It is very obvious technology is rapidly evolving. It is more important now more than ever that professors and teachers incorporate and integrate technology into their instruction. Students are driven by modern technology and it is important education is up to par with the learning capabilities of their students. Three videos bring this concern to the forefront: "Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?," "A Vision of Students Today," and "The Machine is Us/ing Us." All three videos imply the importance of design instruction and integrating technology in instruction.
In "Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?" (TEDtalksdirector, 2007), Sir Ken Robinson discusses the fact that "children have extraordinary capacity for innovation" (2007, 2:49). In the video he states that "all children have tremendous talents, and we squander them pretty ruthlessly" (3:10). He emphasizes the fact that "creativity is as important now as literacy" (3:21). The reason being is because technology is taking us on a path where we no longer can ignore how important creativity is in education. We must nurture our children's creativity and imagination early on. Children are not afraid of being wrong or making mistakes. But throughout their young lives society literally squanders their creativity and makes them afraid to make mistakes. Education now makes children afraid to explore their creative sides and to be innovative. Sir Ken Robinson also emphasizes the fact, "if you're not prepared to be wrong, you won't come up with anything original" (5:55). Our society "stigmatizes mistakes" (6:05) and in doing so we prevent possible Picassos and Gillian Lynnes to blossom into wonderful advocates of the human imagination. It is possible to integrate technology into instruction by way of the internet. Students can create their own blog accounts and personalize them. They can also share pictures, events and video on their blogs. With this capability students are able to read and interact with other students via blogs while still allowing for their creativity to flourish.
In "A Vision of Students Today" (mwesch, 2007), Michael Wesch goes as far as to use his students to convey a message. The message is that of students today and "what they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes and dreams and what their lives will be like and what kind of changes will they experience in their lifetime" (2007). The video begins with a camera panning an empty classroom (0:25). Statements and questions are scribbled on the back of chairs and on the walls (0:32) begging the viewer to think about the importance of the messages. The video poses the question, "what is it like to be a student today?" (1:10). A document is edited by 200 students 367 to answer the question (1:21). Students can be seeing holding up a simple sheets of paper with the answers to the survey. The vast majority of the answers have to do with technology and how students are using it more for pleasure than education in the classroom. Many of the students bring laptops to class, but they hardly use the laptops for their lectures. Some are seen IMing or chatting online. Others surfing Facebook. The most impactful message was the one the professor wrote at the end on a chalkboard. He poses the question, "writing on a chalkboard….what's missing? (4:18). Off to the side is a list of things missing, such as photos, videos, animations and networking (4:18). The public education system needs to start taking advantage of technology more. Students can now create their own Twitter accounts to stay connected with the world around them. YouTube is a great creative outlet for students. We now have the capability to record and edit our own videos and share them with millions on the web. Skype is another way of communicating with students in the same state or across the world. Podcasts are also available. These are the things missing from a traditional classroom setting.
In the last video, "Web 2.0…The Machine is Us/ing Us" (mwesch, 2007), it opens with a message being handwritten, and erased, and then handwritten again, and then erased one more time (2007, 0:23). The video then craftily transitions to a word document and a message that is typed out and then changed by merely being highlighted and typed over. Now, instead of having to write out notes students can do so by typing them out on their laptop. The video goes on to show how in the past html format had to be typed out making it difficult to communicate on the internet (1:17). Now that we have digital text we no longer have worry about long drawn out html codes that we have to create (1:19). For example, we can simply click on a link to read the news online or go to a new web page. This technology allows us to "describe the content, not the form so the data can be exported free of formatting constraints" (1:51). A simple click of the button and we are able to upload a blog, change a status on twitter or publish our very own website. We can also use sites, such as Flickr, to upload and share pictures to family or use Google Earth to map where a city is on the other side of the world. All of these things are now available to us and we should be utilizing them and integrating them into education today.
We no longer live in an Industrialized Era. We live in an era surrounded by technology. The message of all three videos is education must evolve and incorporate technology into their design instruction. If they don't they will not be able to support or prepare our children for an uncertain future. Our children are evolving much faster than past generations and we need to make sure we can keep up with them. Supporting their creativity and innovative minds through technology is one of the first steps for preparing them for what lies ahead.
Works Cited
mwesh. (2007). A Vision of Students Today. [video] Retrieved July 17, 2010,
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=player_embedded
mwesh. (2007). Web 2.0…The Machine is Us/ing Us. [video] Retrieved July 17, 2010, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&feature=player_embedded
TEDtalksDirector. (2007). Do schools kill Creativity? [video]. Retrieved July 17, 2010, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY&feature=player_embedded
I agree with what you posted about something being missing when a chalkboard is the only thing being used in a classroom. Most college classrooms have a projector and a computer. The professor could easily add in video and audio clips, power point presentations, and information from websites to name a few things. It would make the class more interesting and also keep student's attention.
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