"But here's the vision. Within five or 10 years, the paper textbook and mimeographed worksheet will be dead. Classroom exercises and homework---text, audio, video, games---will have shifted entirely to the iPad or equivalent. And adaptive learning will help each user find the exact right piece of content needed, in the exact right format, at the exact right time, based on previous patterns of use."
Too good to be true? Or, not?
In Maine, many of us are exploring the concept of mass customized learning (MCL), introduced to us by Bea McGarvey and Charles Schwahn in their book, Inevitable. This reality is closer than you think! In Anya Kamenetz's article, "What If You Could Learn Everything?" (published 7.10.2013 by Newsweek) she shares the fascinating story of Jose Ferreira, the CEO of Knewton, an education technology startup that is bringing the transformative capacity of digital technology to the classroom. When you read the article, make sure that you read it to the end. There you will find that essential question: "And, as must be asked of all things tech, can it complement the human elements of education?"
What do you think? Eager to hear!
Love your blog! I am looking forward to reading future posts on a regular basis. Very interesting article on Knewton; thanks for bringing it to my attention.
ReplyDeleteAs for what I think, I would love to explore this further in my classroom. However, it seems that it will be a question of time & money before something like this is implemented in any classroom. I know that to get this kind of mass customized learning started, a mind shift is first needed, then the time to explore content to let teachers find appropriate resources to which to guide student exploration. I would like to embrace the idea that students would productively find appropriate content on their own, but my experience has been that high school learners need to be guided into internet productivity! I do feel that a teacher's role will become more and more that of a guide to help students find resources, rather than to be a resource.
I would also like to explore further the "gamification" of education. I have long wondered how I could make my classes as interesting as a video game. I know research has been done in this area (and content/format developed at Boise State!); perhaps a future blog post on this topic?
I hope your blog gets widespread attention of educators!
Sincerely,
Robin Nappi
I think this kind of technology could be truly transformative, individualizing instruction for ALL students. My question is if this is the model for instruction in the future, what is the role of the classroom teacher in this future???
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the very same thing...what does the role of the teacher look like in this futuristic model?
DeleteAll the more reason for the importance of the arts and vocational learning ( industrial arts), since the only format will not include what we know the brain needs, hands on learning with a creative process. I do know students who look forward to holding the paint brush, pottery clay and tools and other manipulatives. We must not assume that all learning can be processed on a computer. This increases the failure factor for students. We have been stressing differentiation and now we need to implement it. We have a complicated brain with many different needs for learning.
ReplyDeleteWhile technology certainly has a place in education, I would hate to think that we evolve to an online studies forum where the teacher is removed from the picture. Technology may be the way of the future but the impact that a teacher can have on a student can't be replaced by a device. The interaction between a teacher and their students, as well as students with others students, is essential if we want our young people to develop social skills necessary to compete in the world. Technology has it's place and is an essential part of the educational learning process but should be a supplement not the entire program.
ReplyDeleteBased on what we can predict about the instructional role of teachers in the future, we can only imagine how it will evolve. My guess is that teachers will move from being dispensers of information and "sages on the stage" to more of a "coach on the side " and a facilitator of learning. They will need to have a deeper understanding of human development, emotional intelligence, and movitational practices. They will need the ability to connect with a wide variety of learners. See the above post. That's one of reasons Brene Brown's message about leadership and authentic connections made so much sense to me.
DeleteSo, how do we get ready for this new instructional role? Eager to hear your thoughts!