Role of educator and technology

ISTE 4: Critical thinking, problem solving and decision making.

Education continues to evolve to meet the needs of the learner. No longer do individuals seek to hear a Socratics seminar in the courtyard to be educated. They accessibility of information is a click away on the world wide web, yet the amount of information on the web can be daunting and overwhelming.   The standard of ISTE 4 wants to guide students through the mass of information to develop critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills. We want education to be applicable to a student’s world to help them reach their full-potential.

Developing critical thinking skills, a student might question the role of an educator. In the future can an educator be replaced with on-line learning?

“However, many students are not, at least initially, independent learners (see Candy, 1991). Many students come to a learning task without the necessary skills or confidence to study independently from scratch (Moore and Thompson, 1990). They need structured support, structured and selected content, and recognized accreditation. The advent of new tools that give students more control over their learning will not necessarily change their need for a structured educational experience. However, learners can be taught the skills needed to become independent learners (Moore, 1973; Marshall and Rowland, 1993). Social media can make the learning of how to learn much more effective but still only in most cases within an initially structured environment” (Bates, n.d).

There are various mediums in technology that are used in pedagogical approaches, such as text, audio, video, computing and social media to enhance the learning experience, especially in a special education environment. An application, like OneNote can help students with specific learning disabilities develop critical thinking, problem solving and decision making skills, in conjunction with a structured learning environment with direct instruction. “One of the unsung heroes of helping students with special needs is OneNote, which allows you to use so many different types of media, it readily provides ways for students to take notes, collate information, and store information, in audio, video, image and conventional note format. For example, for students with dyslexia, OneNote has many features that can help students take notes faster and in different ways, stay organized, and meet literacy challenges, such as spelling and grammar,” (Microsoft). One of the advantages of using One note is the ability

take pictures and placing them in a One note folder, along with student planner, notifications and ability to share documents.

Reflecting, technology should not replace the teaching of these desired skills. Success with an app like OneNote requires face to face teaching of these skills first. Once the skills are learned, the app will help with generalization and mastery.

References:

Bates, A.W. (n.d.). Fundamental change in education. In Teaching in a digital age (1). Retrieved from: http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Fleming, R. (2011). Five ways Microsoft One Note can help students. Retrieved from: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/education/archive/2011/05/26/five-ways-microsoft-onenote-can-help-students-with-dyslexia-stay-organized.aspx