Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Week 9 - Should education stretch a person?
Education should stretch a person, in the sense that it fulfils their potential. The reasons for education (in my opinion) are to provide goals for students to work hard to reach and or excel within their areas of study. Education is all about challenging individuals to reach their educational potential and to be prepared for life once they have gained their qualifications. The question that I ask here is, can new media accomplish this criterion for education? I see that social-determinism is playing a large role here in shaping what technology offers us. Therefore, is new media allowing us to learn in a way accommodated to our wants, rather than ‘stretching’ us in a way that education needs. By referring back to Prensky’s notion on teaching Digital Natives through video games, isn’t this merging two different factors in society together, i.e. education and out of school activities. Shouldn’t there be a clear distinction between these two factors so that students can learn to easily recognise the difference? If they are merged together I think it could possibly diverge away from what is expected from students as they become less aware they are learning and more complacent with playing video games.
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RINCY :D
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the leisure/study divide as something that should be protected. As a kid I wanted my coffee bar (hangout) free of education -especially the pinball machine, the Space Invaders and the Pac-Man. Both realms would be undermined if the two activities merged.
ReplyDeleteBut also, how you encounter information and ideas should stretch you too. I'm often in situations where my ability to take notes whilst following arguments and dealing with new info is put to the test, and none of them are 'academic' forums. They are business and management meetings, briefings and consultations. I have to adapt to the other peoples' preferred way of working -and that means flexibility. This isn't served by getting taught as a teenager in my preferred mode (which probably would've been by TV programme).