I Gotta Wear Shades
Image by Daryl Cook
The future of education is bright! I am so excited about the possibilities and opportunities in education. All of it makes me wish I was still a kid and could start all over again…Wait! I can’t start all over, but even I can have a new beginning. Enrolling in COETAIL was really the tipping point for me. I was already intrigued by the potential of technology integration and how it might enhance learning, but I was intimidated. I felt quite inadequate. But now I think about how far I have come in my learning journey in just a year, and I feel empowered. Being a life-long learner is made easier by technology.
Image by fundz4schlz.com
I am thankful that I started this journey in what Jeff Utecht calls a “pause”. Integrating technology, choosing appropriate digital or tech resources, and implementing flipped classroom is really a lot to tackle in one year. This pause allows me to refine my evaluation skills. Technology is the ultimate in school supplies. Do I need a mechanical pencil or Sharpie? I understand that it’s not important to know every tech bell and whistle, but to find the right one for enriching my classroom. This is foundation building time. I can figure out how best to go forward and be ready for the next new thing. Time for learning how to utilize the technology as a tool.
Image from flickr.com
The other really exciting benefit of technology is that it is becoming the education equalizer. Education should be a basic human right. Technology can take us a step closer to that ideal. If we give kids access to information through technology, the possibilities truly are endless. Through research like Sugata Mitra’s, it is inspiring to see what even the poorest kids are capable of with just this opportunity. These kids in India were able to tackle molecular biology! they might not understand it completely, but that they could talk about it and answer 50% of the questions correctly! Wow! That’s probably better than a lot of college students taking the class on a beautiful campus and paying thousands of dollars for the privilege.
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are also helping to level the educational playing field. That anyone with access to technology can take college level courses is awesome! And, they’re free! A kid in rural Arkansas or Vietnam can take a course at MIT or Stanford. Even if they don’t get official college credit, the knowledge and skills are empowering. Even my Science department colleagues and I all signed up for a MOOC about the Next Generation Science Standards. In perusing the different courses, I saw so many I would like to take. Talk about opening doors!
Image by bucha
nonchl
aquan
Where will I be in 5, 10, or 15 years from now? I really don’t have any idea where, but I do know that if I’m still able to teach, I will be learning and growing as much or more than my students. This past year has taught me a lot about myself as an educator and that I am very capable of learning new concepts and skills. I will still be trying new innovations. I will be challenging myself to be better, know more, and keep trying. I may not be in a traditional brick and mortar school, but I’m OK with that too. I really believe in the blended learning education model. I may be doing flipped classroom, or I may be teaching in an Enriched Virtual Model “classroom”. Technology really blows the walls down. The future of education is bright, and so is my future as an educator. I can hardly wait!