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Genevieve Hudak Assignment 2 - DLC 1. what did you find 1.1. interesting about the article? I found this statement of interest: “It is not that students cannot learn; it is that they are not well motivated to learn.” I think this is very true in most cases. I also found it interesting that there is no real, explicit and well-defined solution to the technology/learning problem. I remember when I was checking out CU in order to attend, and for the Computer Science program, they said, “we won’t teach you how to program, but we’ll teach you how to learn to learn to program.” I remember being very excited by this because of how fast technology changes. I didn’t want to learn some language and then have it go out of use and in the end know nothing. Whether or not they have succeeded in this goal of teaching me how to learn, remains to be seen when I get out in the real world. Based on my experience as an Undergraduate Research Assistant though, I would say it must have taught me something, because I think I’ve done fairly well at my job, none of it which I learned in the classroom (specific things, such as the language I program in, etc.). I also found the reasons why technology won’t change education to be valid. It basically said that they can only assist it, technology can’t completely change it on its own – the people using it must change as well. I think that is true also. I find the concept of gift-wrapping of interest as well, mostly because I had never thought of it in that way. Through my life, technology has become a bigger and bigger part of my education, especially computers. For example, in elementary school, we used to have one class where we would go to the one classroom with computers and do stuff on them. The only other computers I knew about were in the office and the library, but those were only at the staff’s desks, not a public terminal. Then in middle school, I remember doing math programs and other such things on computers. Typing class was done on a computer. There was one in almost every classroom. High school saw a drop in computer use for me. There was one in every classroom, but they weren’t highly used in relation to the regular curricula. I worked on the school newspaper, and we had a bunch of computers, but they were really old and broke a lot, so although we used them, we did not like them. It wasn’t a positive integration of technology. The library of my high school was still using the card system, though the reference desk had computers for check in/out of books. Indeed, it seemed that the technology wasn’t even gift-wrapped, it was just avoided. I also definitely agree that education and the way learning is approached in schools is overdue for a change. I think that with the growing use of technology, old approaches to education are no longer applicable. Learning occurs much faster and technology is beginning to find acceptance with students. But because of more use of technology, the way the world works is changing or has changed significantly too. The different types of occupations has grown incredibly, and people change careers more too. I think this brings in a need for lifelong learning. 2. what do you consider the main message of the article? There is more to lifelong learning and learning in general than is generally thought, especially in terms of what computers can do for learning. We need to re-design how we think about learning, and apply it to the educational system. Old ways of thinking need to be lost and new ways of thinking embraced and applied. 3. click on one of the words in blue and see what happens? 3.1. is this feature useful? Yes, I found this feature useful. 3.2. in which other situations have you encountered this feature? On the WWW, i.e. hyperlinks, would probably be the only other place I’ve seen them, though I seem to recall some other place where a box would pop up describing something, but again, I think this was online. 4. global learning theories and approaches 4.1. do you know any of the people mentioned in the diagrams: Yes, I know of Skinner, Piaget, and maybe Dewey. None of the rest. 4.2.1. in case you know something–write a paragraph what she/he has contributed to a deeper understanding of learning? I know that Skinner did some work in psychology related to behavioral/conditioned learning. He realized that some learning takes place unconsciously through association and that we become conditioned – which can be considered a type of learning. I think that he discovered/explored one type of learning, but neglected some other 5. identify one website (and mention the URL) which you consider interesting and relevant for "learning." Write a one paragraph justification! http://www.techlearning.com. This website addresses what this article talks a lot about – how education has changed and needs to change in order to meet the needs of the real world and students entering the real world. It has articles and resources relating to the integration of technology into learning, as well as addressing issues that were discussed in this article, such as motivation in learning, high school and college as preparation, etc. |
