Thing 16: Teach Digital

I came away with mixed feelings about the three videos. The first and last both seemed accusatory and made me react defensively. In the first, the argument seemed to have been reduced to black and white, when it seems certain that there are plenty of grays in between. The university students were speaking as if all college classes are lectures that ask only for rote memorization of facts. I earned my BA an awfully long time ago, and even then I had classes that required me to think creatively, to perform experiments, to demonstrate learning in a variety of ways. Since then I have taken a number of on-line courses and hybrid courses as well as traditional in the classroom courses that have encouraged discussion among class members, creative thinking, and the use of technology. Certainly there are professors and teachers who are teaching in the lecture/regurgitate style, but I would contend that they are becoming more and more rare. If these students really felt that they had a better way of expressing their learning than the ones their professors required, what was stopping them from doing so? Did they feel that unless they were receiving a grade for their efforts, their time and talents were wasted? Would not a demonstration of alternate ways of documenting proficiency make a stronger argument for changing the education system than just complaining?

In the third video, I kept waiting for suggestions. I was told that the "future is ours, you have to give it to us", and "teach us to think," but again, the message seemed to be more criticism than critique. I did appreciate the plea for allowing students to try and try again. In the 1970's I had a summer job putting together slide trays for teaching special needs students how to work in nursing homes. The technique was called "programmed learning" and after each bit of instruction the student was asked a question. If they had understood the instruction and answered correctly, they would continue, if not, they would back up and repeat the section again until they did understand. Many years later, when preparing for the math MTTC, I used a programmed text in analytical geometry, which allowed me to try, try again until I got it right. I guess my point is that much of what these students are calling for, exists already, we just have to make better use of the techniques. We also have to figure out a way that all the curriculum we are expected to cover can be packaged and delivered efficiently and effectively so that there is time for exploration and experimentation in our schools. Certainly technology can assist with that, but technology is a tool, not a solution. As a graphic design professor once told our class, "there is no keyboard button marked creativity".

I was most impressed with the second video, perhaps because I didn't feel accused, so didn't become defensive. The call to acknowledge and develop the "richness of human capacity" is so Biblical in nature, yet so difficult in practice! The demand to let people be wrong also struck a chord with me. I have known so many whole classes of students who had already come to the conclusion that there is only one right answer and only one way to reach that answer, and that the teacher had a secret key to knowledge that trying to get them to hypothesize, imagine, experiment, role play, or otherwise deviate from a textbook has often been akin to pulling teeth.

Though I did not appreciate the way the messages were delivered by the students, I do agree that we educators must be willing to be much more flexible in how we teach and how we assess learning. Ideally we would be facilitators of learning, not repositories of information, doling out wisdom at a prescribed rate. Students must also realize that this puts a fair amount of responsibility on them as well. They must also realize that technology is a tool and no amount of glitz can make up for a lack of content--on either side. Much of the argument here goes back to the very first videos we watched about learning in this century and the need for both teachers and students to embrace technology and fill their toolboxes with the best tools for the job.