SCHOOLS IN NEED OF NEW GENERATION
TEACHERS
“Today’s digital kids think of
ICT as something akin to oxygen; they expect it, it’s what they breathe and
it’s how they live.” —Learning in a Digital Age, John Seely Brown
The teachers deal with 21st
century learners who are the first generation literally born with the hand held
smart devices, i-pads and laptops. These students do not marvel at technology,
it is like a way of life for them; they accept it, adapt to it and use it
effectively. This generation of learners comes into schools where the teachers
are marveling at the technology boom and are not able to keep the pace with it.
These teachers are struggling to keep the students engaged in the confinement
of the classrooms.
They may resist learning about
new technology. Some educators feel intimidated by students’ knowledge of tools
they do not understand. Most of them work in environments where professional
development is under emphasized and undervalued by their school leaders. Many
teachers spend less than 8-10 hours of training each year, when so few hours
are dedicated to training, most of the teachers do not experience a lot of
improvement in their teaching. They need support and planning time. The number
one reason teachers experience dissatisfaction with their jobs, causing them to
either leave their profession or transfer to other schools, is lack of effective
leadership, lack of professional development and lack of planning time.
The teaching learning
requirements are evolving. Technology serves as an extraordinary tool to shape
and enhance the learning environment. Along with equipment, digital literacy
skills are absolutely necessary to ensure the technology is used to supplement
high quality instructional methods. Great teachers using digital technology
will be the most powerful educators in the 21st century. Technology requires
teachers to play more of a facilitator role—rather than a more directive or
authoritative one. This new role conflicts with traditional teaching methods
and requires teachers to step back and allow learning to happen without their
hands-on direction.
To effectively engage and teach 21st
century students, the curricula must be designed to promote a collaborative
learner-centered environment to which students will relate and respond. As ICT
is integrated into classrooms, and embedded in the instructional and assessment
strategies educators must have continuous professional development to enhance
their competencies and skills.
Hey, this is great! I'm a high school student in an Indian school and I really understand the need for ICT- based learning. Internet has become extremely important in a student's life. All our concepts are not cleared without visual-based learning. Nowadays, textual knowledge is not sufficient enough to satisfy the young and curious mind of the youth. We do require knowledge from all aspects in the short span of time that we are provided , where we must do a lot of things. At this day and age, we do not have enough time to go through different books for further knowledge. Hence, the use of easier and faster mode of learning is highly required, which can be provided by the use of technology. My school has recently introduced e-learning which has proved very fruitful.
ReplyDeleteIfath( guess you remember me)
Hello Ifath , How you doing? e- Learning is really the way forward. Other than the interactive boards in the class you can create google docs, your own subject or project blog to venture into a whole new domain. You can also suggest to your teachers to assign you guys group assignments which you then will present to each other in the class and the teacher can then evaluate all presentations. Alternatively the teacher can ask the peer groups to assess each other as per the checklist/ Rubric provided by the teacher.
DeleteLet me know hw is going? If you come across some better ideas please share the same.. It will be a great learning experience.
Good Luck.
Today's fast track world of generationext, we educationists have to meet the challenges and demands made by them. Keeping abreast with latest trends, styles of leadership need to change as per the requirements.Many educationists feel 3 way of learning process that is KAV....KINESTHETIC, AURAL, VISUAL....21st century youth need 21st type of educational trends which will help in collaborative learning strategies and skills to be more aware of developmental process in the community and society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteHey Tasneem,
DeleteHow are you doing? There are six more MIs to look for as we tackle this generation next. We have to enhance their academic curiosity and expose them to the digitized world as this is what they are comfortable with, it is amazing to see how the young toddlers do not know how to say their names properly but are savvy with ipads, ipods and smart phones.
For this generation we need to design our curriculum in such a way that they are engaged meaningfully and they are challenged enough to develop the academic rigour. Using ICT will enhance not only their academic skills but also the help them collaborate with peers within and outside the school.
Could you share how you incorporate ICT in your classrooms and how do you incorporate various MIs and DIs in your lessons? What are the provisions made for the same in your curriculum?
Poonam
In most Indian scenario of more than 40 students in one classroom, ICT can be the easiest solution towards differentiated teaching learning.
ReplyDeleteAs an ICT integrator I firmly believe what you said above. ICT integration is just not about teaching learners using audio visual media but much more than that. Yes, I absolutely agree that we need teachers with progressive mindset and would love to see schools daring enough to give the aptitude more importance than qualification during recruitment.