Digital Blog Post #B – Chapter 2
In
Methods for Teaching with Technology, the author shows two distinct teaching philosophies. “Teacher-centered”
also known as, “teaching as telling,” the teacher presents and explains
academic information to the students; the teacher uses scores from the tests to
determine who has learned and who has not.
Student-centered, teaching is also known as constructivism, i.e.,
encouraging students to develop their own knowledge by discovering ideas and
concepts themselves. According to this concept, students learn more deeply and
retain information longer when they have a say in the teaching process. Most middle school and elementary grade
teachers, report that their personal thinking falls in between this two philosophies
(Maloy, et al, 2013, p.35). “Plato believed that children would never learn
unless they wanted to learn. In The Republic, he said, " ... compulsory
learning never sticks in the mind." (Education reform, n.d.).
Moving forward; National Educational Technology Standards, (NETS), is for teachers
and students, a broad vision of schooling that features technology-supported
learning environments for every student.
NET’s core believe is that technology broadens the scope of the learning
experiences. The role of schools is to
teach academic content; promote innovative and creative thinking; and prepare
students for citizenship in a digital world.
The goal of NETS is to decrease the density of Teacher-centered learning and increase the concentration of Technology-based learning classrooms. “Students learn through participation in
project-based learning where they make connections between different ideas and
areas of knowledge facilitated by the teacher through coaching rather than
using lectures or step-by-step guidance. Further, constructionism holds that
learning can happen most effectively when people are active in making tangible
objects in the real world. In this sense, constructionism is connected with
experiential learning and builds on Jean Piaget's epistemological theory of
constructivism.” (Constructionism, n.d.)
In the section of, Your Teaching Philosophy, I learned that younger people who were born after 1980 grew up using interactive
computers and wireless technology. This
class of young people are digital natives.
Digital Immigrants are the teachers
who are still learning how to interact with computer technology. Digital
native students, are moving away from traditional school-based literacies of book
reading and writing on paper. It is intuitively
obvious that the digital immigrant teachers
must think about how to change their teaching methods to accommodate their digital native students.
In conclusion traditional classrooms have
to make way for technology-based classrooms.
NET mandates technology in the classroom. Students simply learn better using
technology. Teachers have no other
choice. They must learn how to use
technology to facilitate 21st Century students. If traditional teachers resist the 21st
Century way of teaching; students will move to self-directed learning known as autodidactic.
“Autodidactism is a contemplative, absorbing process, of "learning on your
own" or "by yourself", or as a self-teacher. Some autodidacts
spend a great deal of time reviewing the resources of libraries and educational
websites. One may become an autodidact at nearly any point in one's life. While
some may have been informed in a conventional manner in a particular field,
they may choose to inform themselves in other, often unrelated areas. Notable
autodidacts include Abraham Lincoln (U.S. president), Srinivasa Ramanujan
(mathematician), Michael Faraday (chemist and physicist), Charles Darwin
(naturalist), Thomas Alva Edison (inventor), Tadao Ando (architect), George
Bernard Shaw (playwright), Frank Zappa (composer, recording engineer, film
director), and Leonardo da Vinci (engineer, scientist, mathematician).” (Education,
n.d.)
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By aspecte.gr
[Public domain] |
Reference
Constructionism
(learning theory) (2016). . In Wikipedia. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructionism_(learning_theory)
Education (2016)..
In Wikipedia. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education
Education reform
(2016).. In Wikipedia. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_reform
Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA:Pearson Education Inc.
Record. M. (September 11) Class. Created with Toondoo. http://www.toondoo.com/cartoon/10397112
TEDx Talks (2013, March 6). The future of education: Sajan George at TEDxUNC Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-SmLEMgis