http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=dGCJ46vyR9o
I watched this clip and was struck by a few things. the interesting thing to me is that most of the items that caught my eye had more to do with the educational process and the atmosphere in the classroom than the uses of technology or social media. The first statement that shocked me was that only 18% of teachers know their students names. If this is true, it is a real shame. Another statement was that only 26% of classroom material is relevant to students lives. I believe that this is probably more a case of the students not seeing the relevancy when it is really there. It is our job as educators to help students make the connection between the material and their lives.
Hi Dick! I like that you included the link to the video you commented on. That certainly helps your readers understand what you're commenting on. Thanks for thinking of us!
ReplyDeleteThe challenge is always to effect relevancy in the courses we teach. If it is not relevant, why should anyone be interested in the content. If one can not use this information, why do they need it? How many courses are like that in our curriculum? Far to many I think. So, what should the perfect academic curriculum look like. I read a book called the "Saber Tooth Curriculum". It addressed these issues of relevancy. The curriculum revolved on the need of the cave man to protect himself from the saber tooth tiger. What would you place in that curriculum? How about economics! Should the cave man know something about the gross national product in order to fend off this beast at meal time? How about math! Should he know how to solve a quadratic equation in order to choose the correct weapon for defense?
ReplyDeleteHow do we define relevancy in education? That's a good question....