Marc Prensky wonders when technology and schools in the 21st century will get to do it. Knowing that life will be much different by 2100, do I prefer to live life, especially school life, in edutopia? I wouldn’t want to live in an utopia as in the movie “The Beach” or have the life described in the grade 6 novel “The Giver” we have our kids read in class.
Only until a few months ago I still felt strong and safe teaching the “low tech” style. Working in classes where technology is used more and more, my stage of denial processed gradually into the technology adoption stage of “Dabbling”. Registering for this tech course has done the rest and I’m still amazed how fast I’m adapting and adopting more and more great tech tools for my own teaching. At times I still feel that I am pressing buttons to get through this stage and recognize that writing an essay on a computer (substitution) has nothing to do with “new style” teaching, but using a blog to reflect on this course is and using a blog to allow my students to communicate with me and each other 7/24 is!!! (redefinition). With our students in grade 6 going to one-on –one computers next year, our teaching will be impacted and will force us to adopt more student-centered lessons, especially Problem Based Learning. I agree that simply putting laptops in a classroom isn’t enough, teachers no longer should see themselves in control of the learning process which can be scary for some but by continuing to be willing to learn and I’m happy I stepped on (tech course) board.
