Much has been said about the pros and cons of using ICT in the classroom - for example, many worry about online safety and health impacts, and some also question whether ICT improves learning. For example, some studies indicate that the introduction of laptop programs in schools does not necessarily improve test scores.
While these are important concerns - of course we want to improve learning - there are other reasons for choosing to use computers in the class, and traditional test scores may not be sufficient benchmarks for evaluating the benefit of introducing ICT in the classroom. Read the rest of this entry »
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I’ve been writing a few things lately about the Internet as a tool for collaborating and connecting minds, both in terms of expanding educational opportunities and in the context of skills our students will need in the future. I’d like to explore another aspect of that for a moment…
I believe networked collaboration tools can serve a crucial role in other ways as well: as collaboration tools for social improvement. During the Long Now conference earlier this year, author Paul Hawken spoke of the emergence of what he calls ‘the largest movement in the world’: countless organizations working in decentralized unison to restore the environment and foster social justice.
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Okay, I’ll really try to keep it shorter this time!
Regular exercise or study is much more effective than intense but irregular bursts of effort (what we call ‘cramming’). Stephen Covey refers to this as “the Law of the Farm”: you can’t cram on the farm - only steady day-to-day work will provide a full harvest. Similarly, ongoing (well considered) ICT use in the day-to-day classroom environment offers more powerful and longer-lasting benefits than one-off, intensive projects.
I like to visualize this as the difference between a point and a line:
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I love programming. I love how you can make something useful from scratch, and in very little time. I love it because it’s logical, and I’ve always been one for logic puzzles. And I especially love it because it’s fun.
As a computer science teacher I want everyone to love it. It’s an uphill battle. People tend to see programming as completely alien, difficult, and frustrating to understand. And especially as something that has very little use in their lives. Why worry about what goes on behind the scenes of a program? You’re just using the program, right?
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