Yesterday I was listening to David Warlick's most recent podcast from the TRLD conference in San Francisco. He was talking to people at a workshop on Podcasting about "What is Learning?" and "What is the purpose of Education?" One of the quotes from a member of the workshop has stuck with me "Are we filling the bucket or lighting the flame?" I love it. It encapsulates so much of what I'm trying to achieve with my role as Learning Technology Coordinator, in that I want students to use technology as a vehicle for their learning, not just learn about word processing and spreadsheets etc...
One of the problems with our content driven curriculum (yes we suffer from this in HK as well) is that we are driven by the 'need' to cover the curriculum and prepare students for their examination. Yes we can always use the exam as a cover for not changing our pedagogy -- but the research is out there: students that learn to think do well in exams! They are able to apply their knowledge, not just regurgitate the content that they have covered. We don't have to wait for assessment to change we can start lighting the flame now!
Flickr Image: Closer to the Flame by mscaprikell
No comments:
Post a Comment