Unit 4 Refletion
This course thus far has provided me with a greater understanding of what the future of education looks like. Prior to this class, I did not think about the future of education in the same way that was presented in the readings and videos. I never gave much thought for evaluating trends and planning for the future. The vision of education as presented by Kahn (2011), portrayed the students of the future as active learners and teachers as mentors and guides. George (2013), compared today’s classroom to a classroom from 100 years ago and noticed little had changed. George states that the advances in technology have not transformed teaching and learning as it has in industry. These analyses were eye opening to me. Some districts are moving in the direction of change, however many are lagging behind (George, 2013). After studying the materials from this course, I feel that our district is not moving into the direction of the future. As an educator for many years, I have worried that students graduating are not prepared for college or the future. We are not engaging the majority of students and much of what is taught is not relevant to their lives or applied outside of school. So this got me thinking about how teaching could be changed in my district. Maybe it is not what we teach but how we teach it. If we change the teaching model, maybe this will better prepare students and also engage them in wanting to take ownership of their education. George (2013) stated that a quality teacher is essential to student success. Studies were conducted to evaluate the academic success of students taught using conventional methods versus those receiving one to one tutoring. Students that received the individual instruction outperformed the students taught using conventional approaches. This says to me that different models of teaching need to be considered for the future of education . In analyzing the NMC report (2015), technology models like the blended classroom for example would allow for more individual and personalized learning. "Our current system is failing our kids"(Future of learning, 2012). Economic and industry changes have changed options for students entering the workforce. New innovative approaches to teaching are now necessary. Students have already recognized that changes in teaching would help them succeed. In a survey of students by Project Tomorrow, student identified many blended approaches to learning as the ideal situation (Project tomorrow, 2013). In the course of my career, I have tried to use different methods to teach students to engage them in learning. I continue to try and find new ways such as flipping the classroom. There is a lot more work to do. I need more time to research different methods and improve on the ones I am trying. This course has given me some tools for my toolbox. In the future, I hope to contribute in leadership roles in secondary education and change the classroom model to better fit with the future needs of students. References The future of learning (2012), retrieved Feb. 3, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoSJ3_dZcm8 Year 2060: Education Predictions (2011). Retrieved Feb. 3, from https://www.khanacademy.org/talks-and-interviews/conversations-with-sal/v/year-2060-education-predictions Johnson, L., Adams Becker, S., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., NMC Horizon Report: K-12 edition (2013). Retrieved Feb. 3, from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf Project Tomorrow (2013). From chalkboards to tablets: The emergence of the K-12 digital learner. Retrieved Feb. 3, from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU12-Students.pdf
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