After visiting my daughter’s student art show, I was amazed at what she and her peers were able to generate. Their forms and colors were full of life, filled with energy, and captured a genuine yearning for something greater. What makes their artwork all the more provocative is the environment from which it emanates. From primary school to undergraduate programs, students are more often delivered their education, where knowledge and information is crammed, somewhat absorbed, and mostly regurgitated on exam day.
Based on my experience of working in and with a variety of secondary schools, it seems many of them have lost sight of what education is about. Education is both about passing on what is known and inviting learners into the unknown in an effort to promote creativity and meaningful change.
Assuring continuity and fostering creativity and change are at once convergent and divergent. Both relate to knowledge and attitude, understanding and behavior, ways of thinking and seeing; they are the essence of teaching and learning. We desire creativity from students yet we want it to emerge from what is recognized and understood. We want continuity but when the results demonstrate a lack of ability to resolve problems or develop ways to improve our conditions, we feel betrayed.
A large part of the issue is how schools are designed. In most cases, schools are defined as delivery instruments and not as learning communities (or learning ecologies) where learning is not only the responsibility of students but also the teachers. Teacher colleges have made this all the more difficult by training educators to be delivery agents rather than provocateurs; mail carriers rather than artists or learning designers.
It is my contention that Internet technologies and social software offers/affords useful interventions. Education is not a location; it is an activity. Effectively integrating technology into learning systems is a complicated endeavor and connecting students to the Internet is not enough. Integration involves a rigorous and creative re-thinking, re-visioning, of educational objectives, a realistic understanding of the potential of collaborative technologies, coupled with an full understanding of the requisites involved with changing the dynamics of the educational system. Of these three concerns, acquiring the technology is probably the easiest part.
In meeting this challenge of potentiality and scale, I believe part of the solution resides in teacher empowerment. Teachers are the lynchpins of a free and democratic society; they have the power to turn learners on and off, the power to inspire and deny. Teachers are often underpaid and in many cases inadequately prepared, yet they are accountable for the successful teaching of the undernourished and the poorly prepared. Many educators work in schools that are ill-equipped, unhealthy, unsafe, and yet they are expected to understand and meet the needs of learners, parents, administrators, their community, and the economy. The Internet has ushered new possibilities in education, yet, at the same time, they have placed more demands on educators. Teachers are faced with computers in their classrooms, assisting learners in accessing, analyzing, and coping with the wide body of information available, as well as understanding how to use the available software and hardware to enhance teaching and learning.
A new model must emerge in teacher education that replaces training with lifelong development. Initial training in colleges and universities needs to focus not only on pedagogical, social, and organizational skills, it needs to couple these with an opportunity to explore the broader horizon of social software options.
Once teachers are employed and active within schools, time must be allowed for both structured and unstructured opportunities for training, upgrading, and acquiring new knowledge and skills. Professional development needs to become “part of the water,” and not an additional time-consuming burden. Recertification must be based on evidence and applications of additional training that can be clearly documented and school systems need to insure that teachers have a variety of options and opportunities to make this happen.
The question is not whether technology is effective in improving student achievement. What’s more important are the educational policies/strategies and the prerequisite conditions for using technologies in the classroom.
Integrating the Internet and social software into the classroom is a complex and multifaceted process. As we stand today, there is very little research regarding which technology is most appropriate and effective for particular tasks. In my mind, this is a good thing. This is where creativity steps in; this is what education is all about (i.e., trying out ideas, experimenting with software, making mistakes, reinventing, etc.). More importantly, effective and appropriate use involves the competent and committed involvement of people. To this end, I have found the blogosphere to be a rich and resourceful environment. Educators who use weblogs (aka edubloggers) regularly share their experiences, reflections, creations, and recommendations that are open to comments and further debate. In this regard, a community of practice and inquiry has emerged that offers a level of technical and social support on a global scale.
The challenge of implementing technology in the classroom is enormous and so are the potential benefits. The only real limits are the human imagination and creativity.
Keywords: emergence, learning, social software, teacher training, teaching, technology
Comments
As a writer and a speaker, and a teacher of writing and speaking, I see the Web as an essential learning/teaching tool. We teachers are no longer alone with our students, and they are no longer isolated individuals in the classroom. Teachers can blog and search out information and ideas on how to use the Web. Students can shape and display their personas in blogs, and their knowledge in wikis. It's a whole new world, where text in word, images, sound, and moving images can all be shared.
We teachers need to learn and teach about the Web, using the Web.
I am a college student studying to be a teacher and we are required to take a computers in education class to get our teaching degree. In this class we learn everything from Microsoft word, excel, and powerpoint to webquests and e-portfolios. This class has really helped me in learning more about how to make my classroom more technology oriented because I now know many different ways to find and make online or computer based activities. Granted I wish that I had to take another education class that would help me use computers and the internet because I feel like there is so much more out there to learn and know but this class is a step in the right direction. I feel much more confident in being able to teach my students using technology. Hopefully, whatever school district I end up in will have more training programs to further assist me in using technology in my classroom but I think with the pace at which new technology is emerging, it is enevitable that schools will need to improve their technology training programs. If not the students will know more about technology than the teachers and we will not be able to give the students a proper education.
Sorry about the extra submissions, I forgot to put my name on the comment. :)
My comments are for both the OP, Christopher and the LP, Sarah. First, kudos Chris for effectively addressing the issues inherent in both traditional teacher ed programs (in which I currently teach), and in practice in schools ... where creativity is now considered something that doesn't fit in the budget, nor can be encouraged because it "won't be on the test." However, I have two addendums to your argument that I think must be made: You say that it is probably "a good thing," that little research has been done concerning appropriate technology use for developing the "community of learners" necessary for encouraging distributed creativity and cognition in our schools. Unfortunately in this era of emphasis on scientific-based research, it is for precisely these reasons that research is needed ... to legitimatize the theoretical rationale for fostering a globally-focused community atmosphere in our schools. Without it, little movement will be made in that direction. Also, blogs and wikis are a step in the right direction, without a doubt, and teacher-ed programs need to reinforce those technologies (and there are some that do) as viable methods of knowledge construction for teachers and students. However, much much more is needed, and new technologies that not only encourage the synergistic compounding of information, but actually allow it to become the mainstay of education, that education will not exist without it, are needing to be developed. We are seeing LMS systems and the development of online learning opportunities (which are now required for graduation requirements in some states) for student, faculty and community use crop up here and there, but so far, widespread use is not the norm.
And my comment to Sarah is this: Do not expect your new employer to provide the training in new technologies, often school districts are on the trailing edge of educational technologies, and even the best PD programs lag far behind those being offered in industry. My suggestion is to train yourself and find a community of interest within your district that will put pressure on the administration to allow resources for professional development outside of the school ... collectively attend conferences, read journals, experiment in your own classrooms, document everything, and publish your findings in journals and at conferences! By creating your own community of learners within your district, you will be leading the way for others to follow.
Greetings
It is my sense that educational transformation of schools and school systems currently has a large window of opportunity of influence as a concept and focus point for educational dialectic.
I am wondering if you readers would be interested in viewing the blog at
http://edutivity.blogspot.com/
and posting responses regarding their work and the creative and non creative aspects.
this blog is one of most interesting articles I have found on the internet
Im a student from a design school in india, currently doing a project on creativity in a public school atmosphere in india. I dont know if you are aware of this- but these schools are in a pitiable state, where there are no resources whatsoever. Curruption adds fuel to a fire which has already burnt the creativity, enthusiasm, incentives to teach in that environment.
please take the time to take a look at my blog:
http://creativity-design-education.blogspot.com/