The videos made me sad. I completely agree that the American classroom has to change and become a more dynamic environment. Working to make that happen is part of what I do for a living. The technology is available and it needs to be leveraged. Budget is the biggest stopgap in the K-12 system.
On the other hand the video in the college lecture hall was frustrating. The students portrayed were Gen Edger's or just slightly older using the birth year mean of 1995. The traits of entitlement and narcissism rang true in the printed messages they held up during the video. I sleep 7 hours, I surf Facebook during class, I spend $100's of dollars on text books and do not read them, I only read 8 books last year. Shame on them. Choose a college that offers compelling technology in the classroom if that is what you need. The messages that read "That adds up to 26.5 hours" and "I am a multi-tasker" got to me. What of the those tasks were leisure and what were focused on college studies and life enabling tasks?
The numbers on honor students in China and India were interesting as well. Let us remember that China and India are each nearly 4 times as large in population as the United States. They are closed societies that do not have immigration policies that reflect the ones of the United States. Much of the population of both countries earns "less than what this laptop costs."
My situation is somewhat different. I have some contact with students and much of what I take away from that contact is in line with Gen Edgers. Students are hungry for more than a chalkboard and I believe they require it. They have been engaged with technology through DVD's and Leapfrog and other modes of technology in most cases since they have been able to sit up. It does not change the learning process though. The basics of letters and numbers in order to read and write and understand mathematics still need to be mastered.
The students I come in contact with more often are adult educators in Professional Development sessions. There are Baby Boomers, Gen Ex's and Millenials. Being one or the other does seem to dictate on how willing they will be to engage with new technology, how they feel about using their own time to learn and understand it and, what is in it for them in the end. I believe it is all about attitude.
The article that impacted me the most was McKenzie. I have been handed the Prensky article in many sales meetings. Birth order in terms of which decade does not necessitate ones aptitude to learn a new technology. I am eager to share the McKenzie article with my colleagues.
Lastly, in the Twenge article a reference was made to students expecting to "create" in the classroom and during the learning process. Perhaps more application of "flipped classrooms" would be effective.
I really enjoyed reading your post and agree that the video's were kind of sad however they really put things in prespective as far as the big gap in today's education. I am not surprised that they will be speaking more english in China than in the U.S. because in the U.S. now they are teaching the children chinese, spanish, german, french and every other language but english. I also beleive China and other countries put a much higher value on education than we do in America.
ReplyDeleteI found the lecture in the college to be very truthful because most of the things they are being taught are not going to help them get the high paying jobs they are looking for to help pay back those student loans. They should, be using some of the technology they have to take their education to the next level. They are confortable with it, know how to navigate and would get a lot more done as far as understanding the material.
I think when teachers find a way to reach their students and make learning challenging as well as fun we will have many more honor student because we know they have the capablities by the games and televisions shows they have memorized.
Thank you Andrea. There are definite challenges that the US faces with the PK-20 education system here. One profound thing is that technology in the K-12 classroom helps students when they reach college as well where there is an expectation of proficiency.
ReplyDeleteI can’t even imagine how frustrating it has to be dealing with budget issues in the public schools. Throughout my career, I have been on both ends of the spectrum in regard to money for technology. The first school I worked for only had 1 classroom that was equipped with an interactive white-board. Now, my current building has one in every classroom. This sort of disconnect can be a main attributor to the apathy amongst students in any given university, especially in the video that Susan alluded to. Universities are comprised of students from various backgrounds and some harbor deep-rooted resentment and bitterness toward the educational system in general, not just higher learning. That’s only one reason why every educator dealing with any level of education should be galvanized to not only instruct using traditional pedagogy, but spice up their craft with links to technology.
ReplyDeleteShaun you are so right. Spicing it up is pretty simple. An elementary language arts teacher shared with me that she had no need for technology and couldn't imagine what she would do with it. I suggested perhaps showing the children, via the Interactive Whiteboard, an authors web page and related items at that page to a current book the students could relate to. It takes a little imagination but, once you begin it continues to grow.
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ReplyDeleteThis is a great post about the evolving technology platforms. I'm sure it's more than frustrating to have to deal with the issues of budget. Having limited monetary resources can ever so limit and break up classroom function and order. I mean when students are limited in both books or technology they become disengaged. As students today are more familiar with societies blueprint of technology, they also want to engage in the technology learning curve at school also.
ReplyDeleteDamon you are right on with the budget gap. When I sold text books I was approached by parents whose children's schools did not have a book for every child in the class. Fortunately my company had a program for parents to buy copies of the books. With technology it is difficult because not all schools or parents have the means to have technology accessible to all the students. Technology in learning is two fold. It helps with engagement and it prepares the students for the higher education and professional world.
ReplyDeleteSo, where does the line fall between engaged and entertained? Think about this as the discussion continues this week. Many of the lessons from the SmartBoard website clearly say that they can be done without the SmartBoard (although possibly not as easily). This begs the question, "Then why the heck would you spend $3-5K for something you don't really need???"
ReplyDeleteAlong those same lines, the concept of flipping the classroom has been around forever. The concept is to "come to class have been exposed to the material so that we can work on it more in-depth in class." Well, teachers did that before YouTube by assigning readings before coming to class (most college syllabi are framed that way as well).
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to comment on Dr. Siko statement about where does the line fall between engaged and entertained. I think the reason all this high tech equipment is being purchased is not only to introduce it to the students for future enrichment me also to keep them entertained while they learn. A big problem in the classroom now is descipline and order so I think some schools were hoping that the new technology would keep the student engaged as well as keep some order in the classroom however what i have found is that if you do not teach the students the importance of taking care of the equipment you have a loose loose situation and money has just gone down the drain. I know a lot of teachers who are changing professions because they are not able to control their classrooms and reach this generation.
For me the key word is engaged. This is where the concept of the interactive classroom enters. Combining technologies in the interactive classroom so students can respond and participate is key. An interactive white board can be just a glorified dry erase board if the person using it has not received the appropriate PD. The lessons designed for IWB use are only as good as their authors. Many IWB companies have their own content sites. Much of the content on these sites was created by educators. These sites are designed to be their own "social networks". Educators can download content and "make it their own" by enhancing it and grooming it to fit their lesson and curriculum. Most of these sites have features that allow the lessons to be searched by common or state core standards as well.
DeleteI would suggest everyone look up and find a definition of "student engagement" (there's several of them), and then look around to see how students are using technology, and whether it fits the definition.
ReplyDeleteI read, What Is Student Engagement, Anyway? by Linda L. Deneen. The references in her article to clicker technology are something I am familiar with and have a pretty simple view of. Deneen writes Technologies that enhance student engagement are of particular interest to us. "With clickers, across all age groups, you have the opportunity to gain engagement from every student in the class". To build on that my view is that the incredibly shy student who is afraid to speak up, the student who is afraid of being wrong and even the student who does not always want to be right can participate freely and anonymously and stay personally engaged. This type of engagement, in my view, enhances the learning environment for students and teachers. The teachers can get minute by minute feedback in a formative environment and identify any remedial opportunities immediately. The students get reinforcement, those ah ha moments where they find they got the answer right or perhaps the greater percentage of the class got it wrong. The possibilities are endless for opening the door to critical thinking. That is what it is all about. Our students need to learn critical thinking habits and put them into practice. Technology isn't the only answer but, we have it so why not use it to encourage engagement.
ReplyDeleteSue, you made a great point about budget! Now that we have this technology, how can we financially keep up with it? Every year or so, Apple introduces a new generation of products. How long will it be before our technology is obsolute?
ReplyDeleteJuliana, one of the observations I have of budgets, at least in K-12, is that when a bond is being considered a technology plan is always in place to accommodate updates, upgrades, PD and other infrastructure necessities like wireless or phone systems. Like the traditional consumer though it appears that the technology we buy today is obsolete in 6 months when you compare feature on feature. Apple is experiencing something with the iPad that I believe they did not anticipate with its initial launch. That being the explosion of popularity in the classroom. For the most part the iPad is a consumer product. It is the software and app developers that are creating the environmental adaptations for education.
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