I’ve learnt a great deal doing this assessment piece. I’ve discovered new technologies that I’m really disappointed I hadn’t heard of earlier! Aside from that, I had forgotten how much our current generation is looking towards technology more than ever. One of the most interesting experiences I had was watching a video of George Lucas (Edutopia, 2007) when he was talking about his project of Edutopia at a Dreamforce Conference held back in 2007. One of his statements that struck me was when he was talking about the purpose of Edutopia:
...what we do is take the best practices of what education will look like using
technology...and out of that we realised it facilitates age old years of learning.
It was interesting that Lucas mentioned that ‘it (technology) facilitates age of years of learning’ (Edutopia). Furthermore I really appreciated the way Edutopia tackled education. Some of their philosophies (if that’s what you would even call them) included thoughts such as; making sure that students are engaging in ‘real world projects to learn subject matter’ (Edutopia); that there’s an emphasis on cooperation and team building elements where students can outwork conflict handling and collaboration. It also talked about integrating study with well-matured and new concepts; Edutopia also saw tests and portfolios to assess student’s performance as a key in developing their skills and learning development. However, it was the teacher element which was seen as the most vital as Edutopia emphasised that teacher’s bring ‘the human touch...the most valuable element in education by nurturing a student’s interest and confidence’ (Edutopia).
After taking note of these things I really appreciated what George Lucas was doing to a greater level. I realised that he wasn’t at all knocking the old ways of learning, in fact his statement of technology acting as a facilitator of ‘age old years of learning’ (Edutopia) seemed to bring to light the fact that today’s technology should be seen to ENHANCE these practices of learning that have been developed over centuries. Marc Prensky’s (2001) article on, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, pointed out how the new generation of tech-savvy students (who Prensky affectionately refers to as Digital Natives) can get frustrated with the not-quite-up-to-scratch, Digital Immigrants who are still ‘migrating’ over to the new digital age. One of Prensky’s (2001) points about the struggle that a Digital Immigrant might have was how:
Digital Immigrant teachers assume that learners are the same as they have always been, and that the same methods that worked for the teachers when they were students will work for their students now. But that assumption is no longer valid. Today‟s learners are different.
As a self-confessed Digital Native, I can see how this could be very frustrating for not only a Digital Native Student but also a Digital Immigrant teacher. However, ICT should be seen through the lens of George Lucas. He mentioned at his conference how, ‘children learn out of curiousity’ (2007). This revelation is not a new one – it would be safe to say that children have always been like this since the beginning of time. I’ve realised now that ICT in a learning environment should not been seen as the enemy, but as a something that can tweak the curiosity of my students (who are most likely going to be more tech-savvy than I).
For now though, I appreciated some of the technologies covered in this course. Some of my favourites were; Picnik, Voice Thread, Voki and the Quizz Maker. I appreciated how user friendly it was – that even a Digital Migrant could not help but like the easy interface of these programs.
I’d also like to mention how I appreciated reading and discussing Ron Oliver’s (2001) Learning Design Model in the forums. His theory about; Learning Tasks, Learning Support and Learning Resources being integrated together is a powerful concept that I believe could work in any era. For instance, if we took Oliver’s theory to the education system 20 years ago, the Learning Tasks, Learning Support and Learning Resources would have still worked congruently together, but it would have conformed to the culture and technologies of that time. Was the way they did it 20 years ago wrong? Some might argue that it could have been, however, I believe that just as time moves on and people come and go, technology which is facilitating our age-old approaches to education are simply evolving and changing to suit its surroundings.
In conclusion, suppose I see technology in learning as clothing. Ten years ago there was not just another fashion going on, but I was younger and smaller. Fast forwarding to the present, I can’t get angry that I grew physically and that I can’t fit into those clothes I wore 10 years ago – there’s simply no point. It would be a waste of time and those clothes aren’t only too small but they’re dated! In the same way, technology in the classroom should be those new clothes that we are so excited about in the present time. We should appreciate these new technologies and approaches to learning now before they are outdated, disappear and another lot of ‘clothes’ come in.
References:
Edutopia 2007, George Lucas speaks at Dreamforce Conference, September 18th, 2007, The George Lucas Foundation, viewed 21 August 2009
http://www.edutopia.org/george-lucas-education-dreamforce-2007
Oliver, R 1999, Exploring strategies for online teaching and learning. Distance Education, 20(2), 240-254. viewed 21 August 2009
learningdesigns.uow.edu.au/project/learn_design.htm
