Morgan Bayda found a video by Dan Brown titles “An Open Letter to Educators” on her Delicious account as a shared link. In Dan Brown’s video, he discusses how “schooling” has affected his education. He attended the University of Nebraska with class sizes that ranged from as little as 40-50 people to as large as 200 people! He complained about how his professors will regurgitate facts that he reads off of a power point and then he tests you on the information. Dan Brown believes that schools are not exercising technology to its full potential. Dan Brown dropped out of school because he didn’t believe he was receiving the education that he deserved.
I can relate to Dan Brown in multiple ways. I too, have had teachers who like to sit and lecture for the entire class period. Sometimes I feel like I am being taught things that my professors wouldn’t even know if it were not for the power point sitting in front of their faces. As Dr. Strange explains in the beginning of the semester, I feel like teachers pour facts in to students’ heads just long enough to remember it for the test. If a student had to retake that same test one month later, would their score be the same? I know from experience that many of my classes that were taught like this, I would not be able to reflect on much of anything that I learned from them. I feel the same way about online classes. Online classes are supposed to be “self-taught” for the most part but how much do you really have to learn when you have you book right in front of you for every test?
I learn best when I teach my self. I know that now because I am in EDM310. I feel like I have never had to take in so much information in one semester before. The best part about EDM 310 is not only that I have learned SO much but it’s that I remember all of it because I had to do it by myself. I do not have a teacher sitting next to me every step of the way saying, “do this, now do this, this is the answer.” Hands on learning, in my opinion, is the best way to learn. When I become a teacher I will do my best not to deny children the right to actually learn instead of just memorizing.
Mr. Johnson shares how an administrator at his school did not want the students to take home pencils. He believed that it would affect the test taking skills. The most important detail of this was the facts that it shows teachers do not focus on the problem but instead focus on how to solve the problem. It is important that as future educators we learn early at how important problem solving can be. Sometimes we focus too much on the problem itself rather than what we can do to create a solution.
Brandin, I loved what you said about, "When I become a teacher, I will do my best not to deny children the right to actually learn instead of memorizing." If every teacher/aspiring teacher thought this way, we would change learning forever. We would break the chains and closed-mindedness that is forced upon children. In the long run, hands-on is the best tool. Maybe powerpoints are necessary at times, but I think for the most part, they're just easy and convenient for the teacher, not the student.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post! Very good!
Amanda
You make a very good point when you discuss online courses. Most have just taken the in class model and shifted it to a new delivery system. there is really nothing new and it still is burp back education without the interpersonal exchanges. And that, I think, makes it even worse.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that you did not understand that Tom Johnson's post Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home was a metaphor in which pencils were computers. I will complete my post Metaphors: What They Are and Why We Use Them (A Learning Opportunity) later this week. After this post appears on the Class Blog you will be required to leave a comment. Watch the Class Blog for further instructions.