“Teachers must be futurists”
Response to module 1- Thinking about technology
For my first week of study in Classroom Technologies one of my assigned readings was chapter one of Roblyer and Doering’s (2014) book, Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. In this chapter Roblyer and Doering (2014) introduced an idea I found fascinating, being “to be informed citizens of an Information Society, teachers must be futurists” (p.15). As someone who is studying to become a teacher this brought me to ponder- will I too need to become a futurist? But what is a futurist and how does one become one?
The dictionary defines a futurist as being someone who studies the future and analyses future trends and possibilities (Macquarie Dictionary: 2017). Despite this succinct definition, I don’t think the task of becoming a futurist will be quite that easy. With technology advancing at such a rapid rate I believe it will be difficult to predict where the classroom is headed into the future. With the introduction of portable devices, interactive touch boards, cloud computing, 3D printing and social networks being introduced into classrooms, it is making it hard for teachers to remain up to date (Poh, n.d.). Roblyer and Doering (2014) also discussed the issue of technologies changing at a faster rate than teachers can keep up (p.20). This leads me to wonder- can we really expect teachers to be constantly ahead of their time?
Technology changes everything, it changes what we teach and how we teach it (Mishra, 2012). While this all sounds very overwhelming for teachers going into the future I think it is important that we remember to focus on what is attainable and what our main purpose is. In Punya Mishra’s (2012) speech presented at the 21st Century Learning Conference he concludes the conference by saying that he doesn’t think we can predict where the future is headed but stressed we should focus on creating, exploring and sharing and emphasised his belief that “creativity is the only solution”. The sheer importance of creativity in the modern world and in the classroom is further explored in Hicks article titled “Why Creativity in the Classroom matters more than ever” (2015). In this article (2015) Hicks discusses the findings discovered from a 2010 survey conducted on 1,500 Chief Executive Officers from around the world. It revealed that they considered creativity to be the most important business skill and believed it was fundamental in navigating the modern world (Hicks, 2015 & Tomasco, 2010).
So instead of trying to see a vision of the future, should we as teachers be focusing on being more creative in the classroom? I argue that they go hand in hand and by introducing more creativity into the classroom and teaching students to become more creative and adaptable, we are then preparing them as best we can. According to the 2010 study (Tomasco) creativity is a skill that businesses and employers are valuing and will seek in their prospective employees. While I do not think we can predict the future, I do think we can foresee the increased value and use of creativity in our lives and careers as we progress into the future. In order to meet the needs of our forever changing world I believe it is crucial that creativity is encouraged in the classroom.
References:
For my first week of study in Classroom Technologies one of my assigned readings was chapter one of Roblyer and Doering’s (2014) book, Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching. In this chapter Roblyer and Doering (2014) introduced an idea I found fascinating, being “to be informed citizens of an Information Society, teachers must be futurists” (p.15). As someone who is studying to become a teacher this brought me to ponder- will I too need to become a futurist? But what is a futurist and how does one become one?
The dictionary defines a futurist as being someone who studies the future and analyses future trends and possibilities (Macquarie Dictionary: 2017). Despite this succinct definition, I don’t think the task of becoming a futurist will be quite that easy. With technology advancing at such a rapid rate I believe it will be difficult to predict where the classroom is headed into the future. With the introduction of portable devices, interactive touch boards, cloud computing, 3D printing and social networks being introduced into classrooms, it is making it hard for teachers to remain up to date (Poh, n.d.). Roblyer and Doering (2014) also discussed the issue of technologies changing at a faster rate than teachers can keep up (p.20). This leads me to wonder- can we really expect teachers to be constantly ahead of their time?
Technology changes everything, it changes what we teach and how we teach it (Mishra, 2012). While this all sounds very overwhelming for teachers going into the future I think it is important that we remember to focus on what is attainable and what our main purpose is. In Punya Mishra’s (2012) speech presented at the 21st Century Learning Conference he concludes the conference by saying that he doesn’t think we can predict where the future is headed but stressed we should focus on creating, exploring and sharing and emphasised his belief that “creativity is the only solution”. The sheer importance of creativity in the modern world and in the classroom is further explored in Hicks article titled “Why Creativity in the Classroom matters more than ever” (2015). In this article (2015) Hicks discusses the findings discovered from a 2010 survey conducted on 1,500 Chief Executive Officers from around the world. It revealed that they considered creativity to be the most important business skill and believed it was fundamental in navigating the modern world (Hicks, 2015 & Tomasco, 2010).
So instead of trying to see a vision of the future, should we as teachers be focusing on being more creative in the classroom? I argue that they go hand in hand and by introducing more creativity into the classroom and teaching students to become more creative and adaptable, we are then preparing them as best we can. According to the 2010 study (Tomasco) creativity is a skill that businesses and employers are valuing and will seek in their prospective employees. While I do not think we can predict the future, I do think we can foresee the increased value and use of creativity in our lives and careers as we progress into the future. In order to meet the needs of our forever changing world I believe it is crucial that creativity is encouraged in the classroom.
References:
Futurist. (2017). In Macmillan Publishers Australia, Macquarie
Dictionary. Retrieved from https://www-macquariedictionary-com-au.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/features/word/search/?word=futurist&search_word_type=Dictionary
Hicks, K. (2015). Why
Creativity in the Classroom matters more than ever. Edudemic: connecting
education and technology. Retrieved from
http://www.edudemic.com/creativity-in-the-classroom/.
Mishra, P. (2012) Keynote,
speech presented at the 21st century Learning
Conference, Hong Kong. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bwXYa91fvQ.
Poh, M. (n.d.). Eight
technologies that will shape future classrooms [Blog post]. Retrieved
from http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/future-classroom-technologies/
Roblyer, M., & Doering, A.
(2014). Pearson New International Edition. Integrating Educational
Technology into Teaching. Harlow, England: Pearson.
Tomasco, S. (2010, May 18). IBM
2010 Global CEO Study: Creativity Selected as Most Crucial Factor for Future
Success. IBM Press Release. Retrieved from
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31670.wss
This is a great start to your posts, you have brought in your own ideas, an extra reading and considered the material. Well done. Instead of finishing with a citation try to answer those questions with your own thoughts and cite references that back your informed opinion. Sandra SC
ReplyDeleteThank you for your helpful feedback Sandra! I have revisited this blog post to try to improve my conclusion by answering my own questions with my opinions and supporting evidence.
ReplyDelete