This I Believe: The Education Edition

I created a short podcast about some of my thought on the future of education and teaching.  I have really changed some of the views this summer and I wanted to share the new and improved ME.

DOWNLOAD the podcast here.

Transcript:

Education is in an almost constant state of flux.  As an educator you have a few choices when it comes to dealing with this.  1) You can fight the changes and get battered around like a dingy in stormy seas.  2) You can hold out on taking action until all of the changes come to an end like an ostrich with its head in the sand. 3) You can ride the waves of change and learn to flow with them like a professional surfer on his favorite break.  Personally, riding the waves of change sounds like the best option even though I don’t always take my own advice.

One of the biggest changes happening in education right now is the integration of technology into course work.  This push for integration doesn’t mean that teachers pepper technology in between lessons or during projects.  It means that teachers start using technology at every step of the learning process.  Technology becomes more important to the classroom and students than chalk, pencils, and a college ruled notebooks.

I believe that there is no time to waste for teachers.  The world is changing and we need to change with it.  We are teaching the children of the 21^st Century and they cannot wait for anything including education.  We are preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet and we need to start using some extreme techniques to get them ready.

I believe that now is the time to experiment and take chances.  Countless studies have shown that teaching technologically savvy students with archaic methods and tools is ineffective.  We need to use tools that will meld old concepts of pedagogy and content with new technologies to form something that is greater than the sum of its parts.  Educators also need to look to all of their students for inspiration and not just those students that we deem typical.  By catering to those at the very extremes of your class you will most likely satisfy those in the middle as well while you benefit the entire group.  We way faultier along the way but the most important things are that we remain dynamic and continue to hone our skills.

I believe that educators need to return to the roles of students and learners so they can then be better teachers.  Education is so dynamic that there will always be new things to discover and the best teacher in the coming years will also the best students.  Furthermore, not all learning needs to take place at an expensive university or crowded conference.  The use of online learning platforms and digital personal learning networks can help all different kinds of teachers strive for the next level. 

I believe that the teacher is not an endangered species.  Many people fear that flesh and blood teachers will start dwindling and even go extinct with the rise of the online classroom.  It is definitely true that online courses are becoming more popular but they will never be able to replace the type of intimate and informative instruction that can be delivers in a face-to-face setting by a master teacher.  Online classes will begin taking up larger chunks of each student’s education but there will always be a need for a living and breathing being to sort things out or pick up the pieces when things go wrong. 

With all of these changes whirling around education it can feel like we are all scrambling on unstable ground and the truth is actually much worse.  We are all actually on a wave in a sea and we are falling.  The goal is not to panic because that will certainly lead to death but rather to do our best to fall gracefully riding a perfectly formed board known as technology.

What do you believe about education?