I sat yesterday watching my two nephews in front of my sister’s, a remedial education therapist, computer. Neither can read nor write, yet they were debating whether the game they were playing requires them to read.
The one stated emphatically that it is his opinion that they can get to the stage 10 without reading one word: “We just have to click on the correct places and perform each activity as required by the computer program.”
Although this was the opinion of a five year old, he proofed in his innocence that user friendly software can support learning without having all the ability to read.
My 12 year old daughter does research for her schoolwork on a daily basis via the internet. Whatever she needs she finds on the internet in a couple of seconds.
ReplyDeleteA while ago I told her that we did not have this wonderful aid when we grew up. She was absolutely stunned and was wondering how I ever managed to do my schoolwork and schoolprojects!
Your experiences really prove that so many people in the field of Education are "missing the boat". Digital natives have a completely different world in which they are living - while the people who are teaching them (some of whom are fortunately digital immigrants) don't always aknowledge it.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, embedding ICTs into classroom activities puts a lot of responsibility on the teacher to ensure that the particular medium/resource will indeed add value to teaching and learning. By this I mean that the teacher must be familiar with the strengths and limitations of particular medium (e.g. how well does it accommodate the age of the learners, their reading skills, computer skills, etc.). Good preparation is therefore still essential when it comes to lesson preparation.