Why learn about digital tools?
The content of this page is adapted from Thing 1, of 23 Teaching Things shared in 2016 by the CreATE Team, Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland.
Digital tools are an essential part of the vision for education in New Zealand
NZ Education in 2025, is the Ministry of Education’s 2015 draft vision about ‘lifelong learners in a connected world‘, and the need to ‘lead with pedagogy, accelerate with technology‘. This includes key attributes of 21st Century Learning: Self-directed, Empathetic and inclusive, Innovative, Collaborative, Authentic problem solving and STEM foundation for all. The Ministry of Education is also committed to Digital Fluency; “the digital environment has the power to transform teaching and learning in our schools.”
Teachers need to be lifeLong learners – reflecting on and adapting the way we teach.
Watch:
Learning To Change, Changing to Learn; international educators speaking about the changing face of education and the importance of the teacher in this process.
RSA Animate – Changing Education Paradigms Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD.
The skills needed to flourish in our world are changing:
The Adaptable Mind from the Let It Ripple Series explores the skills we need to flourish in the 21st Century:
Curiosity
Creativity
Initiative
Multi-disciplinary thinking
Empathy
Think about ...
... why it is important that we as both teachers and learners:
should be open to being a ‘lifelong learner’
should use digital tools as part of teaching and learning
rethink the way we teach our learners and the way learners learn
Explore further
A Vision of Students Today summarises some of the most important characteristics of students today – how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime.