#edcmooc REDIFINING THE HUMAN

                          
                                 WEEK 4
                              Redifining the Human
Once more I am  late for writing my blog  this week  and  I have just finished   watching  the  final activities before the course  ends.  However, I have my ideas about the different conditions of   human and non-human creatures. 
HUMAN  BEINGS  ARE  DIFFERENT.
The videos present  different  situations, but again I am optimistic and  I believe that human beings   will cope with technology and will learn to live in symbiosis with new tools while at the same  time they will make progress  at work, at university and  also at school. We do need to believe that the technological  revolution has already started and the process will continue but  teachers will continue  working with students and be great  tutors and  helpers for them.

WHY  HUMAN BEINGS  CAN MAKE  A DIFFERENCE

We have feelings, we have eyes and special sensibilities that cannot  make  us   become like robots; artificial intelligence will not  be brighter than us. 

I   have seen that  thanks to technology  education is now  a global village where we are teachers who continue studying, learning and  developing new skills while  we work  from  home and at school................and  we can say that  now we can rely on our  students' help. Yes, they can make a difference , but we should trust all of  them and base our  work on  collaborative activities, teaching  them how to work in a different environment.  Collaboration on line should  be shared by most schools and teachers because  we can  learn more if we  can work together. Thus PBL( Project Based Learning) should be one of the most important  activities at school.

EDUCATION AND INTERNET

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/

The article presented on line is  interesting and  it  has made me think a lot : it is true that  today we read and study in a different way but I would also like to say that if we have the right  tools and we have taught our students how to use them education and internet and computers can make a great job together. 

I was born in  the XX century and my education was based on books, pens and paper. I learnt to use the typewriter, then the first  computers more than 20 years ago, I am still learning how to use new tools for teaching in a better way.

I like what  BILL GATES wrote in his blog  http://www.gatesnotes.com/Education/Education-2:

"I believe a lot of good teachers could become truly great teachers if we can get better at identifying and measuring effective teaching, investing in helping teachers improve, and rewarding excellence.

I also believe technology can help teachers be more effective and make learning more interesting. "

I would add that teachers  are responsible  not only for teaching the skills  and the subjects they have  studied and  are specialized in : they should be able to teach students how to use the new  tools  in education. Internet and  e-readers  ,e-books should make  our  work and study  much better and  a life-long process into life. Because  EDUCATION  is life.

This is my final  presentation for the  ARTEFACT  I have been working on  in the last  ten days: I chose an old library to start with then I worked on the idea of education in the XXI century.

E-learning and  Digital culture can  open new ways to us as teachers and  students. We are  entering a different  period in the life of  men but once more we are responsible or  our process of  learning and  we can  have  fun.  I   chose  the  short story by ASIMOV to tell everybody that  the characters in the story were a bit fed up with their situations  in the school of the future . Today in our schools we can  work on line and also off line in a better learning environment and also teachers  can   now  improve their competences thanks to  the websites. And we have interactions with our  students : FB or TWITTER  and also  a lot of  discussions with them. Because we care. 

Human relationships will not disappear but  technologies will make our life  different and we  will choose  WHAT, HOW and WHEN  to study.  Critical thinking skills will remain  the most important  skills we should all have and  it is the role of the teacher, as a guide and facilitator to help his/her  students to become better citizens of the world.

29 November  2014                   English  Language Teacher   

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