"A classroom suited to today’s students should deemphasize solitary piecework. It should facilitate the kind of collaboration that helps individuals compensate for their blindnesses, instead of cultivating them. That classroom needs new ways of measuring progress, tailored to digital times — rather than to the industrial age or to some artsy utopia where everyone gets an Awesome for effort" (Heffernan, 2011)
Technology is moving faster than it ever has. Todays technology would have made people only 10 years ago say that it couldn't be possible to have devices with so much technology. This is also going to be true of us 10 years in the future. We are goin to wonder how so much technology could even exist. This is why it is key for kids at an early age to use the newest technologies in school every year so that when they graduate from college there won't be another technologically illerate generation that can't find a job because they do not know how to use the technology that is new in the work force. This is what I believe this quote and this whole reading is talking about. In the future, the workforce will almost totally be collaborative and technology-based, and the children of today are going to need to know how to work in these conditions, and the way they will know is by learning through education at an early age how to use technology properly. There are two problems I see with concept though, these are: maintaining a professional education environment in the classroom and funding for these technologies in the classroom. When I went to high school, it was hard for the teachers to even get their students to do their individual work, so the concern I have is how are the teachers going to make the students stay engaged in their learning when they are assigning collaborative, group work and students are paired with their friends and then throwing in a third element in technology, how will the kids stay focused?? This is my concern. Video games and computer-based programs already dominate kids life, and this would happen the same way in the classroom. My second concern is how the schools are going to get funding for all this technology. I was born and raised in North Carolina, and my mother works in one of the largest school systems in my area, and she keeps telling me how the school system continues to cut jobs or cut pay. So this raises the question, even though a more technology-based education would be better for kids; how will the schools and schools systems receive funding for it.
The journal article, "Using Technology in the Social Studies Classroom: The Journey of Two Teachers," go right along side with this reading because it deals with technology in the classroom. This journal article ws a study on two teacher education students who were in student teaching and had to impliment technology into the classroom, and while the two had different styles; they both implimented the technology. The link to this article, if you would like to read it is, http://search.proquest.com/education/docview/211150849/13177C69BD2533E6194/1?accountid=10797.
Citations
1.) Heffernan, V. (2011, August 7). Education needs a digital-age upgrade. The New York Times, pp. The Opinion Pages.
2.) Wright, V.H., & Wilson, E. K. (2009). Using technology in the social studies classroom: the journey of two teachers. Journal of Social Studies Research, 33(2), Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/education/docview/211150849/13177C69BD2533E6194/1?accountid=10797
Yes, funding is a major concern of mine, too. It is difficult to stay on top of all the major technological improvements for personal use, let alone for the schools. I hope that the schools can adopt new technology sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree that technology will be part of every job in the future. The way that technology advances, in another ten years we cannot even imagine the technology and advances that will be part of our everyday lives. You also have a great concern when it comes to how the school systems will get the funding to pay for all of these technological advances. School systems are having enough trouble getting nontechnological supplies for classrooms. Will we have to spend our own money to buy the technology that we will need to use in our classrooms? I hope not, becasue teachers do not make enough money to pay for this out of our pocket.
ReplyDeleteJonathan,
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point. Schools everywhere are struggling and technology is expensive. I think the trick here, just like with everything else, is that it is important for teachers to find creative ways to implement technology without it being overbearing and overwhelming. Regardless it is important for students to work on projects together- that has been an important part of education for years and is crucial. There are ways to implement technology and using what is available, sometimes it takes just a little imagination and creativity.