sheets and read aloud, without explaining almost anything and we ended up being bored to tears. He seemed to be stick to the chair.
Education could be one of the largest investments you’ll make in your lifetime. The more you learn, the more you earn. Moreover education contributes to the economic growth of a country. If it is so important why don´t politicians do anything to improve our education system? They know that advanced human capital training, the promotion of science and technology and support to innovation are key parts of the economic growth of our country. In the seventies they made an important effort to change, and now, from my point of view, it is high time we made another effort.
Today´s world demands an excellent knowledge of computers, the use of computers has expanded worldwide and they can be very useful in education.One reality is the fact that nowdays more and more people are opting for an online university education. You need a computer, a phone connection, and an Internet Service Provider before you register for an online course. Despite those initial requirements however, you can be located anywhere in the world and in any time zone.
But I don´t want to say that online courses are the solution what I want to say is that there are lots of things to change beforehand. Using technology in lectures is very useful. Although many people warn of the possible harmful effects, if they are appropriately used they will become tools for the development of higher order thinking skills.
I have looked back on my childhood and I remembered that my relation with new technologies started when I was 14. Santa Claus brought me a mobile phone¡ I couldn’t believe it. One year after, my parents bought a computer with access to the Internet. Then came the DVD player, the pendrive…and this relation has been growing up until now that I receive some lectures through the Internet at the university.
To begin with, the ICTs have produced an incredible change about the way of see a lesson. Nowadays a lot of teachers decide to use them because the students feel more attracted and so, they pay much more attention. And I think this idea is successful, in general. Besides having a blog or something similar is very useful too. Furthermore you can obtain information about everything on the Internet. You only have to write some important words, click the buttom and…just it¡ In a few seconds the information appears on the screen of your computer. It’s fantastic¡
On the other hand, I am of the opinion that some kind of things are much better in the past. I think handwriting is highly important. You have to know how express your ideas in a clear way, and this is no way easy, you need a lot of practise.Moreover while you are writing, you memorise and you are more conscious of what you are telling than if you are reading it. However it is very common that students make works with no effort. They only copy the information and paste in a new word file.
To sum up, I’m in favour of ICTs like a new way of learning, and I love new technologies when I want to chat with my peers, to download the last hits or to play a new videogame. Otherwise when I have to write a composition, a letter or study, I prefer my handwriting, whicc is more personal and more efficient in some cases
Teaching using ICTs.
.- First of all we must point to the enormous amount of information we can find in The Web. Moreover, learners can achieve it in an easy and funny way. And this is one of the main aims as far as teaching is concerned: learning while enjoying. Also, we could talk for a long time about the several advantages we can get by using not only the Internet, but all kind of multimedia technologies.
.- From another point of view it is remarkable the increasing and irreversible way in which the new techs. are pouring out on all kind of jobs. If the target of our Educational Establishment is to form the best prepared professionals, why should we avoid using ICTs. for it ?. As a result you could end thinking that in a near future everything will be ruled by these new technologies.
.- I can´t agree with this. It is true that new technologies are helping in the development of all areas, and teaching is not an exception. Nevertheless, some specific things will continue to be achieved as ever. And the human factor will always count on both learning and teaching processes.
.- To conclude I think that new methods are going to improve both processes, and we should make profit of it. I think that we are usually doing it when we use the web to get listenings, readings, or even writings as at this moment. And this is good for us, as far as we are working harder and learning more, in an easy way.
ICTs BREAK OUT
Can you imagine break time in a secondary school without seeing any student clutching an electronic device?. Pen drives, mp4, I pods that allow you to listen to music tuning a radio station or recording voice, play stations….. an, almost, endless list of modern inventions that have been braking into our lives, no matter if we want or not.
ICTs break out has surprised almost everybody causing different reactions. Not everybody is very keen on accepting this kind of devices, but this is a historical leap which could be considered similar to the print invention, taking in account that our potential possibilities to acquire, share and spread information are nowadays almost infinite.
Involvement in ICTs may change, depending on the national policies, but their use has been made a priority in most European countries during the last decade. Computers and the internet are nowadays essential, especially when it comes to some subjects like Technology or computing. According to some researches, performed in 2007, ICTs have influenced positively on educational performance; the more a school uses ICTs the better results it achieves. Also has been proved that broadband access in classrooms results in significant improvements in children’s performance.
ICTs are here to stay, there is no doubt about this, and there is no point in turning a blind eye to them or getting upset. In my opinion, it is very simplistic to argue that you feel overwhelmed. If this happens it can be put down not to ICTs but to a normal feeling of being outrun by the circumstances. Probably, the right thing is getting things in your stride and walk at your pace; after all, we can not prevent the Earth rotate, can we?.
Your neighbour does not go to class and has paid to go but the really important thing is that you are in that class. You never opened that book but you had the option to do it. You are still in time.
When I was at University in some occasions I thought like the students in this video. We only use a little part of the total information received but this is necessary to form a whole where all is connected and organized.
I spent a lot of time choosing what I wanted to know and nowadays we obtain it just by pressing a button. The windows that we open offers us other windows
and the excessive details obtained wake up our creativity, stimulate our brain and make us similar to computers with a peculiarity which is the ability to reason.
Therefore we interact with the information an we obtain an authentic feedback.
Despite ICTs begin to use like preferred mass media in our daily life, we refuse to use all the facilities that it offer us like way of learning.
It is a fact that ITCs are revolutionizing the education but they don’t seem to be working properly. I mean: the resources that we are given by technology aren’t achieving what some of us expected them to do. It should be noted that it isn’t youth’s fault but some teachers’. They pretend to be for ITCs but they don’t know how this stuff works; and what’s more, they don’t even try to take it in and it is actually kid stuff.
My secondary school isn’t an expception. It was when I was younger that, the cell structure having been studied, we were shown a poor scrawl ,drawn in our blackboard. That wouldn’t have beeen a topic that we should think about if we had been in the saddest school in Africa. But we had a good canon and a better screen to point to. It is easy to improve the education system but some sacrifice is needed and I think that the future adults deserve it.
A new way to learn: ICTs
We live in a world that moves fast, where everything changes quickly. It seems like it is necessary for us to keep its time in order to survive. Education, as other business, needs to develop quick to prepare us for this fast life.
That is why everybody is talking about what and how students need to be taught, even sometimes we forget that the main purpose of education is to build humans being. Anyway, our Education System should provide us an useful knowledge, linked to ours needs and not just abstract contents. According to this, teachers must consider what is needed by the students for their daily life and for their future.
To continue with this, it has been proved by many important psychologists that the school learning associated to student’s daily experiences stay longer in their memory. Some teachers also consider motivation as an important fact in the learning process. For these reasons they say that the more interesting the classes are the more the students can learn, since student pay more attention to what the teacher is telling.
Here it is where I find a perfect place for ICTs. Teachers and all those professionals related to education could use ICTs as an important resource in the learning tasks. By using computers, internet, etc., teachers can get the attention of their students and link the school learning with the content of some interesting websites. In this way students can go with the fast times and, at the same, get rid of abstract terms, which are easily forgettable.
Could you imagine a 75 year-old person? That’s easy, but could you imagine that this person has been studying for 25 years of his whole life? This could seem inconceivable but it’s been scientifically proved. Due to all this time we spend studying, we deserve a much more modern education system and easier to manage with. ICTs play a very important role in the modernization of the education system.
Over the years, schools have been aware that new technologies are really important to help the students succeed and now ICTs lessons are taught in most schools.
And what is more, if you want to have a good chance on the laboral market you have to master technologies: computers, the internet, word processing programmes…
Those technologies make work easier and faster and they constitute a large part in our daily lives. Who doesn’t own a PC, and MP3 player or a cellphone?
To conclude, new technologies are changing our society and we need to be updated in order to cope with the new century.
TEACHERS WILL NEVER BE SUBSTITUTED
New technologies and specially the Internet have changed both the students’ and teachers’ role. However, I don’t think the situation has changed a lot inside the classroom, because most of the times, things are still told and explained as always, at least in this country.
It’s not only how to adapt the educative system but the teaching professionals should be the first ones to learn about ITCs and how they can apply all these new possibilities in class and in the whole learning-teaching process.
Although we are involved in a new age of education. We have the obligation to teach the younger generations about ‘life outside the worldwide web’.
Now teenagers think that what is not found in the Internet doesn’t exist.
On the other hand, we mustn’t forget that everything related to education is revised by authorities but who revises the Internet contents?
To finish, I would say that traditional teaching will never die, because a computer or the Internet can’t give the individualized and personal intercourse that each student needs. And, of course, a good teacher, with ITCs support, is the best way to learn.
First of all I want to say I found this video very interesting because I think it shows in an original and effective way, the actual reality of the education system: A reality in which motivation is conspicuous by its absence, school drop-out is now the order of the day and teachers have lots of problems to conveying knowledge in a significant way.
And the question is: Why are we so reluctant to change our methods and try novel means and resources?
As you claimed, ICTs are there, anywhere you look, in our daily lives. We must know how to use them on the one hand because if we don’t, we are at a disadvantage and, on the other hand, because they offer us a huge range of possibilities that we can’t waste.
Firstly the use of ICTs solves the first problem I mentioned: motivation. They are very attractive to children and their attention is more likely to be kept. Secondly, as a consequence, pupils get involved in their tasks and their interest in learning is remarkably improved.
All these facts, plus the correct action of the teacher (bearing in mind children’s previous knowledge, their interests and their immediate setting) makes possible significant learning, the third aspect I’ve pointed out on previous lines.
In conclusion, I believe we can combine tradition and innovation without having to disregard either of them.
Rhea
The unity between the new technologies and the education was a question of time. During the last years, teachers and students have seen how the development of ICTs is increasing more and more, and how it is affecting nowadays teaching.
It is obvious that the interaction between teachers and their students has been replace with the use of computers and internet in many cases.
All these together with another ICTs like mobile phones, laptops,etc… are up-to-date in every student life. The problem is that in a lot of situations we use them in excess or without an educational purpose, distracting us from the main point, learning!
But on the other hand, we can’t ignore that these ICTs are becoming more useful, and make easier the development of the education. They let you share information with anyone in the world in just a few seconds.
To conclude,I’m in favour of using ICTs to enrich our nowadays education,they provide us a lot of advantages. But we don’t have to forget some aspects of our traditional way of learning or we will loose them…
Laura
Nowadays there is a great number of methods of learning thanks to technology. The learning experience of students is changing over the time; what they want to learn through technology and the level they want to learn in the classroom.
The best way to learn is to transmit knowledge from one person to another by speech. Another way of doing it is to encourage students to read, to do some crash or foundation courses or to work in groups which promote a sense of community.
Make sure you have studied the subject enough. The more you study the better marks you will get.
Avoid skipping lectures. One common mistake is to think that lectures are not beneficial or interactive and do not allow pupils time for reflection.
In conclusion, teaching has changed a lot from the old times. From my point of view ,face to face interaction is more useful to students social lives than ICT technology.
A very different blog from the one I saw about a month ago. This is getting bigger and bigger. Congratulations.
Your students have done a great job and so have you. I can’t believe they have done it all by themselves: either you have given them instructions on how to do it or you have spent a lot of time checking them.