Journal 10 NETS-T ( I )Point/Counterpoint: Does the U.S. Education System Support Innovation?

Ward,Welter, S. P. (2013, 03 04). Point/counterpoint: Does the u.s. education system support innovation?. Learning & leading with technology, Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/l-l-march-april-2013/point-counterpoint-does-the-u.s.-education-system-support-innovation-

The article “Point/Counterpoint: Does the U.S. Education System Support Innovation?” by Selena Ward and Pete Welter offer two different view points on the question of whether or not our education system is supportive of innovative thinkers.

Selena Ward offers the positive viewpoint saying that yes the U.S Education system does promote innovation by supplying schools with the money they need to purchase technological devices that will advance a student’s use with innovative technological machines. She believes it is not the system’s job to promote student innovation, she believes that job belongs to teacher’s and administrators.

Although I agree that it is a part of the teacher and administrator’s job to promote student innovation I think that she is wrong in her opinion that the education system is adequately supporting and promoting innovation by handing out money for tech. I think that that is the least they can do.

I agree more with the opinion of Pete Welter who believes that the education system is not developing, supporting, or promoting innovation. He argues that the education system today focuses to strongly on standardized testing. This focus creates kids that follow the rules without question, learn only what they are told to, and are made to believe that the only way to adequately judge intelligence is by passing a test.

Welter argues that this type of highly structured education is detrimental to creating innovative thinkers. He says that innovative thinkers are people who question the rules and establishments around them, they look for new ways of solving problems, they often specialize in a particular field and may not be as successful in others, and they are not afraid of failure because failure leads to better success.

Who do you agree with in this debate?

I strongly agree with Peter Welter’s argument because it makes sense. Our education system is stuck on conformity and innovation cannot properly thrive in such a constricting environment.

What do you think the U.S Education System should do to better promote and develop innovative thinking in schools?

I think the first major step needs to be completely eliminating the “No Child Left Behind” agenda and doing away with the strong focus on standardized testing. After that I think we need to make sure that the arts stay in schools. Arts classes are great at developing innovative thinking in students.

Journal 9 NETS-T (I-V)

Journal 9 NETS-T (I-V) Massive and Open: MOOCs Are the Next Big Thing in Online Learning.

Fasimpaur, K. (n.d.). Massive and open. (2013). Learning and Leading with Technology, 40(6), 12-17. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/digitaledition/digital-edition-march-april-2013

Karen Fasimpaur introduces us to MOOCs in her article “Massive and Open: MOOCs Are the Next Big Thing in Online Learning. MOOCs or massive open online courses present us with a new and innovative way of learning. MOOCs are online course open to everyone and most of them are offered free of charge. You want to learn about circuits and electronics from MIT but can’t afford to go there? No problem now you can have an MIT online course experience for free through their MOOC space called MITx.

The article describes a few different types of MOOCs. There is cMOOCs which places heavy importance on participatory learning and group work. Another type is xMOOCs like Udacity and Cousera which are massive in scale catering to thousands of participants. xMOOCs are used more for independent study than group work and participation. The last type that was mentioned in this article is MOOCs for teachers. I found this section to be particularly interesting because it involved promoting and facilitating life long learning. Peer 2 Peer University or P2PU offers 25 courses for teachers on everything from differentiating instruction to e-portfolios.

Would you use MOOCs?

Yes I would use MOOCs. I would use teacher MOOCs to help me continue my goal of life long learning and to help me build my e-portfolio. I can also see how some MOOCs could be incorporated into the classroom to give students on online area of practice.

Are you afraid that online courses are the future and that soon teachers will no longer be needed?

I admit that yes this is a fear of mine but I don’t think that teachers will ever be completely obsolete. I think that as the decades pass we will see a rise in online courses but they still need teachers to run those courses. I just hope that face to face classes don’t completely disappear in the future because I think in order to build good and long lasting teacher-student relations you need that face to face interaction.