Critical Thinking # 2 Part One: “With the proliferation of information and the convenience of access to this vast ocean of information, it is the primary responsibility of the teacher to chart a way through this chaos, to provide order and create the conditions to encourage a deep approach to learning.” (Garrison & Anderson, 2005, p. 17)
The quotation by Garrison and Anderson (2005) addresses the reality that education and
learning is being changed dramatically by technology and by the exponential growth in new
information that technology makes possible. These changes necessitate a reconsideration of
what the role of a teacher is in the 21st century. In the not so distant past, education and
learning was fixed both in place and how it could be accessed (Jarvis, 2006). A learner
generally had to go to an institution and receive the learning from instructors. Information in
every discipline is now being created so quickly, it is now largely impossible for anyone to know
everything about something.
While one could become overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge available and the
challenge of keeping up with it, I see the amount of information available and the ease that it
can be accessed as making it much easier to be a learner. Both as an undergraduate and a
graduate student, I can recall long hours spent in the university library taking copious notes to
complete assignments. Starting a paper meant spending a day or two in the card catalog and
recording the necessary information to go look for sources. I can also recall the endless hours
spent with the ERIC Thesaurus and using microfiche to complete the necessary background
research for my master’s thesis.
I certainly prefer the ease of which I am able to complete assignments in this program. I
have always tried to keep up professionally by taking courses, going to professional
conferences, and reading journals in my field. The main reason I enrolled in this program was
that is was a way for me to work my way back into teaching having been out of the classroom
doing administration for the past decade. Even though I was out of the classroom, I was
certainly aware that the classroom I might return to would be a very different one from the one in
which I had taught.
Teachers still have to teach students both practical and critical thinking skills. While I
could have learned about the world of online teaching through self-study and trial and error
practice, being part of a system where the information is organized is both obviously helpful and
efficient. Doing it alone by some other means might make deep learning somewhat harder to
achieve since there would not necessarily be someone who provides feedback on one’s
learning. I see my professors as guides and mentors who help filter the tons of information
that is available and provide a basic introduction to the practical and analytic skills one would
need to be successful as an instructor in an online environment. In that respect they serve as
Garrison and Anderson’s (2005) ideal teacher who shows the learner how to navigate so that the learner
can follow a similar model taking other learners though the vast sea of current and future knowledge.
Part II
After viewing each of the videos by Michael Welsh, “A vision of students today” (2007)
and “The maching is us/ing us” (2007), I think the first video about students today confirms
what I described about being a student in the past and how it differs from being a student today.
As I said, a major reason for my deciding to pursue this program was the recognition that the
classroom I would return to would be a very different one from the one I left. Obviously, as the
Welsh (2007) video suggests, many teachers remain stuck in the educational world of the past.
In contrast, most students today (at least in advanced countries) are technologically adept. That
is the world they live in and they communicate and learn using those modes to access and
manage information.
An educator today needs to have the same skills that his or her students have. When I
taught college writing, the department’s curriculum required all students to write a research
paper. As instructors, we used the tools that were available then—the card catalog, indexes to
periodicals, etc. Technology has changed what is possible. Therefore, it seems only logical
that the same assignment today would utilize different tools. Students should expect that their
instructors are competent using these tools or they should seriously question the quality of
educational program they are receiving. As an educator who sees myself as a learner as well, it
is my responsibity to keep up with what the students know or I will be a very poor guide to show
them how to navigate through the ever expanding amount of knowledge.
References
Garrison, D., & Anderson, T. (2003). E-learning in the 21st Century: A framework for research and practice. New York: Routledge Falmer.
Jarvis, P. (2006). The theory and practice of teaching. London: Routledge.
Welsh, M. (2007, October 7). A vision of students today. Retrieved January 16, 2010, from
Digital ethnography at Kansas State University:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Part One: “With the proliferation of information and the convenience of access to this vast ocean of information, it is the primary responsibility of the teacher to chart a way through this chaos, to provide order and create the conditions to encourage a deep approach to learning.” (Garrison & Anderson, 2005, p. 17)
The quotation by Garrison and Anderson (2005) addresses the reality that education and
learning is being changed dramatically by technology and by the exponential growth in new
information that technology makes possible. These changes necessitate a reconsideration of
what the role of a teacher is in the 21st century. In the not so distant past, education and
learning was fixed both in place and how it could be accessed (Jarvis, 2006). A learner
generally had to go to an institution and receive the learning from instructors. Information in
every discipline is now being created so quickly, it is now largely impossible for anyone to know
everything about something.
While one could become overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge available and the
challenge of keeping up with it, I see the amount of information available and the ease that it
can be accessed as making it much easier to be a learner. Both as an undergraduate and a
graduate student, I can recall long hours spent in the university library taking copious notes to
complete assignments. Starting a paper meant spending a day or two in the card catalog and
recording the necessary information to go look for sources. I can also recall the endless hours
spent with the ERIC Thesaurus and using microfiche to complete the necessary background
research for my master’s thesis.
I certainly prefer the ease of which I am able to complete assignments in this program. I
have always tried to keep up professionally by taking courses, going to professional
conferences, and reading journals in my field. The main reason I enrolled in this program was
that is was a way for me to work my way back into teaching having been out of the classroom
doing administration for the past decade. Even though I was out of the classroom, I was
certainly aware that the classroom I might return to would be a very different one from the one in
which I had taught.
Teachers still have to teach students both practical and critical thinking skills. While I
could have learned about the world of online teaching through self-study and trial and error
practice, being part of a system where the information is organized is both obviously helpful and
efficient. Doing it alone by some other means might make deep learning somewhat harder to
achieve since there would not necessarily be someone who provides feedback on one’s
learning. I see my professors as guides and mentors who help filter the tons of information
that is available and provide a basic introduction to the practical and analytic skills one would
need to be successful as an instructor in an online environment. In that respect they serve as
Garrison and Anderson’s (2005) ideal teacher who shows the learner how to navigate so that the learner
can follow a similar model taking other learners though the vast sea of current and future knowledge.
Part II
After viewing each of the videos by Michael Welsh, “A vision of students today” (2007)
and “The maching is us/ing us” (2007), I think the first video about students today confirms
what I described about being a student in the past and how it differs from being a student today.
As I said, a major reason for my deciding to pursue this program was the recognition that the
classroom I would return to would be a very different one from the one I left. Obviously, as the
Welsh (2007) video suggests, many teachers remain stuck in the educational world of the past.
In contrast, most students today (at least in advanced countries) are technologically adept. That
is the world they live in and they communicate and learn using those modes to access and
manage information.
An educator today needs to have the same skills that his or her students have. When I
taught college writing, the department’s curriculum required all students to write a research
paper. As instructors, we used the tools that were available then—the card catalog, indexes to
periodicals, etc. Technology has changed what is possible. Therefore, it seems only logical
that the same assignment today would utilize different tools. Students should expect that their
instructors are competent using these tools or they should seriously question the quality of
educational program they are receiving. As an educator who sees myself as a learner as well, it
is my responsibity to keep up with what the students know or I will be a very poor guide to show
them how to navigate through the ever expanding amount of knowledge.
References
Garrison, D., & Anderson, T. (2003). E-learning in the 21st Century: A framework for research
and practice. New York: Routledge Falmer.
Jarvis, P. (2006). The theory and practice of teaching. London: Routledge.
Welsh, M. (2007, October 7). A vision of students today. Retrieved January 16, 2010, from
Digital ethnography at Kansas State University:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
Welsh, M. (2007, March 7). The maching is us/ing us. Retrieved January 16, 2010, from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g