June 25, 2014
As I’ve worked side by side with colleagues, sorting through
decades of materials and books, I’ve wondered how to (and even if we should)
blend the old format of learning (books, handouts, paper/pencil, sit & get)
with the new format of learning (technological input and output). As with everything, it seems there has to be
a layered approach. Seriously, can’t
something just spontaneously appear????
We will need to go at this in layers, but not slowly or
we’ll loose students in the process.
Chapters 5 and 12 really focus in on the technology and the fact that
these students coming to us are not the same students from even a few years
ago. They think differently and they
need to. Unfortunately, many of the
adults (me included) have not kept up.
We’ll need to hang on to a few books and extra materials to help bridge
the gap while we sharpen the skills we need in order use the tools mentioned in
chapter 12. It’s likely as soon as we
learn just one of those tools well enough to instruct with it, another 5-10
will have appeared on our screen. It’s a
sharp learning curve and our best instructors are sitting in the room with us.
As a coach, I can infuse what I’ve been learning in the current courses I’m
taking. A tour builder here, a voice thread there, here a podcast, there an
audio cast….. layers. I just learned about glogster last night!
I lumped chapters 5 and 12 together in my thinking about
technology in this blog post, but I have to pull a bit of chapter 5 out and
admit that it makes me more than a little uncomfortable. It’s the idea of social networking. Thinking
about it as a developing “relationship” and a process of learning to be was very eye opening for me. The only thinking I have right now around
this and trust me I am thinking about it, is that we can’t just let this evolve
without thought. With any young
relationship a bit of grace and guidance is often needed. It’s a new relationship for adults and our
young students alike. So if we are all
in this together, then we need to be talking about it openly and often. Our years of experience might help while
their years of inexperience might just inform.
Communication physically and virtually might just be in order. Where is Emily Post when you need her?
I agree with you that today's students and their needs are quite different from those 5, 10, 20 years ago. However, the educators are the same. Many teachers spend their entire teaching career in the classroom. Guess that means we need updating too!
ReplyDeleteCurrently the bridge that crosses over I-95 on Union Street in Bangor is being replaced. Instead of tearing down the bridge all at once, part of it is being taken down and replaced so the same can happen on the other side. I think that is where we're at in education today. The curriculum is a construction site. We need "Educators at Work" signs as we take update the old to meet the new.
An apt metaphor, Denise. Interesting that when we talk about improving schools, learning, or teaching that people immediately think we are getting rid of what we've always done. Why is that?
ReplyDeleteKelly, you are talking about layers, and that is really what we want. Keep the best of what works for learners and change the rest. Isn't that easy?!!