Technology in the classroom
A teacher wrote to me: “Technology is changing many things, but do you think the online school will replace traditional school? What should a teacher do in this age of technology? Please advise.”
Answer: Technology is changing many classrooms, but I do NOT think online schools can replace traditional classroom. The best value of a traditional school is the face-to-face interaction between teachers and students. Technology can help change our teaching method from “Knowledge transferring” to “Learning guiding” and facilitate the critical thinking of our students. In active learning approach, students could go online to review class materials and obtain certain knowledge, but how well they are learning is still depending on the guiding of the teachers. Of course, the teachers will need to change the way they teach using technology.
The using technology occur outside of the classroom by allows students to prepare and learn many things before classes. It creates more time for the in-class discussion that makes the learning effective. Students use online materials to learn basic things, but they need to develop a deeper level of knowledge so they can apply to solve problems under the guiding of the teachers during class. By posting class materials and homework online, the teachers can have more time to guide and interact with students in the class. That will let students learn more and develop the critical thinking skills.
Technology can help change the traditional teaching method of lecturing into a new active learning approach where students are actively learning under the guiding from the teachers.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
