Week 1 reflectionings

After processing the presentations I noted my perceptions of the main points. Presentation one “Meet Generation Z” left me with a thought of, maybe they should be teaching me, but also with a sense of respect and admiration. They really are the generation of innatism, maybe not in the philosophical sense, but as in all of the human races’ lessons, mistakes, theories and ramblings are a click or swipe away. Our goal as a species is/was to pass all the lessons we learned to our children so they could advance their position in life without making the same mistakes we did. The internet is that collective conscious and Gen Z are using it!

With teachings like Dr. Willis’ regarding tailoring education to Gen Z with “bite sized” parcels of information and her four main objectives of creating SAFE, CURIOUS and FOCUSED individuals who can EVALUATE INFORMATION supports my vision of a classroom.

Sir Ken Robinson delivered a deep and somewhat futuristic view of education. Although, he made many valid points it was the basic theory of intelligence being dynamic that supports my pedagogy.

These three ideas support my general pedagogy within digital literacy which is trusting the students to complete tasks with their own methods unless specific criteria is required (Meet Gen Z). Education is for the students, do not bog down in convention, move with the time, keep them curious and focused (Dr. Judy Willis). Don’t be afraid to change traditional processes, be dynamic and reward creativity (Sir Ken Robinson).  

The benefits of equipping students with ICT knowledge is the real world applications. Understanding and being comfortable with investigating, creating and communicating with technology prepares them to be part of the global online community thus, building current and informed individuals.

Traditional classrooms ask for opinions of set texts, which makes sense, but may narrow the mind to traverse an already well-worn track. Whilst proven, peer reviewed information is critical to advancing knowledge I believe it may not be critical to gaining knowledge. For example, only using the proven way to achieve a result constricts the mind to the specific steps needed to get to your goal whilst not understanding the reason those specific steps are important. My classroom could use social media and opinion pieces as a source of debate to weed out the ridiculous and form a united theory, give or take a few unique ideas, on the chosen topic.