"A classroom suited to today’s students should deemphasize solitary piecework. It should facilitate the kind of collaboration that helps individuals compensate for their blindnesses, instead of cultivating them. That classroom needs new ways of measuring progress, tailored to digital times — rather than to the industrial age or to some artsy utopia where everyone gets an Awesome for effort. "
Response:
To me, this quote insinuates that students should no longer work alone on their own projects and instead, work as groups. Group work is alright on occasion, but what happens when little Jane is always stuck doing the work for her group while the other members goof off. I for one, absolutely despise group projects. I am an independent worker and a firm believer in "If you want something done right, you must do it yourself." It would be unfair to me and the rest of my work group to have us paired all of the time. I would be stuck doing all of he work and the other children would not learn the lesson.
If we tailor the classroom to digital times, what happens if the power goes out? A pen and paper will still work, but a computer would do nothing but make a good paperweight. Two years ago the electiricity in Fairmont went out for nearly a week in some neighborhoods. If all of their school work was in digital format, they wouldn't have gotten anything done.
I agree that classrooms need to highten their lessons on digital learning, but that should in no way completely remove the ol' reliable, pen and paper.
This article metions Ms. Davidson noticing that her students wrote better blogs than term papers. All students learn differently. For example, it took me all weekend to find out how to add a new entry on my blog. Whereas, I would've felt more comfortable writing a typical research paper. I hope that if and when the digital classroom imerges, there are still open options for all styles of learning.
Resources:
Heffernan, V. (2011, August 7). Education needs a digital-age upgrade. New York Times. Retrieved from http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/education-needs-a-digital-age-upgrade
sustainablelit. (Videographer) (2010). Homework excuses in the digital age [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WurRIdpTUPU&feature=player_embedded
Sound like you have been subject to some poorly facilitated group project...on the other hand you are right that some people are more productive working alone! Teacher do need to meet the needs of students with multiple intelligence and styles!
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