Information technology has made life both easier and more complicated. It has redefined the problems and challenges of society, so that education must respond to these changes. While technologies help us in many aspects of our lives, including satisfying an ever increasing need for more readily available information, it must also be approached cautiously, so that this need does not supercede our ability to critically assess the relevance of such information.
Today’s students are in the midst of this educational paradigm shift. Similarly, teachers are equally challenged to continually hone their craft, given the new technological realities. Technological innovation has changed the types of problems students will be expected to solve. Complex problems in arts, sciences, social studies, politics, and law, to name but a few, will require a new outlook, not just on how to apply technology to these problems, but also why.
Education is the first step towards understanding how the challenges of tomorrow can be addressed in the classrooms of today. For educators, that means asking why before asking how. This becomes the essential question since using a new tool without understanding its power and purpose limits our ability to apply it meaningfully.
Before we can ask HOW digital instructional methods and assessment inform new student learning paradigms, we must first ask WHY those paradigms are changing in the first place.
Before we can ask HOW virtual and augmented reality can be leveraged to meet social demands, we must first ask WHY technology benefits the ability to resolve nonlinear and complex problems.
Before we can ask HOW we can harness game-based learning and gamification methods for deeper learning, we must ask WHY learners are motivated by the experience of play.
Rockcliffe’s Erudition Conference wishes to invite you to be part of this conversation, connect with other educators, submit a proposal, and take with you not just new tools to further enhance your teaching, but also ways of meeting these educational challenges.
Rockcliffe’s Erudition Conference is happening October 13-14, 2017 in Sacramento, California.