Teaching in the 21st Century Videos

I just watched the video Mr. Dancealot.  It was a silly video in which Professor Dancealot taught his students how to dance by lecture.  The students were confined to their seats and they were not allowed to talk to each other, standard in a lecture format.  The students had confused looks on their faces from the very beginning, how are they suppose to learn how to dance sitting down?! The author very quickly put a sticker on the video that read "Exciting pedagogy! He is reading the objectives of the course from a PowerPoint slide! Wow!!"  Obviously sarcastic, the author continues to show his distaste for the professor through the facial expressions of the students.  None of the students look to be enjoying themselves nor seem to be learning how to dance from printed instructions.  At one point, a student stands up and tries to copy the footsteps of Professor Dancealot and is immediately scolded.  The author does really well showing that lecture is not always the best way to teach.  And, in some cases, it is probably the worst way to teach.  Seriously, how is someone suppose to learn to dance sitting in a lecture hall? At the end of the video, Professor Dancealot put the students in a ballroom, set up a video camera, and expects them to know how to dance.  The students use their notes but of course none of them have learned how to dance from Professor Dancealot.  There is a Chinese proverb that says, "[t]ell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."  If one does not put to practice what he is learning, chances are he is not really learning anything at all.

Another video I have watched recently is Teaching in the Twenty-First Century.  This was created by Kevin Roberts.  The video is more just a series of questions rather than an 'entertainment' video as the first. Entertaining as it is, it seriously questions the role of a teacher in today's society.  Roberts says that if all a teacher is good for is to tell the students facts, dates, formulas, and the like, then there is no real role of a teacher in the twenty-first century.  All of the facts and figures that students need to know are online.  They can find content and stories on Google, Twitter, blogs, Yahoo, the list goes on and on (and Roberts does go on and on).  If that is all a student needs to know, Roberts argues, then there is no need for a teacher in the twenty-first century.  Roberts, however, does not believe there is no need for teachers in the twenty-first century.  Teachers show the students how to find information, what to do with that information, and what information is worth paying attention to.  I remember being taught how to write research papers in high school and which resources were credible and which were not.  I also remember telling one of my teachers forcing me to do research on my own.  I actually told her she was not doing her job because she was not 'teaching' us and forcing us to do her work for us.  Boy, was I wrong.  Today, I am kicking myself because I feel guilty for being so mean to her when she taught me such an incredible skill of learning how to learn.  She actually reminds me a lot of Dr. Strange.  The role of a teacher goes far beyond that of shoving facts into children's heads.  It goes beyond memorization and getting past tests.  Roberts lays this all out there; it is not enough to just know facts and dates anymore, one must know what to do with all the information he is taking in.  And that is why teaching will continue to be important in the twenty-first century.

After watching The Networked Student, I am conflicted.  The beginning of the video almost makes me cringe.  At one point the video tells the audience that the student is getting his information from the web.  Blogs, more specifically.  Then it says that the student realizes that the blogs are not cold hard facts, but more opinions of others.  Good realization.  It is scary to think that students are learning to research from blogs and other sources that are not cold hard facts.  It never hurts to get someone's opinion about something, but that does seem a little farfetched for me.  Students are not learning cold hard facts?  They are learning by reading other peoples opinions?  Well, what the video finishes up with is why this hip, new, blog reading student needs is a teacher!  The networked student needs a teacher so that he knows when a source is opinion and when it is facts.  The student needs a teacher for leadership, to answer questions, to guide him in the right direction.  The thought of someone going on the internet and learning all there is to know just makes me so nervous!  Everything on the internet is not true and that is exactly why the networked student needs a teacher. 

The videos Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts by Vicki Davis and Who's Ahead of the Learning Race by Dr. Strange go hand in hand really.  The point of the first video is that all students are able to learn using technology whereas only certain students are able to learn using a paper and pencil method.  Using devices in the classroom will help students that cannot concentrate in a lecture setting, it also helps children learn to learn.  Another upside to technology in the classroom is that it connects the students with other kids all over the world.  Not only other kids, but teachers and other professionals and this helps the children be connected with all kinds of information.  This video and Dr. Strange's video go together because Dr. Strange compares how tech savvy the first graders in Baldwin County are to his undergraduate and graduate classes at South Alabama.  The children in the classrooms of Baldwin County are doing the same sort of media projects that Dr. Strange's students are working on as college students.  That is so wild.  The children probably even use the technology better than some of us in this EDM class.  It is exciting to see how the changing of teaching styles in the classroom will effect the education level of the United States as a whole.