Philosophy

After obtaining thirty years corporate experience as a professional bookkeeper, I decided to change direction and follow my heart to become a teacher. I currently hold a BA from Fairmont State University with a specialization in Elementary Education. I live in Grafton with my husband, Andrew, one very spoiled dog, Chewy and elusive cat, Brie.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Education Needs a Digital-Age Upgrade

I agree with the article written by Virginia Heffernan.  She quotes information according to Cathy N. Davidson, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions, author of the book,"Now You See It".  "The information we are teaching in school has not caught up with the technology available to our students" (Heffernan, 2011). We are stuck in a rut as far as teaching applicible technology methods in the classroom.  However, Ms. Heffernan doesn't give enough information about the type of technology in which we lack, other than blogging and texting.  I am sure there is more ways to engage students other than texting. While texting can break the ice, isn't there more we can and should do as educators?

Around 1995, the Internet became available to the general public, and suddenly any kid with access to a computer can find information from anywhere on the World Wide Web, including a lot of information offered up by amateurs. Some of it is reliable, some ridiculous, and there’s no teacher or librarian in sight to dictate which is which. Google doesn’t yield A, B, C, or D, but all of the above. Kids need to learn the skill of assessing which of thousands of plausible answers to self-defined questions might be credible but we haven’t restructured formal education to this new way of learning. They also need to learn how to contribute reliably (and, of course, safely) online. Currently, we have a mismatch between our institutions of learning and the exciting informal ways kids learn online and, for that matter, all the new ways that, as adults, we all work, communicate, and learn together online -- distributed, process-oriented, collaborative, decentralized, peer-driven, crowdsourced. To put the matter in its most general terms: we’re educating youth for the last century, not the one we live in.(Davidson, 2011)

Bibliographic Citation References:
Heffernan, V. (2011, August 07). education needs a digital-age upgrade. The New York Times,
Davidson, C. (2011). Now you see it. Inside Higher Ed,
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1 comment:

  1. JessicaSeptember 9, 2011 at 11:53 AM

    Sherri, I agree with you. There is so much info out there and children have no guidance to help them decide what is real or reliable and what is pure rubbish. It is our job as teachers, to help guide them in their web surfing and help them distinguish between good and bad. Children can get into too much trouble and there are so many saftey issues out there, we need to be aware of the dangers and protect them.

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