Recently the much anticipated Ipad was introduced to the public. Apple die-hards welcomed it with all the enthusism of the second coming...well almost..sans camera, multi-tasking, usb port etc. It easy to see the promise that the ipad and other technologies like the Kindle, netbooks, and the XO laptop bring to education.
The real question is whether this promise can be fulfilled. You have the widely publicized One Laptop Per Child Program that is not experiencing the success that it initially promised because of the lack of technical and educational support.
It's an education project, not a laptop project.
—Nicholas Negroponte
Negroponte's statement could not be truer, not only for the OLPC Program, but for Instructional Technology itself. Today we see schools struggling with how to use the growing technologies created successfully in the classroom. Most simply slap them on top of already existing curriculums. To experience success and engagement a new approach has to happen where coursework and curricullums are reworked with the learner and various appropriate technologies at their center.
The promise is still their to change the educational landscape through many exciting technologies, but we must also shift our thinking of pedagogy.
Negroponte's statement could not be truer, not only for the OLPC Program, but for Instructional Technology itself. Today we see schools struggling with how to use the growing technologies created successfully in the classroom. Most simply slap them on top of already existing curriculums. To experience success and engagement a new approach has to happen where coursework and curricullums are reworked with the learner and various appropriate technologies at their center.
The promise is still their to change the educational landscape through many exciting technologies, but we must also shift our thinking of pedagogy.
0 comments:
Post a Comment