I just viewed an interesting webinar presentation: Future Technology Trends In Education by Emily Atkinson of Memorial University. I was impressed by the content as well as the presentation. According to her I am part of the net generation (anyone born in the 80's and 90's). I believe I am also. Internet that's a necessity in 2012, students live with it and expect to use it. I think the schools should make teachers use technology in some form during their lessons. I learned about "open courseware" There are free higher education courses available online. Will this increase in the future?? I think so. Students have to learn to be more independent. That is a good thing. Open courseware is available to everyone. I think open courseware can be beneficial for students trying to figure out what direction they want to go for a career. You can try different things and see what you like.
Another topic the webinar touched base on are "E-Books". I know the benefits (less money, e-co friendly, quicker to access etc.) and I do believe they will be common in future schools. However I still like to hold a book when I read. If it is for a class I don't mind e-books but for personal reading I like a regular book or magazine. The same for a newspaper. Its free online but it isn't the same as holding a newspaper. The really cool part of an e-book is some can update themselves. Textbooks get old and out of date. There is alot of money to save also!!!! Poorer schools will benefit greatly. I look forward to being able to use the technology that is available. I'm up to date with technology in my personal life, I couldn't imagine not using it for my job. The demand for technology based education will be huge, the students of this generation expect it to be available at school like it is at home
This video below is an eye opener. I am glad I know how to handle technology and want to learn more about it. It seems like anyone who doesn't embrace it will be past by. The message in the video that had an impact on me was when it said the "We are preparing students for jobs that don't even exist yet". That's a deep message. Teachers have to get their students ready. We don't live in the past so we shouldn't teach like we did in the past.
Zach, I agree with you, I too like to hold a book in my hand for personal use. However if for a class I don't mind ebooks. The world of technology is changing so fast and the challenge for us teachers is to ensure we keep up with the times or it will pass us by. This will be a huge disservice to us and our students.The first time I heard that saying "we are teaching our students to prepare for jobs that don't even exist" was a year ago in Dr. Smirnova's class,and it scared me. It made me realize we really have our work cut out for us and we can NEVER stop learning if we want to be the most effective teacher we can be. I really liked this post =) great job!!!
Zach, I agree with you, I too like to hold a book in my hand for personal use. However if for a class I don't mind ebooks. The world of technology is changing so fast and the challenge for us teachers is to ensure we keep up with the times or it will pass us by. This will be a huge disservice to us and our students.The first time I heard that saying "we are teaching our students to prepare for jobs that don't even exist" was a year ago in Dr. Smirnova's class,and it scared me. It made me realize we really have our work cut out for us and we can NEVER stop learning if we want to be the most effective teacher we can be. I really liked this post =) great job!!!
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