I enjoyed all the different places
that this video visited. I also have often have the thought that too
much technology is bad for students. They seem addicted and act out
when they are not watching TV or playing video games. They appear
focused on violence. This video made me think though that maybe there
is a difference between passively viewing technology or engaging with
it in a violent setting and actively learning through it. Being
addicted to a game that encourages learning would not be a bad thing.
I agree with what one of the
instructors mentioned about students being more committed to their
work when they know that people other than their teacher will view
it. It makes sense! Their name really is attached to it and so of
course they would want to do their best. I think that this also makes
them more proud of their work and therefore happy to be learning.And enjoying learning is what students really need. They need to learn how to acquire information and how to enjoy it. As the video said, we are preparing them for things that don't even exist yet. How can we be doing that? I think that teaching them how to learn, collaborate, problem solve, and enjoy all of this is the only way that makes sense.
The location based learning was very
interesting to me and I will be doing some more research about it. It
raised a lot of questions to me about how that works- mostly legal
and logistical questions though, so I'll leave them out! I loved the
sense of connecting the past with the present and getting students
outside of the traditional classroom. It seemed like a great way to
incorporate visuals that weren't always technology based into
learning. I guess I am trying to say that I appreciated how the
lessons brought the students into the real world and had them
interact with people.
I love the museum story! I personally
love museums but I know that children, even other adults, do not feel
the same way. I can picture kids being captivated if there was an
interactive technology piece to museums. Having a scavenger hunt
could be just the beginning! Having barcodes to scan for additional
information, wikis to share reactions, places to share photos, etc. I
know that many museums have created virtual field trips but I think
this would be a great way to increase engagement during real field
trips. And just think, better attention = better behavior!!
I still have the same apprehension with
all of this as with many things from this course. The places in the
video were amazing. A center for high school students with technology
available to them. A digital based high school. I wish that parents
and taxpayers knew how important this is. I wish they weren't afraid
of students using technology to learn. That much technology is a
dream to my students and I. I wish that weren't so, but I do not know
how to change it.
Your comment about the places in the video-- the available technology, also struck a cord with me. My daughter teaches in an inner city school in Newark New Jersey, where the students have to share textbooks and the classroom has two computers for 35 students. I too love the possibilities that this video presents, but as you pointed out, economic disparity and taxpayer resistance often make these wonderful learning rich scenarios impossible.
ReplyDeleteTwo computers for 35 students seems like the norm, unfortunately! I think that, with the mobile devices that are available nowadays, that will slowly change. Taxpayer resistance is a problem as well as the resistance to change that seems to be common among our society.
DeleteI, too loved the location based learning! Field trips always were my favorite as a teacher. When I taught fifth grade at a school in NH, I took my students on a field trip to Boston and we walked the Freedom Trail. It wasn't until I read this post that I remembered that and can see how the GPS devices that they used in their tour of the town would have come in handy to help the students see the then and now of Boston. The museum scavenger hunt activity was also pretty neat. With the proper materials, I could see those playing out in my future teaching.
ReplyDeleteYes, taking kids to museums and virtual locations is definitely a way to get started in your own classroom. Field trips are a wonderful way to engage students and allow them to ask questions. Working in problem based lesson planning is a new and uncomfortable task for teachers if that is not what they currently do. It takes time and planning. Questions are difficult to come up with and especially for our students. We need to try to allow our students to formulate their own questions and solve them. Being skeptical is ok, as it is not the norm that we face in our public education, but how do we somehow approach that model of the charter schools we saw in the video?
ReplyDelete