Flexibility, the use of technology and a learner-centered pedagogy are the corner stones of prospective education. There are a lot of new challenges education has to face now and in the future. Just to name some buzzwords: knowledge society, competencies like communication and social skills, life long learning... Students are also more diverse, concerning their interests, prior knowledge and their social and living situation. There is no one approach that fits all. Students do not want traditional education. They want education adjusted to their needs. The flexibility- technology-pedagogy triad can be a very effective means in achieving that. For example, flexibility and technology can create possibilities that were not attainable before (see my earlier blog posts about dialectic pedagogy and Elgg).
But it’s not that simple. What these three components also have in common is that they place a lot of implications on the organization and the teachers. Flexibility causes logistical problems and will take up more time and will cost more money. The same is true for current pedagogies. With learner-centered pedagogies the teacher will have to fulfill the role of a coach or facilitator. This is more time intensive than just standing in front of the class. Although technology can offer a lot of new possibilities it is also very expensive and it takes a lot of time to develop suitable software. And of course not all teachers know how to use the technology or might not even want to.
Stay tuned to my blog and learn along with myself more about the possibilities and implications of flexibility, technology and pedagogy.
4 comments:
Very true.. but what to do about this? Maybe the TPACK-approach can be of help. I am interested in reading your ideas about that!
Hi carolin,
nice thoughts, but I am wondering if the timeconsuming element you are talking about is only something for novices, so teachers who are not familiair with using technology. I think finally it is time saving.
Hi Larissa,
I don't think that the "time consuming element" I wrote about counts only for novices. First, there is a difference between learning the technology and integrating it for teaching (see my next post about the TPACK model). So yes, learning the technology takes a lot of time for novices and not for experts, becourse they already have that skill.
But still, I think that using technology, most times will end up in taking longer. Just think about your experience with the blog. What I don't want to say is, that it's not worth it.
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