Reaction to videos and 21st. Century Article

          I had seen one of the videos before, and the tips page felt kind of familiar as well. I loved it that the video produced at KSU was filmed in a classroom that I attended at KSU back in the ’80’s.  Talk about evidence that something is out of date!

          I feel pretty self-aware, and I know that my opinions about educational technology are skewed by my age and my own inexperience and lack of confidence in using it.  However, I am alarmed when the answer, to some  proponents  of technology use, suggest that all old methods of education, especially regarding reading, lecturing and note-taking, be thrown out because we now have computers and social media at our disposal.  Two things about this notion disturb me.

          One of those is that I think students can and do learn with old fashioned (maybe call them tried and true?) methods.  The things that ultimately lead students into effective learning are relationships and motivation.  One of our videos showed a student with a sign which said that “my neighbor never comes to class.”  How many undergrads have been that student before?  In my opinion, more mature students will all flourish and learn about as well as they can when they have a good reason to; when it’s relevant to them.  When students get interested and motivated, they will learn in all sorts of different environments.  If a motivated student has a dynamic teacher with a chalkboard and a list of reading assignments, then they can do just fine. Now, just because I see value in a traditional lecture, notes, reading and discussion format, doesn’t mean that I’m against enhancing it with technology.  According to some of the facts and figures about today’s learner, it would be ridiculous not to take their technology use into account when designing an educational program.

          The second problem to me is that we have a lot of observations about the way students engage with technology today, but not a great many answers as to how to make a change to the 19^th. Century way we put students through the factory model of education.  OK, so it’s backwards and outdated to pack students into classrooms and force them to all learn in the same way, but who’s got the foolproof plan that we can adopt to get rid of all the old ways, both good and bad?  I’ve seen some great ideas, and I know I will in this class, but I have yet to see the “missing link” that tells me it’s time to fully reject the way that I learned.