Like AT&T, we often mistake access to information to be the same as knowledge. As we discussed in class on Tuesday, information means nothing until we interpret it and give it meaning. The ability to look up massive amounts of information on the Internet doesn’t make us any smarter. In fact, many argue it does the opposite. Just like the introduction of the alphabet reduced our ability to memorize, similarly search engines inhibit our capability to “know’ anything. We rely on Google to find it for us.
Krug presents knowledge to be “a process of engagement with the world.” He points out that we don’t gain knowledge by having access to books, encyclopedias, or the Internet. Rather, we must experience knowledge for ourselves. Our graduate program is built on this concept which is why we use the Socratic Method in a seminar setting instead of being tested on memorizing theories and researches.
Knowledge comes as we create meaning for the world and the many relationships we observe within it. Unfortunately for many education reformers, introducing technology to the classroom is not a solution to make our students smarter or more competent individuals.
Are there any teachers out there? What role does technology have in your teaching?
As an up and coming teacher, this is something that I know will be on the forefront of my agenda. Technology is omnipresent it seems like. Why should education, then, be left by the wayside? It shouldn't.
ReplyDeleteOne of my professors has begun teaching a summer graduate course on this exact topic: how to incorporate technology into the classroom. It's an asset, a invaluable resource to help to bolster your lessons. Providing a powerpoint with images of the stages of the journey a frog takes to becoming a frog, a video clip that enforces current events, or even bringing in video cameras for students to engage their motor-sensory skills and imagination by creating a newscast of the research they've done on their famous person in history.
Technology is the wave the education seems to be riding in the 21st century. We must be careful, however, not to sweep the basic skills under the rug. Simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division seem to be obsolete these days when every 4th grader has a cell phone with a calculator. Does that mean we should forget it? Not a chance. These basic skills (i.e. spelling, adding, classifying, problem solving, etc.) are not to be replaced by technology, and they never should be.
Thanks for your comment, Chad! We watched an interesting documentary in my COM class that took a special look at the use of technology by kids in classrooms. It's called The Digital Nation by Frontline. I think it was done by PBS. While technology can enhance education, it can also be detrimental to kids' attention spans. Are you truly helping kids learn better by adding the images and videos and using a powerpoint, or are you merely entertaining them in a manner to which they are accustomed? Who is driving the use of technology - the teacher or the students?
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