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Teachers Failing Their Computer Literate Students
Filed Under Computers In The Classroom, The Way I See It
Schools are becoming “technically irrelevant” because pupils know more about computers than their teachers (Polly Curtis)
Students know more about computers than their teachers? In my case that is so true. Whenever I have a problem with the computers in my classroom, my students spring to the rescue. I learn so much from them, and they are so willing to share their knowledge with me. Believe me. I am grateful for their help.
Teachers are wary of using digital media and new technologies during their lessons and risk failing a generation of computer-literate school children( Curtis cites David Buckingham)
Teachers wary of using digital media and new technologies? I think so and for good reason.
Few teachers have made much use of technology in the classroom, and most are skeptical about its educational benefits. Money has been spent on hardware, not software, with little used for training teachers, leaving many teachers unwilling to integrate technology into their lessons. (Curtis)
I think this is about to change. Just this week I received an email that any teachers at my school who are interested in getting trained to use digital media and new technologies can sign up for training. I jumped at the chance. I think using all this new technology will keep teaching fresh for me, and I’m sure my students will be motivated to use these new “tools” to learn and demonstrate their learning. Kids are familiar with new technology. They tell me spend hours and hours after school playing computer games, on their cell phones and on the internet in MySpace. So, why not bring all this into the classroom.
“Playing computer games involves a whole range of informal learning processes – remembering, hypothesis testing, predicting, strategic planning – and online chat and instant messaging require specific skills in language and interpersonal communication. … educational media tend to be “visually impoverished, lacking in interactivity and thin on engaging content”, and surfing the Internet gets turned into “an unexciting obstacle course” by the filtering systems used by schools designed to keep in check the information children access.(Curtis cites Buckingham)
Surfing the net, a frustrating experience for students? You bet! I hear that everyday: “Miss, they’ve blocked this site too”. At that point, the kids just want to shut down.
That’s not what we want for our students-something that encourages them to stop learning. I think we need to rethink the idea of blocking sites and teach kids how to use the Internet more appropriately at school.
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