Get it? Students Learning, Naturally. AND Students, Learning Naturally.
Rationale:
The Accenture Technology Vision 2013 site emphasizes seven trends that should be shaping a digital business for the future. We can easily substitute students for employees and schools for businesses throughout their site and apply it to education.
"Accenture identifies the top emerging technology trends that will transform businesses (education) in the next three to five years. With technology now intertwined with every aspect of business (education), your digital efforts will be the key to how you innovate and expand". The word intertwined really struck a cord with me as did the following: "for collaboration to work better, employees (students) don't need more social channels - they need the work itself to be more social." (ATV, 2013) Social, like the kids already are.
I liked this image as well, however, I saw search engine optimization overlapping both school and work on the time line.
Robinson (2011) mentions "Technology, as was once said, is not technology if it happened before you were born"so it follows technology to our students is "as natural as the air they breathe". Therefore we need to quit focussing on 'technology the tool', it's here, it's part of life. Don't put it in it's own box.
It should influence and be at the core of education. Our focus should be on the purpose of the tools not the tools itself.
Robinson also said, "When people find their medium, they discover their real creative strengths and come into their own." Sounds pretty natural to me.
Attainability:
Is my vision reasonable? I think so. It's time for change, technology is here, let's use it to empower and educate.
Is my vision attainable? Let's say to get from where we are to where I see us going it will be like turning a large cargo ship. Slow and steady. It is a big leap from here to there. We can start with the some of the trends identified by Accenture as we slowly blur the line between technology as a tool and technology for a purpose including:
Digital Relationships - move beyond transactions to digital relationships
Collaboration - make work more social
Accenture Technology Vision 2013. Retrieved from http://www.accenture.com/microsites/it-trends-innovations-2013/Pages/home.aspx
Robinson, K. (2011). Out of Our Minds. Kindle Reader.
Robinson also said, "When people find their medium, they discover their real creative strengths and come into their own." Sounds pretty natural to me.
Attainability:
Is my vision reasonable? I think so. It's time for change, technology is here, let's use it to empower and educate.
Is my vision attainable? Let's say to get from where we are to where I see us going it will be like turning a large cargo ship. Slow and steady. It is a big leap from here to there. We can start with the some of the trends identified by Accenture as we slowly blur the line between technology as a tool and technology for a purpose including:
Digital Relationships - move beyond transactions to digital relationships
Collaboration - make work more social
Accenture Technology Vision 2013. Retrieved from http://www.accenture.com/microsites/it-trends-innovations-2013/Pages/home.aspx
Robinson, K. (2011). Out of Our Minds. Kindle Reader.
Dang! I had a comment with lots of wit, candor, and zest and when I went to submit it the carefully crafted words tumbled headlong into the bitbucket.
ReplyDeleteWhat I basically said was "+1", and "Me too!" because I think it's really important to focus on what we want the tools to be able to DO and not on the individual tools themselves. Others disagree, often citing the need to know specific versions of Microsoft Office to be competitive in the workplace. To them I say: "but by the time these kids get out of college / trade school / surfing Microsoft will probably do away with that idiotic ribbon menu system and go to something even stranger! What use is teaching specific versions of programs at the K-12 level?". What is transferrable though would be the skill of writing, editing, collaborating, publishing stuff online.
Yeah, we are training our students for jobs that don't even exist yet we focus on a specific tool that likely won't exist either? Seems odd. Agreed, it's the transferable skills that matter.
DeleteI also think we focus too much on the tool. "Get all students and iPad and learning will happen!" GAH! Why narrow the learning so much?
ReplyDeleteAlso, social learning is interesting because groups are much smarter than one individual. I wish I could remember what I was listening to, I think it was NPR where a guy was talking about the power of a group over individuals and how it relates to insect colonies. It was very interesting.
Interesting about the insect colonies. I suppose there is still the other side of group work to be aware of which is 'groupthink' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink). Groups are great and have potential to be smarter than an individual however there is also potential for members to feel the urge to conform. Something I could see students succumbing too.
DeleteI completely agree with you! Currently there is far too much emphasis on the tools themselves. I've been guilty of this! But it's forcing a box that shouldn't be there in the first place! I really appreciate your image of turning a cargo ship-- that's much more hopeful than my current outlook, and I need to change my perspective. It is a slow progress. But it's a vision worth pursuing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, at least it's easier to think of it as a slow process. Some days I wonder if it would be best to just wipe the slate completely clean and start anew. Not logistically possible I know, but fun to think about :)
ReplyDelete