There were several aspects of our conversation about John Dewey that were particularly interesting to me. One thing that struck me was the aspect of the historical context in which Dewey developed his ideas. The term societal flux resonates strongly with me in terms of how I see our present society. We are also increasingly urbanizing and taking on different jobs and roles than our parents. This does not strike me as a bad thing but something we must keep in mind in order to remain cohesive enough from people from different areas or age groups to understand one another. It makes me think of how on one hand technology is viewed a the cause of our frayed social fabric by many. On the other hand I see technology as a way of making new connections that would never have occurred before. That being said, having seen the benefit of mentorship in my undergraduate and graduate research career I do feel like in person mentorship is something that needs to become a larger part of our society again.
This brings me to the question of how Ed Tech fits in with Dewey's philosophy and with our current and future society. I see technology in the classroom as potentially fitting in with a Dewey style education very well. In this context technology would be a tool given to students but not the focus itself. Dewey's view of students being at the center of their learning and building knowledge together is a social way seems to dictate that the interactions between students and the students process of thought must remain the focus. However, technology could be fit in as part of the social fabric that the students are learning within. It could be used to connect students around the world with each other and with information but it should be seen as a tool to share ideas or to find them and not be an interruption or distraction from the learning at hand. I am hard pressed to say specifically what this would look like in the classroom. My guess is that it would be something like, discuss a topic in groups, set a goal for figuring something out, figure out what other information you need, go online to find that information, then put the computer down and discuss the topic again with this new information, come to a consensus, go back and make a class webpage to share your groups ideas with other classes that did the same thing.
Kiwi, your post here takes what I consider to be a wise step in the direction of thinking about where we see the learning opportunities for our students, what our purposes are, and then trying to take steps to increase the odds that our students will engage with the material in a way that we think maximizes the learning experience. In a sense, you might look at what we're doing here. As you've likely surmised, Kristin and I want to see what kind of thinking some of the tools we've worked with and the ideas we've discussed elicits for all of you, and we've tried to leave things somewhat open-ended so that we have a better chance of getting an authentic sense how you're all making meaning from what's gone on so far.
ReplyDeleteFinally, the question of "societal flux" and its implications for our teaching and our responsibilities to our students is one that is WELL worth your continued observations and thought, Kiwi.