Change in the Classroom
Hello and good afternoon, this week we are focusing on how the classroom of today needs to change with the different types of technology. We have tools today that were not available thirty years ago. Heck, if you think back to what was available just ten years ago, the information available and the methods of how to retrieve it are far better than before. We were given an article to read, and a TED talk to watch, which are both ideas about how powerful the internet is and how do we bring it to the classroom to better the education of tomorrow.
The internet is more powerful than most of us realize. How Powerful? Little over a year ago there was a trend that went viral for all the right reasons, and that was the “Ice Bucket Challenge“. If you are not familiar with it, I will explain it briefly. Via Facebook, a person would announce that they were donating $100.00 to ALS, dump a bucket of ice water over their head, then challenge three of their friends to do the same. This internet trend raised over one hundred million dollars and led to the biggest breakthrough in ALS research. The leading research company stated that if it were not for the money raised by the challenge they probably would have never made the break-though. That is how powerful the internet has become. If we can get that power into the classroom, then the future has gotten a bit more exciting.
Both the article and video spoke of using this power for better material and broadening the horizon of the student. The idea that instead of just a textbook, the class revolves around specific topics and evolves with the current information as it is published or documented. Everyone has the power to access the internet and any given time, may it be a phone, tablet or laptop, so why not use this for the classroom? The classroom is more interactive now than ever before so the tools used to teach should be just as interactive.
I am looking forward to see some of these changes to the classroom, and i am excited for the future that lies in front of all of us that are trying to bring a better tomorrow. The planet is in bad place at the moment and we are the future that plans to clean it up. We have all the tools that we need, and it is time to start using them.
Remember everyone to smile, make someone else laugh out loud, and have a fantastic day.
CDR
