{"id":3288,"date":"2013-03-10T09:45:08","date_gmt":"2013-03-10T15:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=3288"},"modified":"2016-05-27T16:03:14","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T22:03:14","slug":"cargo-cult-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2013\/03\/10\/cargo-cult-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Cargo Cult Education"},"content":{"rendered":"Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Evolution of educational technology infographic – Irish Innovation News \u2013 Siliconrepublic.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First, this is a very US centric view.<\/p>\n

Also, it is focused almost entirely on devices rather than their uses. That’s part of the whole problem with Ed Tech – people are too impressed with the Technology and not focused enough on the Educational part.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Getting 2000 iPads in NYC schools is all well and good, but I want to know what they are being used for? In what ways is education being improved as a result?<\/p>\n

Years ago, when my oldest son was in grade 2 they had a meeting in his school to discuss the acquisition of new computers. As computer experts, we offered to help out. After listening to everyone at the meeting talk for nearly an hour about what kinds of computers they wanted and what kinds of bells and whistles they should have, we asked what we thought was a very obvious question:<\/p>\n

“What do you plan to DO with these computers?”<\/p>\n

Well, you could have heard a pin drop. NO-ONE had an answer. In fact, they ALL (teachers, principal, and the other parents) dismissed the question as either unimportant or untimely, and proceeded to go back to their building of their shopping list.<\/p>\n

20-some years later, very little has changed. Teachers still, for the most part, don’t understand the technology they are using, and the schools that teach the teachers don’t either.<\/p>\n

What ends up happening is a form of Cargo Cult<\/a> Education where people create all the appearances of the “technologically enhanced modern education”, but they are not in fact doing anything new. They can’t –\u00a0to most of them it’s all magic and ritual.<\/p>\n

I don’t actually blame the teachers for the most part. I blame the faculties of Education. They’re the ones who teach those teachers.<\/p>\n

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