I have very mixed emotions after viewing this video a number of times. I guess that I always have heard that countries such as China were very far ahead of the United States, especially in the areas of technology and math. Some of the statistics on the video, however, were quite disturbing to me. It is amazing how quickly our society and the values of our society are changing. It seems now that success in our world is based on what is fastest and most efficient. Our world is always moving toward how to get the most done with the least. I understand that it is important to continue to move ahead with the times and to be open to whatever this means in terms of technology and education but I have to admit, I feel that our values are being lost somewhere.
The statistics on this video seem so one sided to me. The focus is so heavily placed on technology and how this is the way of the future, that I am afraid that students are no longer going to see the value in other areas of learning. We have discussed before in this class how it is so difficult to get boys to become interested in literacy activities. It is easy to see why, however, when we look at what they are used to getting excited about. Video games and other activities related to technology seem to be where many of our young people place their focus, but especially young boys. Going up against this as an educator is a difficult challenge.
As I stated before, this is not to say that I do not see the value in moving forward in the area of technology with our schools. Obviously, this is where society is going. It is hard, however, for teachers who have been in the profession for quite a while to keep up with the ever changing pace. As the video stated, we are currently preparing students for jobs that do not currently exist and to face problems that we do not even know are problems yet. This is overwhelming to me, considering that my classroom just became connected to the internet 2 years ago and I have the use of one computer for a class of 25. How am I supposed to incorporate enough of what it appears students need when I do not have the capabilites to do so? In addition to this, I sometimes feel very inadequate when it comes to technology because I do not have enough training in this area. What I have learned, I have taught myself through trial and error or have had to find out from others. How then am I supposed to adequately prepare my students for this ever changing world?
If this is the direction in which we need to move as a country than someone of those who makes the decisions needs to fund some of what needs to be done in order for schools to have the technological equipment they need and for teachers to have the training required. Maybe if some of the decision makers in our own country would actually consult with teachers for some of what needs to be done, we would than all "know a bit more."
2 comments:
Some where in your educational experiences, you learned how to think and problem solve. You stated that you learned how to use technology on your own without formal training. This is the type of skills that we have to model and teach our students so that they may be prepared for the technologies not yet discovered.
Schools seem to lag behind society and business by about 10 years in terms of skills and resources. Maybe this is the imperative to step it up a little!
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