Monday 20 May 2013

Tech Task #3: Why School?

After listening to my Ecmp 355 session with Will Richardson and watching his video Why School?, it is hard not to think about the role of technology in schools and learning today as well as the new role of teachers and schools. 

Technology's Role
I think that technology has a major role in children's learning and that as teachers we need to embrace it. We need to incorporate technology into our teaching and help students learn more than what we can teach them alone. Using technology can also help students see that as a teacher, we're still learning too. Use the internet to find facts that you don't know or find something that a student asked about. We need to show students what they can do with technology that is available to them and show them that they can learn so much from the internet.

Students need to realize that teachers don't necessarily have to be just in their school or classroom. They can have teachers from around the world by going online. They need to know where they can find sites such as Khanacademy or Knewton, that can help with topics or subjects they are struggling with. I think it is important for students to fully understand the opportunities that the internet and other technologies can provide for them.

A Teacher's Role

As teachers, I think that our role is to prepare our students for the real world and show them all their opportunities. We need to build relationships with our students and assist them in their learning, whether it be from a lesson we give or something they have found and learnt through the internet. I feel that our role is to help students with finding who they are and helping them form their morals as well as guiding them on how to use, and act within, the online world. We need to help them learn through their lived experiences and learn alongside them.

I think that we need to invite technology into our classrooms and use it to both ours and our students advantages so they can see it's true potential and know how to use it in a successful way. As Mark Klassen said in Will Richardson's video, "...those connections make it possible for me to gain a bigger audience which means more feedback and greater learning..." By bringing technology into our schools, and allowing students to use it in their learning process we are raising their number of resources and people to learn from and giving them a better chance for more of it.

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