My two cents

Technology and Education - despite how connected they should be - are often at the most perplexing of odds. “Standard” teaching methods (pen, paper, chalkboards) have been the norm for more years than any of us remember, and on some level could even be called “old world” (gasp). Today’s students, by way of iPods, smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, etc, are becoming increasingly more savvy than their parents - and more so, than their teachers (!). We may not all like it (personally, I love it), but frankly it’s what happening and unless today’s parents, teachers, and educators get in front of the disruption - we stand to lose the attention of our next great crop of thinkers, inventors, and game-changers. So when will ‘education’ will finally catch up? If Apple and other tech behemoths have anything to do with it, hopefully sooner rather than later. Apple, Microsoft, etc. are inviting educators to “executive briefings” at their massive tech campuses not only to understand their needs and qualms as educators of digital-savvy-students, but also to wow them with the ways technology can integrate with the classroom. From iPad based textbooks, to global web conferences with students 5 -10 or 15,000 miles away, it’s a rabbit hole of possibilities and finally - finally! - the principals and superintendants responsible for how these tools make into their classrooms (via their annual budgets) are taking a hard look. In parallel though, teaching approaches and methodologies will also need to transform. Teaching “digitally” is a different way to teach -it takes creativity with ‘content’ (“what you teach”) and requires it be paired with creativity of ‘platform’ (“how you teach”) - pen, paper, chalkboards are not the answer anymore. This task will fall to the teaching schools and apprenticeship models of the trade - many of whom don’t quite understand how to respond just yet. But bringing tech to education will push the envelope faster than before, and the benefits will be enormous. And who better than Apple to push the “old world” education system head first into the world of digital? This could be really good. (Image- Shawn Alholm, a teacher in Little Falls, Minn., handing an iPad to an elementary school student. /New York Times)

Technology and Education - despite how connected they should be - are often at the most perplexing of odds. “Standard” teaching methods (pen, paper, chalkboards) have been the norm for more years than any of us remember, and on some level could even be called “old world” (gasp).

Today’s students, by way of iPods, smartphones, Facebook, Twitter, etc, are becoming increasingly more savvy than their parents - and more so, than their teachers (!). We may not all like it (personally, I love it), but frankly it’s what happening and unless today’s parents, teachers, and educators get in front of the disruption - we stand to lose the attention of our next great crop of thinkers, inventors, and game-changers.

So when will ‘education’ will finally catch up? If Apple and other tech behemoths have anything to do with it, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Apple, Microsoft, etc. are inviting educators to “executive briefings” at their massive tech campuses not only to understand their needs and qualms as educators of digital-savvy-students, but also to wow them with the ways technology can integrate with the classroom. From iPad based textbooks, to global web conferences with students 5 -10 or 15,000 miles away, it’s a rabbit hole of possibilities and finally - finally! - the principals and superintendants responsible for how these tools make into their classrooms (via their annual budgets) are taking a hard look.

In parallel though, teaching approaches and methodologies will also need to transform. Teaching “digitally” is a different way to teach -it takes creativity with ‘content’ (“what you teach”) and requires it be paired with creativity of ‘platform’ (“how you teach”) - pen, paper, chalkboards are not the answer anymore. This task will fall to the teaching schools and apprenticeship models of the trade - many of whom don’t quite understand how to respond just yet.

But bringing tech to education will push the envelope faster than before, and the benefits will be enormous. And who better than Apple to push the “old world” education system head first into the world of digital?

This could be really good.

(Image- Shawn Alholm, a teacher in Little Falls, Minn., handing an iPad to an elementary school student. /New York Times)

6 months ago
  1. nasnyc posted this