Today, student are more independent, and thus no longer rely on teachers to learn. Due to the countless amount of resources available on the world wide web, teachers no longer serve as the information holders. Teachers now, have moved closer to a facilitating role, where they are responsible to only facilitate the students learning. It is impossible for the teacher to cover the endless amount of information available online. Students have began to teach themselves through technology, and thus have become much more reliant on it. For this reason, students now prefer to type assignments rather than handwrite them out. In my opinion, this creates issues, that may not have been existent 10 to 20 years ago. Students are confronted with issues when asked to write assignments or tests by hand because they are reliant on resources such as spell check and thesaurus that are available via the computer. Finally, the introduction of computers and technology broadens the amount of information a student is introduced to, however, in my opinion also limits the amount of solitary thinking involved for the individual.
The introduction of computers and technological advances, has made a significant difference to both teaching and learning. Teachers are expected to be aware of more resources. This is due to the fact that students are already exposed to resources through self-learning at home or on their own spare time. As a result of this exposure, students are equipped with more knowledge, which can be viewed both positively or negatively.
That is an interesting answer to the question posed in class. I agree that the teacher's role as we see it today is slowly shifting to a more facilitative roll. But I think it is also important to note that as teachers, we must not only show student's how to find information on the web, but also to have them think critically and analyze data before accepting or rejecting it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing that out!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely, when you note that as teachers it is important that we not only show but also teach students how to retain valuable information, and disregard materials which are irrelevant. It is an asset to be given the ability to introduce material to students that would not be possible through mere face to face instruction. This broads the knowledge and skills that students attain, as it allows them to learn even when they are outside of the classroom setting.