The Did You Know? and A Vision of Students Today (college) videos from YouTube once again emphasize the technology driven society in which we live today. More often then none, students spend most of their lives and a majority of their day using technology. As our lives are becoming more and more dependent on the use of technology, how are we preparing students to successfully enter into this world? By passively sitting in a classroom, listening and watching rather than doing??? NO! We as teachers need to be actively using technology within the classroom and teaching our students the necessary tools to be successful in life. It is important to remember though that for technology to be effective in the classroom, the teacher themselves needs to be just as educated on it as the student.
A Vision of (college) Students really hit home with me as I agree with almost every single one of the statements presented by those students. No longer am I really reading articles that deal with my life or handwriting pages of work, but I'm spending my time on the computer/Internet, FaceBook, MySpace, surfing websites, watching television and listening to my I-pod. We spend so much time studying technology usage in grade, middle and high schools but we tend to forget about the college students as well. If college is really where we are being prepared for our future in the career that we choose, why are these students still sitting in a lecture hall with 150 other students just listening, watching, falling asleep and using the technologies that should be being used in class to pass the boring time? With a move in this direction, why are students still sitting there in class....doing nothing?!?
It is our job as future educators to start effectively using the technologies that students are using in their everyday lives to give them the experience and utilization of the tools they will need to succeed in their future. We need to transform the classroom into an alternative learning space that moves from the bounds of textbook and paper to the Internet and other technologies that we use everyday and that are becoming essential to know for future success.
A favorite YouTube video of mine that addresses the same issue of technology and how students learn is Pay Attention. Check it out!
Sherry,
ReplyDeletePay Attention is one of my favorites too. In fact, I have it in the sidebar of my blog.
I really like your last paragraph. "We need to transform the classroom into an alternative learning space that moves from the bounds of textbook and paper to the Internet and other technologies that we use everyday and that are becoming essential to know for future success."
Dr. Burgos