Landfill Harmonic

I wish I could say that I am that dedicated to something.

Ensuring Students Learn What They Need?

Hmmm, isn't that what we always do? I thought that was my biggest source of anxiety for the last 18 years.

I don't think we can ensure (as in, make certain that (something) shall occur or be the case) that our students ever learn everything we think they need to learn. In regards to technology, that is also the case. We can, however, get as close as we possibly can to that goal with a two-pronged strategy.

With a vision for how technology is best used, we approach a point at which the majority of teachers are ready to buy in. Some teachers will always be hesitant to embrace new methods, be they technological or philosophical (or both), because of the many competing demands on time. When we develop a vision for the ways in which technology should be part of our academic lives, teachers are more more willing to jump in and take the time to integrate and master digital tools.

I emphasize the word ways to differentiate between that and specific tools. I have a(n evolving) vision of the place technology should occupy in my pedagogy. In addition to being a hugely powerful source of information, I see it as a means of expression and collaboration first and foremost and, secondarily, as a an archive/portfolio of student work. I believe the tools allow my students to express ideas in new ways to broader audiences and to collaborate with people beyond the confines of the classroom. They can and should now apply what they learn to more realistic problems and situations. Because I have a vision, I am comfortable bringing different digital tools into my pedagogy.

The second 'prong' to ensuring our students learn what they need re technology and information literacy is to weave technology into the fabric of a school. Across grade levels and across the different curricular areas, technology needs to be diffused throughout an institution rather than compartmentalized.

This is my personal philosophy, and it informs all that I do in my teaching. That said, I know that the the most important thing our students NEED to learn is HOW TO LEARN. Technology and information literacy are only part of learning how to learn. Good teaching leads to learning - content, skills and the habits of mind that create real learners. Computers, hand-helds, whatever device that may come our way are not pre-requisites for learning or success.

My choice - the liberal arts education

As the product of a liberal arts education I am biased but I think all the developments we are seeing mean that what we have to work towards is a liberal arts education for all our students.  Where liberal arts have traditionally meant a four year degree (and a pricey one), we need to extend (and fully develop) that idea so that it extends into our institutions for children and young adults.  

A liberal arts education is about learning how to think, to analyze and HOW TO LEARN.  With the skills garnered in a true liberal arts tradition all the things we are talking about - career change, shifting knowledge bases, communications skills, cooperation and networking - are part and parcel.  Someone with a good liberal arts education can adapt, learn new skills, tackle new projects, work with new people, use new tools...because they can learn.  

We live in a world in which business more and more drives education.  The terminology we use from best practice to outcomes all come from the business world.  Business has also been a driving force in the development of university programs that have no place in a traditional view of a university's role.  Hotel management?  Hello?

Business has driven education into odd specialization when in reality a good education would mean you don't need a university to TRAIN people.  You just need the university to help people learn how to learn.  Then they can acquire the specific skills they need when they move into the job/the project/the task of the moment/the year/the job.

Of course this means that we must incorporate new technologies into our curricula so that students develop their skills/knowledge base while using the tools that facilitate communication, cooperation and collaboration.