Comments on: An Old Prophecy Confirmed? On the Uses and Abuses of Laptop Learning

By: linzel

linzel — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:39:50 +0000

As always I struggle constantly with this. I’m not sure its an excuse being a science teacher is valid but the fact is that strong fundamentals need to be mastered before the next steps are taken. Digital tech is fun but it is more important to stimulate general inquiry and creativity. Techy tools can help with this but the ‘movement’ to redesign school is not about tech, it is about moving away from the lower rungs of bloom’s taxonomy towards the upper levels. The fact is being to able to evaluate and create are the top rungs of the pyramid, originality and creativeness cannot be mandated, only encouraged. Also, most of our creativity is killed off by the current societal structure and an industrial model educational system. Both need to change.
As much as we techy teachers wish, students enjoy computer based software but it doesn’t necessarily stimulate creativity. It needs to be a broad based attack across the curriculum. The walls between subjects need removal. The layers of age abolished. Helping students recognize their individual passions and development of creativity within this passion sphere are what is necessary. This requires convincing principals, superintendents, parents, government.
How do we do this and still have students receive a broad based inter disciplinary study? Answer is I think : individual curricula. Watch the movie ‘accepted’ for the general idea.

James

i’m just spewing.

By: Delicious EdTechTalk | EdTechTalk

Delicious EdTechTalk | EdTechTalk — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 07:40:58 +0000

[...] On the Uses and Abuses of Laptops in Education | Beyond School Sun, 2008-06-01 13:27 Some great comments by students on schools trying to ‘look cool’ by giving out laptops. by dajbelshaw [...]

By: 7A LOTS of information!! | Linked to Learning

7A LOTS of information!! | Linked to Learning — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:18:34 +0000

[...] for example and turn it into just a new way to give the same old assignments. Clay’s blog http://beyond-school.org/2008/05/29/prophecy-revisited/ questions and discusses how teachers have to totally change the view of learning and not just the [...]

By: Mark Hopkin

Mark Hopkin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:01:20 +0000

My son and fellow co-learner gave me this link. I think you know Wade from another time and place. It seems we are always trying to create some magic in our classes. And yes, the interruptions break the spell. I go home some days after class discouraged and wishing I could have just captured that magic moment, or given that critical piece of insight, or taught them at least something useful. And then later, my students tell me how much they got out of that lesson, discussion, or assignment. And it hits me again. The magic is not in what I do or what I create. Its in how my students take my stuff, use it in their own way and construct there own view of the world.

Thinking about your 1:1 laptop world, the magic is not in the technology. The magic is in our students innovation and permutations with those learning tools. As teachers we try to fit the same old things we used to do to fit into these new tools. Of course its not just educators trying to retrofit old lesson plans with new and cool teaching stuff. I’m just old enough to remember the development of TV news broadcasting. When TV news started, it didn’t look anything like today. The TV anchor basically just read the newspaper to the camera. It took a Walter Cronkite or a Edward R. Murrow to redefine the media and find new ways of delivering information that the older media hands could not have even imagined.

And so it goes. I find magic and gold in my students as they wander through the maze of uselessness and find meaning. A J.R.R. Tolkien poem from the Lord of the Rings is my favorite

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

By: Wade Hopkin

Wade Hopkin — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:33:44 +0000

Hmm…While I certainly try to be cognizant of end-of-the year overload, (one of my students likened last week to having her head opened with a can opener) I’m not sure that creating a quality movie project should take any more time than, say, writing a quality essay, or quality study time for a Final.

Still…if poor Younsuk has to face what amounts to four or five iterations of the exact same final project, I can certainly sympathize.
iMovie is easy. It’s probably the first discovery made by a teacher branching into ‘techi-ness’ for the first time(at least it was by me).
It’s great when the class is doing something well, like a lab or activity, to just say, “Everyone! Flip open your macbooks and record this awesome-ness!”

By: What is a blog? - back to basics! « On an e-journey with generation Y

What is a blog? - back to basics! « On an e-journey with generation Y — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:01:27 +0000

[...] an outlet for commentaries and opinions [...]

By: The Writing on the Wall « Steve Macluskie’s Weblog

The Writing on the Wall « Steve Macluskie’s Weblog — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:00:52 +0000

[...] read an excellent Blog post tonight by Clay Burell on the Uses and Abuses of Laptop Learning where he goes on to point out that Blogging can be just another way to hand in homework to the [...]