In a talk at the National PTA Conference in Charlotte, NC, Thomas Murray, State and District Digital Learning Policy and Advocacy Director for Alliance for Education, reminded me of what’s been bothering me for years. “We’re using 21st century tools in 20th century learning environments.” I’d go even further than Murray. As far as I’m concerned too many of our teachers are using 21st century technology with 19th century pedagogy with teaching styles and classroom management techniques that haven’t changed much since my grandparents were in school.
To reinforce his point, Murray showed pictures of typical secondary school classrooms taken in 1915 and 2015 and, in both cases, student desks were lined up in rows with the teacher at the front of the room. He also said that many schools still employ “top-down one size fits all” teaching methods where learning is based on how many hours kids spend in class rather than what skills and insights they acquire.
A few years ago I attended a session at an International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference where a marketing person from a smart board company demonstrated how her company’s technologically advanced product could be used to enhance a lecture on geography. Even though this was well into the 21st century, it felt like the lectures I grew up with, only instead of a blackboard and an overhead slide projector, the instructor was using an electronic aid to drill facts into the heads of students.
by MindMake via MindMake Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment