I was getting ready to start watching the webinar on Reforming Education Reform when I stated to think more about my own thoughts on the use of technology in schools and education. Although I think that there are some amazing things that educators can do with the use of technology to help students grow in their understanding of the material and make connections to the real world. However, in some ways, I believe, that technology can be harmful to the students. I feel this way because I have students and teachers that try to use technology by way of websites and other interactive tools that they do not fully understand. I also do not think that we should get so caught up in trying to use all of the available tools and resources that we forget about what is the most important which is the education of the students, just as I do not believe that we should thrust technology upon students without offering alternatives if they do not want it or they do not have access. Some of these issues are addressed in different ways in the webinar.
There was a lot of information in the webinar, I tried to take notes and take down points I thought were important, but ultimately I can only talk about so much. I'll start with some of the flaws that the participants thought existed in the educational system today. One of the overarching themes of the webinar was that the educational system is lacking when it comes to determining if students are learning. Currently students knowledge level and the effectiveness of teachers is decided by standardized tests. This was deemed ineffective by the panel because evaluating students based on test scores does not demonstrate that students are learning to become effective citizens nor show if they are learning from meaningful experiences, and not simply memorizing facts and the process of these tests. (Alfie Gardner). He goes on to say that: to assess means to measure in a quantifiable manner instead of looking to see if the children are learning something of substance and if they are learning in a lasting manner, this is not really being done since they are evaluated based on measurement. "We can't make progress in education as long as education is still measured by test scores." This can lead to making dreadful forms of teaching seem successful. His solution is for parents to keep their children from attending school and participating in the tests on test day.
On the other hand one of the other panelists, Howard Gardner indicated that he though digital citizenship was something that we should be teaching students, especially in such a digital age. Before reform can happen it was brought up that the discussion of education is only as good as the way that it is framed. Most people are not asked and don't tend to rethink that goals of education and how these goals are implemented and being achieved in the schools. Are the perceptions about what is important for students to learn changing? Are we doing anything to make these changes and to have more meaningful ways for students to learn?
I thought that this webinar brought up some interesting points, and I agree that issues need to be reassessed. The key to this re-assessment is how do we inform the public about what it is happening in the schools and how to do we get them to take action and to fight to make the education of their children to be more substantial and not simply test based.
