Elements of Educational Technology

Thoughts on Learning

There were two things that struck me while completing this assignment. The first was bravery of my classmates for undertaking this endeavor. The second was the enormity of the challenges that await them.

Most of my classmates are educators. They teach at various levels in the education system and are held accountable for the performance of their students on standardized tests. As I mentioned in my piece, these standards have been fairly well defined within the realm of a task oriented space. When learning moves to a problem solving space, the standards will change, and like all change the process will be challenging and the outcomes unknown. To be held accountable for a series of unknown outcomes speaks volumes for their love of their profession and of their students. Teaching is about to become far more difficult and less measurable. I admire their bravery for getting ahead of the curve by enrolling in this program.

The challenges that await them are twofold. First, they will need to adopt their methods to meet these new standards while at the same time teaching a generation raised on You Tube videos. The era of the 50 minute teaching unit has passed. It has been replaced by short bursts of learning with continuous review to reinforce the previous lessons. As the paper mentions, new methods of teaching will be more concerned with problem solving using all the tools that are available to modern students. Problem solving is much more difficult to present than simple facts.

The second challenge will be the ability to use the tools themselves. A number of education systems are modernizing their classrooms. Teachers will be required to not only learn new methods of presentation but also new presentation tools. A smart board is an outstanding tool, but it takes real knowledge to use it as more than a multi-colored blackboard. A few years ago, a Power Point presentation would elicit the oohs and ahs of the entire class. Now, these presentations are commonplace and students are looking for interactivity and animation. Creating such presentations require detailed knowledge of complex, ever changing programs. Simply put, teachers will be required to learn at a frantic pace just to keep up with emerging technology. The technological revolution has forced educators into a role of lifelong learning.

All of this serves to underscore the importance of programs such as the Educational Technology Master’s degree. These programs advance the technological education of the educators which in turn improves the quality of education for future students.