I took some time and read "World without Walls: Learning Well with Others" written by Will Richardson. Basically, Richardson is talking about how modern communication technology has changed the whole way people learn. He refers to it as "The Collaboration Age." In the past, we collaborated generally with people that were local or on site but today in an instant you can be working with or learning from someone that lives on the other side of the world. He touches on some positives and a few pitfalls that this shift in learning has created but leaves us with a call to action for teachers to embrace the changes and strive to implement more technology into the classroom.
I have to
share Richardson's opinion that connecting technologies have transformed the way
we learn. I also believe that students being able to seek out rewarding learning
experiences easily from the comfort of their own homes is a great thing. Free online college
programs, forums, online groups, etc have allowed people to gain valuable
opportunities to learn. I agree with Richardson that educators need to embrace
this shift in education and introduce their students to all that is available
to them online. I wasn't really shocked to read that a college student in
Canada faced expulsion because he set up a group to with his classmates to
share notes and ideas, as a lot of education institutions are still not sure what to accept when it comes to the utilization of online resources. I can
only imagine how this paradigm shift will affect the way I learn and teach my
class in the future but it's my responsibility to keep up to date
with it and provide my students with the best learning experience possible.
Link for the article
Will Richardson
Link for the article
Will Richardson
Sounds like a pretty interesting article Chris. Perhaps I should’ve read it too.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you and the article, that connecting technology is changing the way we learn these days and that learning from the comfort of our own homes can be a great thing. However I believe that personal interaction between students and teachers is also essential to learning. I feel teachers need to embrace the shift towards using online resources but at the same time find a balance between the two.
I’m hoping that after this course I will have some of the tools necessary to move in this direction.
Sounds like a pretty interesting article Chris. Perhaps I should’ve read it too.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you and the article, that connecting technology is changing the way we learn these days and that learning from the comfort of our own homes can be a great thing. However I believe that personal interaction between students and teachers is also essential to learning. I feel teachers need to embrace the shift towards using online resources but at the same time find a balance between the two.
I’m hoping that after this course I will have some of the tools necessary to move in this direction.
I really enjoyed this article as well. One of the lines that stuck out to me was that for students the "most memorable, and most effective teachers will be the ones they discover, not the ones they are given." Over the last 5 years or so I have been realizing how the Internet can be used as a self educating tool. Taking this course has made me even more aware and I hope to learn more to be able pass it along but I have to admit to being a little jealous of kids growing up today. They will have amazing tools and unlimited resources to fuel their education. I guess it will be our job to make sure they are using it to it's full potential.
ReplyDelete