ETEC 561: Section V trends and issues. Section VI global trends and issues.

1. Chapters in Section V identify trends and issues in IDT in various contexts: business & industry; military; health care education; P-12 education; and post-secondary education. Select at least 3 of these 5 contexts and compare/contrast the IDT trends and issues. Then explain how they are similar or different from the IDT trends and issues in the context in which you work.

Section V Trends and Issues Sep 28, 2014

1. Compare and contrast:

 IDT trends within business and industry include the fact that growth is not limited to national boundaries. The expectation of constant growth requires ever increasing efficiency. How to achieve a more efficient operation must account for the differences in other culture’s work habits and the impact of language choice when introducing new or modified processes. IDT provides the vehicle to engage more of those directly involved in a collaborative effort. Then, process improvements stand a better chance of being accepted when those executing the process have an input. The goal as always is produce more for less, move it to a point-of-sale as cheaply as possible, and engage in just-in-time logistics. To be done most effectively, issues such as collaborating across boundaries cannot be limited to managers but must include input from those directly performing the processes.

At the core of IDT trends in the military is the necessity to be adaptive to multiple environments. The classroom is only one consideration. Others must include on board ships, airborne, and in combat. Unique to the military is the potential loss of life should any training approach be ill-thought out or poorly executed. Training in the military is a continuous and daily activity in order build habits which save lives in combat. Even though here is not the profit and loss consideration of the business and industry, there are constant tradeoffs on how often training occurs and who participates in the exercises. Budget constraints do regularly curtail training frequency and duration, keep ships in port, and cause aircraft to stay grounded. The most well designed instruction must account for these scenarios.

Issues and trends in the health care field include just how far can medical professionals exploit the ubiquitous internet to not only school future medical staff, but also encourage patients to take advantage of and evaluate the universe of professionally-reviewed information only a few mouse clicks away. A trend in teaching medicine makes the fullest use of information technology to cut the face-to-face in a classroom. Another consideration is to reconcile the mismatch between the medical curriculum and exam content as focus shifts from knowing specific answers to knowing how to solve problems.

In my work, the school district must blend the concerns of a business, the tradeoffs in priorities of the military, and mediate the tension between the necessity to best use technology as it elevates the competence of staff to do so. The ease of acquisition far exceeds capability to exploit meaningful use. The conditions are perfect to exploit IDT to improve the overall use of the technology. How do we as a district develop better, more confident users of the technology in order to exploit it to the benefit of our students?

Climbing up the stairs to an old school

2. Chapters in Section VI discuss global trends and issues in IDT. As the world’s population grows exponentially, we face unprecedented challenges that have implications for learning. How and can we prepare our youth to address the problems of living in a world with 9 billion people when the earth’s resources cannot sustain that many? Does our current education system, curriculum, and instructional practices help learners foster the complex problem-solving skills necessary to tackle these issues? Are there methods and practices used in European and Asian countries that we should use here in the US? Why or why not? 

Section VI Global Trends and Issues in IDT Sep 28

How can we prepare our youth to address the problems of living in a world with 9 billion people?

Jan Visser wrote in in Chapter 23 that to solve complex problems, learning is a significant but not the only dimension. He also wrote that it is vital to learn to listen very carefully. Be able to see the world through the eyes of others. Visser credited Vera John-Stiener for coining the phrase “creative collaboration”. Visser himself emphasized he applied this by doing it. Be in the company of others who contribute and who take part in crafting a solution to complex problems.

There is no question that technology will continue its march providing volumes of data open to infinite interpretations. The variable when considering this data is the human one. The x-factor is human willingness to collaborate and reach a consensus. We teach our youth that listening carefully shows respect to others and complements any technological capability to capture and analyze data. Lacking that ability to listen, by 2050 we may find ourselves reliant on artificial intelligence to be the great problem solver. The necessity to think across disciplines and not compartmentalize to attain complex solutions is essential.

Does our current education system and curriculum and instructional practices help learners foster the complex problem-solving skills necessary to tackle these issues?

I see our education system today as preparing students for work that may not exist when they graduate or they find their education underutilized or not utilized at all. Large percentages of students exiting the public school system must take remedial reading, writing and math and are permanently behind. It is almost structurally impossible to effect change because we fight over textbook content, number of schooldays, and expect teachers to waste their time teaching to standardized tests which require memorization skills only. We import teachers into the country and allow them in our classrooms just because they can speak a language.

Are there methods and practices used in European and Asian countries that we should use in the US?

 We tend to see the Asian education system to be too rigorous, too many days, too many hours. Europe is a political title for a conglomeration of nationalities and languages with political boundaries. There are as many education systems as there are countries.  

At last, students in Europe will not have to go to school as I did.  All my books, notebooks and materials in one hand bag.  Not a back bag, nor messenger bag.  That is the advancement in Europe, really.  Yes we do have the technology to accommodate the knowledge, but do we have the knowledge to bring the appropriate technology to supplement our youth’s learning.  No!  One brings the other, so we hope to be successful by just reading books, and some technology to make learning easier than 40 years ago.

Technology needs knowledge, content and pedagogy, if all which make TPACK do not exist together, what is one going to do without the others………