My interest in business has always been next to 0. Perhaps all I will say this week about copyright is that I am a lot more interested in business than I was before. There is no separation between French, science, literacy, business, art and politics. Everything is linked together. The books by Mitch Joel sound like a good start for this purpose, to give me an introduction to the topic.
Gaming is an interesting way to learn technology and science. It takes away the fear factor. It is not a small accomplishment since science and technology is seen as a difficult subject, especially for girls. I personally never had this problem but I could see that my friends in high school were much more interested in watching the movies about Sissi than doing their latin or physics. I could force myself to learn but in retrospect, I would have done even better in chemistry or physics if the sciences were taught in its context rather than through mathematics. Games can provide the context in which the science lessons or technology lessons can be taught. The students would be self motivated since, in most cases the games would be used at home, for fun.
I have placed this link on my twitter feed that discusses gaming and SCRATCH.
https://www.smore.com/mwwd-la-classe-invers-e
Technology is definitely an excellent tool not only to engage students but also to prepare them for the future. Doing the same things we were doing before with a more expensive tool is for what we are looking for. We are looking at education in a very different way. Technology allow learners to be critical thinkers and creators of knowledge as opposed to just passive recipients of unrelated information. Technology allows us to do this at a much earlier age than before. Their are so many tools available that the reluctant learner will find a tool that is engaging. For example, doing stop motion animation with LEGO figures with boys is a real success as it allows them to write a story with their toys. Learning looks like play that they can share with others.
I did my “guru” presentation at an AQ course for FSL part 1, 2, and 3, before I did the presentation to our class. There were teacher candidates and some experienced teachers. I asked one simple question to see what was their knowledge of technology. Assuming the young teacher candidates were young and perhaps exposed to technology since they are digital natives. My question was: Raise your hand if you know about a French search engine. Only 4 out of 20 knew there was such a thing as a French search engine. I do not believe one bit that digital natives are proficient users of technology. They have used technology, yes. It seems natural, yes. But it is a far cry to know how to use it appropriately. There is a great need to educate teachers, and French teachers about the use of technology. It is not something that people necessarily know, or know how to do effectively.
What are the purpose and goals. Teaching just technology skills is not sufficient. We have a better pen, but what are we going to do with it? Technology can only be useful in conjunction with another big goal, to solve world issues, to make a better world. The United Nations have a list of goals like this: solve world hunger, provide sanitation, end poverty, provide water to every one, improve education. Concerned scientists have different concerns: solve issues around global warming, the effects of science and technology on society. Using technology with a bigger goal is what we are looking for. Everyone has something to offer to make the world a better place.
I have used many different types of technology in many different types of projects already in my classroom. I would be quite interested in exploring more types of projects and perhaps do action research with someone else to see what works better. I see the development of future scientist and environmental issues as very important. It is a focus I will include more in my teaching and learning.