A 21st Century Classroom?

As society and the nature of information change, our schools will be faced with change also. What will a 21st century classroom look like?

Is Gutenberg dead?

Since Johannes Gutenberg invented the first modern mass printing machine and printed his first bible circa 1450, the business of publishing books has led to improvements in education and society. In the last century, textbooks were the authority in a classroom.

Now, as new digital forms of information become more prevelant, what role does the traditional textbook play in our schools? Will they continue to play a role, or is the image of a paper-based text (or even a novel?) simply a romantic notion that is quickly becoming outdated?

What might replace the text? How might teachers manage this change?

To ban - or not to ban...

The Internet is a valuable resource, but it also has many pitfalls.

As an example, many students are distracted by social networking sites, while others use these sites to teach and learn.

This provides a problem for schools – to balance the positives and negatives.

Just what types of websites should be blocked within schools?

Forcing Change?

The time demands on teachers are immense. Lesson-plans, assessment and parent communication are only a few of the expectations that eat up a lot of hours.

However teachers, more than many professions, are expected to also continually participate in professional development activities. These ar increasingly becoming focused on using technology as a tool in their classrooms.

Understandably, many are resistant to this demand, be it for reasons of uncertainty with personal proficiency or doubts as to its effectiveness in the learning process. However, it is becoming apparent that students and administrators are expecting teachers to utilize technology in their teaching and learning.

What should be expected from teachers? Is it possible to be a good teacher without using technology? Is there a difference between good and effective? Can a teacher serve his/her students in the best way possible without using technology, or do the realities of the culture of the 21st century student demand that teachers accept and utilize technology in their teaching and learning environments?

Welcome to ED 4862

Welcome to the second course - ED 4862. During this course we will focus on the use of web-based resources as learning tools in our classrooms, with a specific focus on what are often called Web 2.0 tools.

This discussion blog forms an important part of the study. Your participation is encouraged (yes...it is part of your mark!!).

I hope you enjoy this enterprise.

POSTS BELOW

Posts below this date form part of the discussion for the prerequesite course, ED 3862 (Information and Communications Technology I).