Wednesday, July 21, 2010
21st Century Education in New Brunswick, Canada
This You-tube clip supports Kearsley & Shneiderman (1999) Engagement Theory which is a model for learning in a technology based environment. Its aim is to engage learners in a collaborative, project-based, non-academic focused setting to achieve creative, meaningful and authentic learning gains.
This clip draws out some key elements to consider for futures orientated learning managers. Such as "the future is accelerating, education is about adapting to a changing world, how and what we teach has to change as well". Is this happening in Australian schools? Predominantly teachers in today's schools are Digital Immigrants who are attempting to make learning interesting and engaging for students who are Digital Natives (Prensky, 2001). Without up-skilling these teachers will never assist their students to reach their full potential as they must "keep pace and stay relevant to keep students engaged" (New Brunswick Department of Education, 2010).
The Department of Education, New Brunswick (2010), also rasises some interesting statistics when he stats that:
"Learning must:
1. Be student centered and personalized
2. Provide experiences and opportunities to apply knowledge.
3. Be accessible 24/7, anywhere, anytime
Students will use technology to:
1. Access Content
2. Demonstrate mastry of work
3. Publish their work
4. Maintain a portfolio of their skills
5. Interact with others."
However the question must be raised: is this happening in Australian schools? Is there enough support and funding for resources in Queensland schools to allow students to take part in this educational journey? Are teachers building their skills to embrace these new technologies? Are you seeing it happen in your school? What are you going to do about it?
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The Essential Learnings framework outlines topics to be taught, and that attention needs to be given to collaborative work, and using ICTs (QSA, 2010). However, although the topics and ways of working are outlined, the teachers ultimately have flexibility in how they teach the content. This is a very scary prospect, considering how many teachers I have observed that are unwilling to learn new ways of teaching!
ReplyDeleteIn my school, the teachers’ inexperience with ICTs mean she fears technology, and it is hardly ever used. When it is used, the technology is used to teach content superficially (using the smart board purely as a white board, or for watching movies on a topic). Technologically illiterate teachers need support to develop appropriate tools to teach ever-expanding learning areas like technology and ”the opportunity to keep abreast of new developments in background knowledge, pedagogical strategies, and technology” (Queensland Newspapers, 2010). If teachers are engaged in technology, they can then engage their students.
Thanks for answering my question Aly,
ReplyDeleteI really like the part of your comment that says "if teachers are engaged in technology, then they can engage their students". This really brings-home the importance of immersing ourselves in technology as futures orientated learning managers. Hopefully we can embrace technology in our classrooms and embed it into all KLAs.