Let me preface this by telling you that I am writing this following an 8-hour day of writing technology curriculum for K-8 schools in our district. Coming up with the negative aspects of technology in education should not be a problem :)
Seriously, I think the hardest thing about this assignment may be paring down to one cohesive piece. My initial reaction to the question is just the challenge of keeping up. This problem is twofold: 1) can a school provide an adequate amount of hardware and/or software, and 2) can a teacher/media specialist keep up with innovations enough to be able to teach the use of these technologies.
Beyond that, the next biggest issue has to be safety/ethical considerations. Regardless of whether a school can keep up with the latest innovations, the fact is many kids are going to be able to experience them at home. The more I think about it, the more it seems like schools really are coming in the back door - having to react to what kids (many kids, anyway) already know rather than teaching them something new. This also causes problems in terms of interest.
In the end - this is a HUGE topic that could go in many different directions - I better get off this blog and figure out a way to get it focused in the next four days.
1 comment:
Oh dear - this comes at a time where it might be hard to not get mired down in cynicism. Writing curriculum can do that to the best of us.
Great thoughts on how students get first impressions on computers from home, which might be difficult to change at school.
I think keeping up with technology is something everyone has felt for awhile, and I for one am tired of it. This constant focus on new prevents us from focusing on more important things like how technology can be best harnessed to assist in the educational process. What sorts of units did you build in for your K-8 curriculum to help with this?
Good luck!
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