One of the highlights of meaningful
learning, in my opinion, was the fact that the students are engaged through the
idea of learning by doing. “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; help him
learn how to fish, and he eats for life” really underscores what meaningful
learning is all about, implying that special attention must be to what is taught but also how to apply it. Group learning also
plays a crucial part in the meaningful learning process. Learning in a group
promotes the social aspect of understanding by allowing the learning process to
happen through discussion, debate, and collaboration. Meaningful learning is
designed to help offer different perspectives in varying situations, scenarios,
and problems. When effectively used, meaningful learning forces the students to
make their own decisions, think for themselves, and defend their own ideas.
A question I have about technology integration is how will schools with limited
funds be able to afford the equipment and will it negatively impact them if
they are unable to keep up with the newest technology? If more affluent schools
are able to by the modern, up-to-date technology, they ultimately will have
access to more information and surpass the education less privileged schools
receive. One piece of technology that I would implement to create meaningful
learning would be something along the lines of Poll Everywhere. It is an online
polling system that the students are able to text in answers or enter it on a
website. The results are anonymously displayed on a board and offer students to
see different viewpoints on a subject.
I had never heard of Poll Everywhere until I read this blog post. After looking at their website, I must agree with you that Poll Everywhere seems to have a lot of room to grow in terms of meaningful and interactive learning. Students could use it to offer anonymous feedback about their professors, or to give input about what they would like to study in more detail. As for your question about low-income schools, I believe that reallocation of budget money would provide funding for technology in those schools. For instance, if the technology is used to offer books through an app like Kindle Fire, then a brand new, tangible textbook wouldn't be necessary.
ReplyDeleteI love the quote that you incorporated in your blog. It's 100% true, as the skill sets you give an individual are going to provide them with many more benefits in the long run. I agree with your usage of Poll Everywhere. Students are sometimes reserved and this anonymous technique will give the class different perspectives other than the ones always willing to speak up.
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