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Will Schools of Today Ever Connect with the Playstation Generation of Tomorrow?"What
integration is and what the challenges for schools are in integrating
technology.
Rob Clarke, Classroom Teacher, American Community School, Egham, UK
This article was designed as a springboard for an online think.com discussion for the New Zealand ICT/PD Strategy where I was in the ‘hotseat’ as a discussion leader. Background pre-requisite reading to this discussion: |
The other day I had a really interesting discussion with my class of year 6 children about what people might expect of technology in the future. We were discussing our personal histories and looking back at the inventions and happenings we had witnessed during our lifetimes. The class realised that the internet was one key thing that had really come into the limelight during their 10 or 11 years. The discussion took a turn that showed up the oldies (O no- is that me???): What had we seen during our lives? We talked about television in every home, the personal computer, microwaves, mobile phones, PDA's, computers in schools and things like that.
The conversation turned to what children expect of technology in their personal lives. We discussed the development of the gaming industry and how that has transformed what we (the Playstation generation) expect of technology. What will their children expect and what will that technology look like and feel like? Will it have something that you can touch or not? What other genres of game will evolve and what types of technology will support these when future generations of children demand new levels of entertainment. How does this real life reality fit with schools, and what does this mean for education and people working in education?
This led me to consider, ''wouldn't it be a great dream to be able to expect the same sorts of things of ICT in education as children expect of technology in their personal lives?'
How do we approach the ever-widening chasm between the real world of technology in student's everyday lives, and the rather contrived world where we attempt to 'integrate technology into the learning process and the curriculum'? What does the fact that this gap exists say about education? curriculum? administrators and educational leaders? teachers? What does it say about how we try to make learning happen? What does it say about what schools are and are trying to be? How can professional development even begin to start to address this?
What is the difference between a teacher that LOVES to integrate ICT in a natural and useful way, and those that don't for whatever reason? How do we encourage educators who are hesitant so that they can become confident and start to take risks in their learning (please note that I am not just talking about teachers here!)? Should we have to do this in some cases? What would happen if a person in business refused to learn something that is important to them functioning in their particular field? What things can the school do to support the sort of 'catch up' learning that must occur in all to many cases, so that schools and teachers can transform their practices? Are there too many theorists out there who just talk about what we need to change without addressing how we can start to make changes?
