Students in the 21st century learn in a global classroom and not necessarily within four walls anymore. Students can now find information by accessing the Internet through cellphones and computers, or even by chatting with friends on a social networking site. Similarly, many teachers are now monitoring and issuing assignments via virtual classrooms. Students today are very lucky to have learning tools at their disposal that allow them to locate, acquire, and even create knowledge more quickly than in the past and they can primarily do this anytime and anywhre. Learning is basically borderless.
Twenty-first-century learning requires strong collaboration, communication and crtical thinking skills in order to be successful. Our students need to learn to work in teams to accomplish more. This mirrors the 21st-century workplace which they will one day enter and need to be prepared for.
Twenty-first-century learning requires strong collaboration, communication and crtical thinking skills in order to be successful. Our students need to learn to work in teams to accomplish more. This mirrors the 21st-century workplace which they will one day enter and need to be prepared for.
Although technology allows for 24/7 access to information, constant social interaction, and easily and shared content, I think it is important to remember that being able to Google is no substitute for true understanding. We still have to still teach our students how to be proficient and competent readers and writers (even if the writing is on the Internet).
No longer does learning have to be one-size-fits-all or confined to the classroom. The opportunities afforded by technology should be used to re-imagine 21st-century education, focusing on preparing students to be learners for life.
Amy, I like that you say "I think it is important to remember that being able to Google is no substitute for true understanding." When I was doing a research assignment with my ninth graders this year, I limited them strictly to Gale Group/Infotrac databases. That stricture was met with significant resistance, because students wanted to take their topic and plug it into Google (which would inevitably lead them to Wikipedia, which in turn would give them just a superficial understanding of the topic). Instead, being required to evaluate multiple sources and integrate numerous opinions helped them develop a deeper connection to the text.
ReplyDeleteAmy, you make some good points about being connected to so many places, people etc. One of the concerns I have with being connected is the social aspect. I often wonder if we are truly more connected or less. Although we are connected via machine, socially I feel that we are losing a bit of ground with all of these social media sites. My take is that to some degree we are not able to see how someone reacts to a comment made or a face that clearly shows that what was said does not match what might have been heard. Does that make sense? I worry that as we become more technologically driven, social interaction will diminish not improve. We are already starting to see some of this in the lower levels. Parents are engaged in social media and don't spend as much time interacting with their children etc. I'm trying not to judge but with older children of my own, when I go to a restaurant and see parents on their phones texting, conducting a business call, or go to the store and a child is in the basket with a parent speaking on the phone, I worry. It has become pervasive in our society. I think we have to at least consider the ramifications to this behavior and how it will affect future generations if it continues.
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