Although it was a brief discussion in class today, technology is something that is impacting everything in society today. Particularly, the way students are learning and being taught. The problem we may be facing, is the possible "war" that is clashing between our technology and our education. After listening to some comments about integrating the two or picking one over the other there can still be some foggy territory. I think the basic structures and foundations of learning concepts still needs to be put into place. Our math class example showed knowing basic multiplication before using a calculator, which most of us agreed is necessary. Otherwise, I think we all start becoming mindless robots who rely way too much on devices. Personally, we are already well on our way to the robot state of mind and if we throw very basic education techniques like this away we can forget any type of individual learning and creativity. However, technology is a very popular and useful aspect all over today's society. Therefore, I'm not against incorporating it into schooling. An example being, in my high school there was a biology class that had each student being lent an I-pad from the school that they used for class. Along with the I-pad the class was taught by one teacher, in two locations. Meaning, half of the classes the students watched on a projector screen and half of the time the teacher was there. This is just one way that technology is becoming more of a factor in learning. I found a link with a page full of articles and pictures talking about the different ways education and technology are merging together and how it seems to be working. http://www.usnews.com/education/technology-in-the-classroom
All and all, technology is nothing to be ignored by our education system. However, we can't ignore the basic foundation tools to learning that have brought all of us to where we are today.
I agree with you that there needs to be a balance between our solid foundations and our usage of technology in the classroom. In my math class currently, we are working with probability. While some of my classmates struggle through finding the correct answer, I know that there is a way to do the problem quickly on my calculator. This gives me the answer; however, I understand the process that the calculator is using to get the answer. I haven't told my neighbors about it because they don't have a solid foundation in it yet. Once they understand the why, they can use the shortcut to check their work. I feel like this method of slowly working technology into the classroom when it can be the most beneficial is of great importance.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that there needs to be a good balance between integrating technology and education. I think it is a great idea for some students who are interested in that aspect of learning. And I do think it is a really cool idea that we can expand our basic knowledge of off technology which has so much easily ready information. However, I think this can lead to laziness in students, which I'm sure we've all experienced. For example, if you don't want to read the book, you can just Sparknotes it. Technology can either be used to an advantage to expand education or it can turn us into as you said "mindless robots."
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