Has the way we teach today changed? Does it need to?
Questions that are asked these days are:
- Who are the future learners?
- How and where will they learn?
- How do trends in educational thinking influence the design of our future learning environments?
Recently I have been listening to: Stephanie Hamilton, Strategic Education Solutions, Apple, at the NKUL conference at the university of Trondheim Norway. See here for her talk: avslutningsforedraget. “Change”, “The learners will inherit the future, while the learned are beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists”.
At the university of Oslo: David williamson Shaffer on “Computer games Learning. Dr. Shaffer studies how new technologies change the way people think and learn. His particular area of interest is in the development of epistemic games: computer and video games in which players become professionals to develop innovative and creative ways of thinking
“Preparing today’s youth to succeed in the digital economy requires a new kind of teaching and learning. Skills such as global literacy, computer literacy, problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and innovation have become critical in today’s increasingly interconnected workforce and society–and technology is the catalyst for bringing these changes into the classroom.” eSchool news.
In Norway we are so lucky that most schools in K12 are preparing to give lap-tops to all the students. And still some teachers are reluctant to use the computers afraid of the noice and disctration that follow. It is clear that many schools need strategies to cope with these new challanges. At Sandvika vgs close to Oslo in Norway all our students have lap-tops. They are pretty much used all the time. To avoid the rapid changes from class to class we have few subject-classes each day. One day math, one day English and so on. This gives the student and teacher time to concentrate and work in depth.
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Current learning environments, that is within classrooms, are predicated on a Fordist Industrial model. The best thing about Web2.0 is not the technology but that it forces us – teachers – to rethink how, when and where we teach. Learning can and does happen any time, any where. Technology is just the conduit and our role as teachers is to help learners discover and constructively engage with communication technologies.