The Digital Era

The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. 
The tough problem is not in identifying winners:  it is in making winners out of ordinary people. 

~K. Patricia Cross

The Digital Era is upon us.

The way in which children, teenagers and even adults learn has completely changed. Books, worksheets and paper tasks are no longer the only means of learning and working. It is now possible to ‘learn-on-the-go’ through the wonders of electronic devices such as notebooks, smart phones and tablets that connect you to the World Wide Web (thanks Tim Berners-Lee).
Through the platforms of social media, online forums and e-books the possibilities of broadening your understanding are now seamlessly in your hands.
The world as we know it has gone through significant technological changes that no-one 40 years ago could ever imagine, and it’s not slowing down any time soon.

Now that the digital era is here, whether we like it or not, ‘we’ as ‘teachers-to-be’ need to be ready to change with it and to be more adaptable than ever.

Created using https://www.wordclouds.com/

                                                                 

The purpose of this blog is to illustrate how ‘we’ as pre-service teachers are riding the wave of the greatest era of technological advances, and that the children in our future classes will learn, excel and grow in their ecological systems differently to how we once did (Bronfenbrenner, 2009). The tools that we have at our disposal such as the internet, social media, online forums and online communities are all different sources that we can utilise to ensure that we can give the most up-to-date and best possible education to the students in our future classes.

The content within my blog consists of my own personal critical reflections based on a variety of driving questions, the implementation of learning through ‘games and play’ and the benefits and implications of using different technologies within the classroom setting.

References: 

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2009). The ecology of human development. Harvard university press.