Tag: Steve Wheeler

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Digital

Sugata Mitra: Education is not broken…

Would a person with good handwriting, spelling and grammar and instant recall of multiplication tables be considered a better candidate for a job than, say, one who knows how to configure a peer-to-peer network of devices, set up an organisation-wide Google calendar and find out where the most reliable sources of venture capital are, I wonder? The former set of skills are taught in schools, the latter are not.

A fascinating start to an article from Sugata Mitra in the Guardian yesterday. Are we teaching the right skills in schools? See also Steve Wheeler’s interview with Sugata where Sugata says that the education system is not broken, but completely outdated.

wheeler-mitra

Categories
Digital

Brilliant Presentation by @timbuckteeth

Researching Social Media in Education: What can we learn?

View more PowerPoint from Steve Wheeler

Such a good presentation, it made it to the front page of Slideshare!

Categories
Academic Digital

Teacher Responses to New Technologies

John, P.D. and Wheeler, S. (2008) The Digital Classroom: Harnessing Technology for the Future Abingdon: Routledge

p. 2 In talking about the need to avoid technological determinism, the authors identify four types of teacher response to new technologies. “First are the enthusiasts. They see the enormous potential in digital technology and try to master its complexities. They also see its use as a professional and pedagogic challenge and an opportunity. Second are the pragmatists. They support the appropriate and alternative uses of information and communication technology (ICT), are mildly critical of some of its excesses but see its potential to improve aspects of learning. Third are traditionalists who prefer to resist the advance of new technologies in schools to preserve a more esoteric order of learning based on human interaction and long-established pedagogy. Finally, there are the ‘New Luddites’ who are so critical of new technology that they seek to undermine its potential and use at every turn by seeking to undermine the profession’s dependence on it.”