Week 6 Video Reading

Changing Times

It's pretty ironic that we finish up this week with a summary of the ten "Big Shifts" in the classroom. Will Richardson's article neatly summarized the big changes in education but it was something that had particular meaning for me already. As a student again after many years, I was struck by how different this learning experience was for me this time around. Certainly the technology has exploded since I was last in class (getting an electric typewriter was huge, never mind a laptop!) but it was more than that. One thing that has struck me during the past few weeks is how few notes I have taken. Though we covered vast quantities of material in all four classes, very little of has through the traditional lecture-based classrooms. Also, the content does not come from one textbook or one instructor but instead from myriad sources that seem to come from many different perspectives. Instead of tests and papers, we engage in project learning, most of it group orientated. And, yes, technology leads the way across the whole process.

Richardson's Big Shifts are evident in our other classes as well. In Learning Theories, for example, we've talked a lot about integrating hands-on, technology-driven teaching practices as the best way to reach our multi-tasking, high tech youth. The idea of student-centered instead of teacher-centered was also looked at critically. Collaborative, social learning was also explored with theorists such as Vygotsky extolling the virtues of relationship, interest based teaching. All of this falls into what Richardson says is the result of the Age of the Read/Write Web. (Richardson, W. p.153). With online information, reading takes place 24/7, inside and outside of the classrooms and from millions of different contributors.

This is very exciting but there are some uncertain consequences for educators. For me, the sheer volume sources available is a little intimidating, though exciting. With this vast treasure trove of information and knowledge at our command, will we have time to access it all? Will it become overwhelming to decide the "what" to teach when the "where"is so easy to obtain? Or maybe it won't be the teachers, but the students who will call the shots. We have already seen how the balance of power, so to speak, is changing, where more and more producers and editors are out there. Interesting to think of what learning will look like in 5 years. For me, the transformation has already been monumental.