SEEDlings

John C. Dvorak wrote an article for PC Magazine entitled, “Knowing What to Know – The Cheating Debate.”

Here’s an interesting excerpt from it.

Today’s educational systems just do not get modernity. And by that I don’t mean that people shouldn’t learn calculus or Roman history. I mean they should be encouraged to use the most modern tools available to them to gather, organize, and present information.

That’s the point about not cheating. Let a student go online while taking a test. Why not? Let them do research on the fly while taking a test. What’s the point of memorizing that Ben Franklin was born in 1706 when that tidbit is available online? And knowing the fact itself proves nothing. Higher-education mavens tell us how important it is to learn how to learn. How about knowing what to know? Isn’t that just as important? You wouldn’t think so, as this debate rages.

One thing I can guarantee you: The eventual winner of the debate will be the folks on the modern-technology side of the aisle. Unfortunately, the celebration in the victory circle is still a ways away, and kids will suffer in the meantime.

What are the skills that teachers need to let go of? Are we still doing “old things in old ways” as Marc Prensky would say? Are our students suffering as Dvorak states?

As technology integrators we need to find ways to get teachers thinking about education in the 21st century. I posted a link to this article in our school news on FirstClass and had a great conversation with a teacher in my building about the concepts presented in it. While she didn’t agree with Dvorak, she did rethink some of her thoughts after our discussion.