I agree totally with Nick & Steve, teaching and learning should drive technology and not the other way round. It suffices to note that technology devoid of professionalism or professional responsibility is susceptible to manipulation and is likely to occasion more harm than good. Moreover, technology must not be far ahead of people as to divorce itself from the practise and obtaining culture of education (teaching and learning culture) because if it does, then it is equally likely to be misunderstood or wracked by spasms and convulsions of self-interest, prejudice and nuances.
Ochieng M.Khairalla-Nairobi-Kenya.

--- On Mon, 7/7/08, Nicky Mohan <nmohan at workbase.org.nz> wrote:

From: Nicky Mohan <nmohan at workbase.org.nz>
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2199] Re: from Steve, Critical Thinking and Learner Leadership
To: "The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List" <professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov>
Date: Monday, July 7, 2008, 7:56 PM



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A valid point,Steve. We should not be slaves to technology and simply introduce it in the classroom purely because it a nice to have as opposed to a need. In this technological landscape one would find it had to resist wanting the best that technology has to offer. However, teaching and learning should not be driven by technology. It should be the other way round whereby the teaching and learning needs to drive the technology. I am not saying that we should abstain from the use of technology. Technology has its place and it needs to be used to enhance and facilitate the teaching and learning. The point I am making is that teachers and tutors be ware of putting the cart before the horse. Thinking Critically is the way forward to decide when to use technology and when not to.



From: professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:professionaldevelopment-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Taylor, Jackie
Sent: Tuesday, 8 July 2008 2:19 p.m.
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2197] from Steve,Critical Thinking and Learner Leadership




The following is posted on behalf of Steve Kaufmann. Please read on ~ Jackie Taylor
 




From: Steve Kaufmann [mailto:steve at thelinguist.com] 
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2008 7:26 PM
To: The Adult Literacy Professional Development Discussion List
Subject: Re: [ProfessionalDevelopment 2193] Critical Thinking and LearnerLeadership
 
I do not understand the advantages of increasing the use of technology in the classroom. The classroom has the great advantage of getting people together face to face. Learners and teachers have the opportunity to talk in pairs, or groups or as one large group. Communication is happening at many levels. Everything from a cafe setting, to a cocktail party, to a business meeting can be simulated with real people. Why introduce technology in the classroom?

To me the advantage of technology lies in the opportunity to help learners do more learning away from the classroom.  MP3 players are but one example. The computer is another. One can read on a computer and use an online dictionary. New words can be kept in a learner's own database. Lists of words and phrases can be automatically created and from these flash cards can be generated. Statistics can be kept of the words and phrases saved and learned. 

Teachers can record material for specific purposes, such as critical thinking, for learners to listen to and read and then be prepared to put into practice in class.

Teachers can correct essays online and record the corrected writing. These can be part of a learners portfolio and can also be shared around. 

The benefit of technology is to increase the ways that learners can stay active away from the class so that they can enjoy more intensive interaction in class.

Steve


-- 
Steve Kaufmann
www.lingq.com
1-604-922-8514----------------------------------------------------
National Institute for Literacy
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