This Rethinking Learning video from the MacArthur Foundation presents several thought-provoking comments on getting 21st-century students out of the 20th-century classroom, and some innovative examples of technology integration in education.
We are all familiar with the annual Horizon Report, "designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in higher education." In this report, key trends and technologies are profiled in terms of project time-to-adoption, ranging from one to five years. So, as educational technologists, the question isn't what new technologies are coming, or even necessarily when they will become mainstream, but how we should integrate these new technologies to best serve teaching and learning.
The constant proliferation of new tech options affords learners a never-ending opportunity to interact with peers, instructors, and course content in novel and engaging ways. At the same time, the pace of technological innovation is so rapid that it is longer possible for instructors to maintain real-time awareness of the latest options and to thoughtfully, creatively, and successfully apply them to educational contexts. And that's okay. In the words of instructional technologist Andrew Marcinek, "Educators should not pace education at the same pace at which technology moves. It is far too fast, and too sudden." Surveying the technology environment, understanding the educational context, and meeting learner and instructor needs at their current level of ability remains key when investigating a potential educational technology solution.
For reflection:
- In terms of new technology integration in the classroom, what is your experience, either as instructor or student?
- Have you ever been required to use a "tech solution" that didn't match your needs? What happened?
- As discussed in the MacArthur Foundation video, how can we more actively link informal, technology-rich learning outside of school with formal learning inside school?
References
Boss, S. (2011, Sep. 7). Technology Integration: What Experts Say. Retrieved March 22, 2013 at
http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-experts
Edutopia staff. (2007, Nov. 5). Why Do We Need Technology Integration? Retrieved March 22, 2013 at http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-importance
Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Cummins, M. (2012). The NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved March 22, 2013 at
http://www.nmc.org/publications/horizon-report-2012-higher-ed-edition
MacArthur Foundation. (2010). Rethinking Learning: The 21st Century Learner. [web video]. Retrieved March 22, 2013 at http://www.nmc.org/publications/horizon-report-2012-higher-ed-edition
In comparison to my undergraduate environment to my graduate school environment (2004-2008 undergrad, currently in graduate) there have been noticeable advancements. During my undergraduate career Blackboard had just been released to the public school sector, and was not nearly advanced as it is today. For example, the most I could do with Blackboard was print off powerpoints used during class lectures, and review my grades. The discussion board feature was not even considered to be used by professors, and the navigation throughout was not user friendly. Also, Virginia Tech did not feature any tutorials to students on how to use the platform and the professors had very little experience or knowledge to pull from. Online classes in undergrad did not feature asynchronous web conferencing and relied solely on email correspondence, assigned readings, online quizzes and papers. Now with technological advancements, collaborate/elluminate-instructors have the ability to interact with their online students. In some classes we were required to purchase an iClickers (which were pretty costly) for in class surveys/quizzes, etc. Now the ability to use texting as a survey tool is a feature/option, since it is 99.9% likely your students have access to a cell phone. A lot has changed over the years, but for the better. Technological advancements are necessary to continuously improve the efficiency and quality of our educational experiences.
ReplyDeleteAs far as addressing the concern on how to link informal with formal learning; I think students should be given more power/ability/interaction over their instructional environment and experiences. The instructor would be more in charge of overseeing the learning process as opposed to dictating it. They would ensure the students stay on task and are focusing on the set competencies/concepts. This could be done by assigning collaborative projects, interactive field trips, research; essentially anything that could get the students actively engaged.
Tara, I loved that video you posted about 21st century learners. I found it to be really helpful! Thinking about my own educational experiences as a student, I can remember numerous instances where I experienced new technologies in the classroom. The SMART Board is the device that stands out to me the most because it seemed like teachers weren’t quite sure what to do with it. I remember in high school my teachers would just use it as a whiteboard. We never interacted with it, and they didn’t even really use it to add “umph” to their presentation. I just remember it being used to show power points, or to write on. I couldn’t understand why my school would spend so much money on something we definitely didn’t need. It wasn’t until I started doing my practicum experiences in college when I discovered just how beneficial they could be!! The only example I can really think of is the use of iPods in one of my history courses. We were required to listen to podcasts about something. I found that I got distracted easily and zoned out. It was hard to pay attention without having a visual, or someone to look at while they were talking. I ended up having to type notes while listening, because it was so hard for me to pay attention. The podcasts didn’t meet my learning styles, which made it more difficult for me to learn the new information. I agree with Lauren about students being given more power over their instructional environments. I think that too often teachers are afraid to give up some control and give it to the students, but when students are given some control over their own learning it can motivate them.
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ReplyDelete1. In terms of technology integration in the classroom as an instructor I am a huge fan and supporter. An experience that comes to mind first is Smart Boards years ago. When I was teaching English language learners in middle school, this technology was such a contributing factor to their interest and learning in the classroom. The Smart Board involved them and gave them a more constructivist, rather than behaviorist, approach to language learning which I loved. Most recently, as a student, I got to see a new piece of equipment in the LTLE department in Memorial. It is a robot avatar that can assist pupils that cannot attend class for whatever reason. This is such an amazing invention for distance learning.
2. I have been. I was demotivated by using the inappropriate “tech solution”, but I still learned.
3. I enjoyed the video very much, and I actually had not heard of MacArthur Foundation video before so it is very beneficial to me. A key point to connecting informal and formal learning is first changing opinions and education our educators and parental figures of our students. This is a step that needs to occur first and be taken into consideration. I believe that parental figures and educators need to be more informed instead of coerced to use more technology in the classroom. Also, I love the idea of flipping the classroom and the Khan academy as a model for linking informal and formal learning. Finally, I wanted to say that this group did a very nice job on the blog posting. I learned new things and thought it was very well written.