Preparing Students for a Lifetime of Learning
John "J." Regner
Social Studies Educator
E. C. Glass High School
Social Studies Educator
E. C. Glass High School
I believe our society is past the point where the basic recall of information is celebrated. Every one of my students can answer the most obscure question in a matter of seconds and this is made possible by the ubiquity of easy-to-use internet-connected devices. This new scenario asks educators an interesting (and seemingly difficult) question. What do you teach your students when they already know everything?
Well to start off, I don't think that we educators are obsolete. Quite the opposite, technology has now done for us what it previously did for farming and manufacturing. It has automated the part of our job that required the least amount of expertise but the most amount of time. Educators now have the time and expertise to devote to the true goal of teaching: Preparing students for a lifetime of learning.
This new technology excels at teaching students how to remember and understand. However, in the hands of a creative educator, it offers students previously unimaginable opportunities to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Educational technology unleashes the potential of both teachers and students. Programs help teachers create personalized media where there was previously an impersonal textbook or DVD. Testing software creates actionable data where there was previously just a red X on a page. Suites of online apps allow students to show their knowledge in a variety of mediums and share their opinion on every question asked in class. Each of these give instantaneous individualized attention to students and help foster a student's sense of ownership in their education.
Through all of this activity in the classroom, and the facilitation and direction of the educator, the students develop the necessary skills for a world that increasingly does not care what they know only how well they think critically about new information.
Well to start off, I don't think that we educators are obsolete. Quite the opposite, technology has now done for us what it previously did for farming and manufacturing. It has automated the part of our job that required the least amount of expertise but the most amount of time. Educators now have the time and expertise to devote to the true goal of teaching: Preparing students for a lifetime of learning.
This new technology excels at teaching students how to remember and understand. However, in the hands of a creative educator, it offers students previously unimaginable opportunities to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. Educational technology unleashes the potential of both teachers and students. Programs help teachers create personalized media where there was previously an impersonal textbook or DVD. Testing software creates actionable data where there was previously just a red X on a page. Suites of online apps allow students to show their knowledge in a variety of mediums and share their opinion on every question asked in class. Each of these give instantaneous individualized attention to students and help foster a student's sense of ownership in their education.
Through all of this activity in the classroom, and the facilitation and direction of the educator, the students develop the necessary skills for a world that increasingly does not care what they know only how well they think critically about new information.