Thursday, July 11th

 Today we watched two facsinating videos.

The first video was a lecture by Dr. William Rankin, who explained how learning has changed with the evolution of technology. He described the three ages of teaching, and how the model has changed as information and education became accessible to more people. It's amazing that compared to the pre-internet era, not only are people able to access limitless resources, but now have the choice to fully participate as active providers of information. In an era where the information is constantly changing, it surely makes sense that teaching as a transmitter of knowledge will definitely not be an effective approach in the 21st century. Education is truly coming to a shift, and it will be interesting how it will change in the upcoming years. I personally believe in the role of a teacher as a facilitator, who helps students develop the skills necessary to find the information they are looking for. This way, hopefully we can foster life long learners who can apply concepts they learn at school, to situations outside of the walls of the classrooms.

This shift in the approach to education leads to the second video we saw by Ken Robinson. He explained that the current model of education was based on training students to work in factories, during the industrial revolution. It is a standardized one-size-fits-all model. It makes no sense that students are grouped together by their age, and not based on their unique abilities. Children must be educated holistically, rather than as numbers achieved on standardized tests.