I recently read that ‘Change is like a wave. You either ride the change wave, get pummelled by it, or sit on the beach and watch it run its course.’ As a teacher I can no longer ignore the change that I see sweeping though our schools and the world at large because both are vastly different places to when I was at school. I could only dream of what the internet would be like then it came. I remember seeing a crude example of it on the show Beyond 2000 and thinking, “Wow!” These days most people carry high speed internet around with them in their pockets! Computing was a subject that had me using DOS to type the code in order to make a line on the screen move a certain direction. Typing code! Now our students are making podcasts, films and internet sites. Instead of the school laptop having one room with computers, schools right across Australia are introducing 1:1 laptop programs.
One of the biggest changes I can see is the shifting dynamic of the classroom itself. I believe that there are massive advantages in accessing the information and resources outside of the classroom, knocking down the four walls of where we teach and making our students global learners. We can ’flatten’ or lower the classroom walls so that instead of each class working isolated and alone, 2 or more classes are joined virtually to become one large classroom. This is done through the internet using Web 2.0 tools such as Wikispaces and Ning.’ Computers are now becoming one of, if not the most, important learning tool we can offer our children. The change has happened, the internet is not going away and the walls of our classroom no longer contain all the information and stimulus our children require. So you must ask yourself, ‘Are you riding the wave, getting pummelled by it, or standing on the beach?’
Written by Beyond Chalk Blog .Beyond Chalk Blog
