Section 5: Trends & Issues Various Settings

For this first part of this week we need needed to compare and contrast the trends and issues of two contexts.  From business, military, medical education, K-12 education, and post-secondary education, I chose medical education and K-12.  I chose these because (1) I am educator in a public school and (2) medical education is closest to using the teaching methodology that I am most interested in implementing in my own classroom: problem-based learning.  Both contexts recognize the benefits of problem-based learning in order to develop and enhance problem solving skills necessary in the real world and increasing retention of basic content knowledge by making the process more authentic.  Medical education and public education both have proponents that support the use of informational technology in pursuit of these goals and actively try to integrate these resources into their respective programs.  Both have recognized that PBL increases student satisfaction in the learning process.  The differ in their degree of adoption and integration of instructional technology.  The author of chapter 20 admits that there is much more pressure placed on medical professionals, so research into best teaching practices is ongoing and new data tends to be widely adopted quickly.  For example, initial research on PBL in medical education began in the 60’s and was adopted nationwide by the 80’s.  Most medical schools new employ real world clinical case studies and simulated patients that mimic real patients.  In public education, PBL has seen slower integration.  Many programs still rely on “traditional” teaching strategies: teacher lectures, student takes notes.  (Though, elementary programs, especially EC and kinder programs seem to have more widely implemented inquiry-based methods.  Inquiry-based learning is fundamentally similar to PBL).  Both articles cite research that suggest that technology integration can lead to increases in best practice activities and student satisfaction with learning.  The medical education article, for me, sets a goal to reach in my classroom.  Medical educators set the “gold standard” for how technology can be used effectively in the classroom and the gains that can be had.  

For the second part of this week’s post, I chose chapter 23, Developing Learning to Meet Complex Challenges for an Undivided World, about a theoretical physicist-turned-instructional designer in sub-Saharan Africa.  I learned that learning can take place anywhere, as long as you have motivation to teach, motivation to learn, and imagination to use what you have available.  The students discussed in this chapter did not have computers to pine after or the newest probeware to complain about not having.  Many of those schools did not even have electricity, but the best schools had teachers that wanted to do the best they could for their students.  I think keeping that in mind will help to overcome most any challenge that I would face as an educator.  Unfortunately, I don’t think that the state of our education system is such that our students would have the skills to interact with students from other cultures and regions without pissing people off.  We have, in some cases, tremendous access to technology for classroom use, but we don’t use it to the fullest extent possible.  I consider myself and the forefront of using technology at my school but there is so much more that I can do.  The biggest thing I can do is explore the different ways to use technology to connect with other regions and cultures in a meaningful way.  In preparing myself for these experiences, I can better prepare my students to get the most out of connecting with other people.