Did You Know? 3.0
When I first watched "Did You Know? 3.0" by Karl Fisch, I was a bit overwhelmed by the numbers and statistics it provided. The movie included such information as the amount of children born in certain countries like China or America, the creation of new jobs to accommodate constantly-developing technology, the popularity of social networking, and even the increase in number of internet devices.
What I gathered from watching this movie is that the rapid development of technology is having a direct and extremely influential impact on our lives. The human race seems to want results to appear faster and always have access to technology to gather the results. The final question in the movie stated "So what does all this mean?". I think it means we have made tremendous strides in technology but it seems to be growing at a faster rate than with what humans can keep up.
Mr. Winkle Wakes
The message I got from "Mr. Winkle Wakes" by Matthew Needleman was that schools are not keeping up with advancement in technology. Mr. Winkle slept for 100 years and when he awoke, he first went to two places in the city: a business and a hospital. There were dramatic changes to both places just by their use of technology. Mr. Winkle noticed that people could communicate through computers and that machines could keep people alive.
When Mr. Winkle went to the school, he noticed not much had changed in 100 years, and there was one computer that looked like it never got used. This should be a wake-up call to educators because it leads to the question of "How will the students in the schools become prepared for such jobs in a business atmosphere or in a hospital if they are not taught to use technology?" I think this movie makes a good point and that educators should first familiarize themselves with technology so that their students will be successful and prepared for what they will use in their future.
The Importance of Creativity
Watching this video of Sir Ken Robinson was a breath of fresh air to me. I am a music education major and fully support the permitting of creativity in schools. I believe that allowing creativity would be nothing but positive and productive to a student's development.
Sir Ken Robinson said some things that I would like to quote, because I think not only are they beautifully stated, but absolutely true: "Creativity is just as important as literacy.", "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original", and "We are creating academic inflation". The last of the quotes has been on my mind quite a bit lately because I am nearing graduation and must begin a job search soon. The amount of people obtaining undergraduate degrees is so great that the worth of the degrees themselves are decreasing. It is becoming more difficult to find a job because of the amount of technically qualified people. I think it's wonderful so many people are taking the initiative to go to college, but I feel because of the lack of creativity allowed in schools, it narrows down what people can do in life.
Digital Smarts
This video was about an Information Technology teacher in Georgia and her approach to teaching technology to her students. Her goals were to have students learn how to learn, collaborate effectively, and be comfortable with any technology. Ms. Vicki Davis incorporated terms in to her teachings for students to look-up the meaning if necessary. I think this is important because it gives them motivation to figure out what they don't know.
I think that Ms. Davis' method of teaching is very effective. I noticed in the video, she had students in front of the class teaching other students what they learned and how to figure out certain aspects of the technology. Not only is this helpful for the communication skills of students, but explaining things to others often times helps the student understand the concept more themselves.
I also really like that Mr. Davis has her class connected to other students around the world. She started the "Flat Classroom Project" which allows students to interact and share ideas on a global level.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The concept of academic inflation stuck in my mind as well. It really speaks to the underlying issue that Ken Robinson was talking about, the lack of balance in education. I agree completely that creativity is just as important as literacy in fact, I feel that it is a necessary ingredient for true literacy to take place. I am an amateur musician myself and I would be lost without that outlet in my life.
ReplyDelete