Lina Valery_BP2_2009101_Anti-Teaching

I’m working on my forth master’s class in the Education Media Design and Technology program at Full Sail University. Through each class I have been learning new ways to improve my teaching practices and I have also become more aware of the compelling need to incorporate technology into every educational endeavor.

Learning is a 24/7 – 360 degree state of being. What does this mean? To me this means that learning is not exclusive or limited to the buildings and classrooms that hold these students. The key to education is to motivate students to learn from everywhere and at all times. As educators we can begin to motivate students by speaking their language, addressing their personal intelligences, creating a positive learning environment, and by giving them the real world tools to turn old world facts into useful and interesting material. In his article, Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance, Michael Wesch writes “create a learning environment more conducive to producing the types of questions that create life long learners rather thank savvy test-takers.”

Howard Gardner’s concept of Multiple Intelligences cannot be ignored. Learners have clear strengths and weaknesses when it comes to assimilating information. As teachers we need to present information in a way that will be captured by all learners. The traditional form of education, lecture and test, will not do this. Technology is a time and cost effective way to address these diverse learners effectively and the use of Personal Learning Environments (PLE) can give students a real world learning experience. Students can now take the material they are being taught and research ways to relate it to their own lives and interests. For example, in a blog post by Dr. Holly Ludgate EMDT program director, there is a video that presents ways to give literary classics new life; through technology, students are gaining interest in reading the classics!

While I don’t think technology in itself is enough and I am not a proponent of exclusive virtual leaning, especially not in elementary school. I do think that incorporating technology in every subject should be mandatory. We cannot continue to teach students with traditional methods when the world they will be working in will be anything but traditional.

21st century schools need to incorporate multiple intelligences, brain-based learning, 2.0 tools, blogging, motivators for learning beyond the classroom walls, diverse testing methods, and teachers should be trained on how to use course management systems as well as be allowed to implement these with their students. With the influx of so many educational exclusive sites, greater safeguards are becoming more prominent within these systems.