Blog Post 12

One of the things that I believe would be a great supplement to the material of this course is viewing modern trends in education in regards to technology. With that being said, find at least two articles, using either Google scholar or some other reputable source, to find recent articles that talk about how technology is benefiting education or students. Hopefully this assignment will help students learn to do quality research, and also open up discussion on where they see the future track of education. In three to four paragraphs, summarize the main points of each article and give your own commentary on what you have read. Outdated Teaching is failing our children is a great editorial piece on the modern environment of education, and what will happen if we don’t change it. Some statistics that jumped out at me from the article were the steady decline in graduation rates since 1970 and the drop of the U.S. from 1st to 12th among developmental countries. These two facts alone point to a frightening future for the field, but there are ways to capitalize on the “natural” tendencies of children that can help to help the future of education and the nation. The article talks about research and The Montessori model. This model, based on individualized, self-directed learning, equates these experiences to those of video games in regards to captivating attention when technological learning is implemented in the classroom. Instead of continuing to hold on to the “good ol’ days” of education is creating a void between students and the traditional classroom setting. Online High Schools Helping Students Avoid School Bullying is a more positive view of how technology can impact the lives of students. It also demonstrates a different aspect to the positive impact of online education. The article describes how online high schools, like James Madison High School, are eliminating the negative impacts of bullying in traditional schools. I believe a story lie this is important because not only does it give more support to the positive affects of online education, but it sheds light on an aspect of traditional schooling that some of us have a tendency to overlook.