Education Technology Trends (Part 3)

Find out how some of the most sophisticated learning approaches work.

The learning processes that take place inside and outside the classroom are increasingly integrated, both at home, within communities, and around the world. This learning can be formal or informal, reflecting both the curricular standards established by educational institutions and learning motivated by the student’s own interest and enthusiasm.

As mentioned above, education has transformed significantly over the last 20 years thanks to communication technologies. Because of this transformation, educators are facing a new pedagogical challenge: regaining student interest and stimulation. The Flipped Classroom, for example, is a portrait of new teaching formats whose basis for attracting students is interactivity. They have grown accustomed to a more dynamic world, surrounded by mobile devices, the Internet and cable TV, which allow for a much faster exchange of information. This means that to stimulate the student in class, the teaching method must be based on interactivity and active participation of the student.

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Some educators have noticed this and have started to transform the teaching method to give it more dynamism through online games. Experts point out that new teaching models tend to take advantage of online experiences, for example through discussion forums and role-playing games in virtual worlds. These experiences seek to exploit not only the method of «learning by doing», but also that of «learning by interpreting», with the aim of capitalizing on the potential of new contexts and alternative learning, which mixes different formats of knowledge transmission.

The idea is that this type of game stimulates globalizing reasoning, which is very important today. It abandons the linear reasoning of most games to assimilate a much broader reasoning that seeks to combine at the same time the scenario in which the student finds himself, past events, the people around him, his actions and intentions, the possible implications of each of these elements and the consequences of his actions and those of his classmates. All this is very relevant to create a critical and social sense in young people and prepare them for a world that is transforming into a totally interactive and connected place.

It is also important to consider some challenges that more sophisticated and comprehensive learning models based on interpretation experiences may pose, such as:

• Ensure that there is no digital exclusion of students;

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• Guarantee Internet security with specific development approaches based on different cultural attitudes from the most diverse parts of the world;

• Evaluate and approve said teaching models;

• Develop educational programming that uses these new learning opportunities;

• Value learning that is in no way similar to the traditional model, but perhaps more closely matches the needs of 21st century students.

An interesting example of learning through role playing games is their use in participatory management projects of natural resources through investigations and support in the negotiation of socio-environmental conflicts. Several studies indicate that this methodology is extremely suitable for addressing more complex topics through a Participatory Education process. Because it is more playful, the game can awaken feelings and perspectives that a traditional encounter would not so easily awaken.

Online strategy games, such as SimCity and Age of Empires (the former teaches the basics of city management and the latter the history of the world’s great civilizations), also use the Internet as a collaborative and connected environment for sharing content.

All these small examples, if applied correctly and with common sense, can become dynamic tools in schools, using a more disruptive method and more aimed at the interests of the hyper-connected students of the 21st century. Today’s students are always connected and informed or looking for information on the Internet. They will hardly be able to pay maximum attention to a lesson with a traditional and standardized format from a teacher who transmits the contents statically on the blackboard. A dynamic environment in the classroom is necessary so that the student can not only learn the content, but also contribute his own point of view on the topic addressed, as well as share interesting things that can be related to the subject studied.

What seems clear a priori is that the balance between virtual and in-person lessons, as well as between formal and informal learning, is very important to reap the benefits of more sophisticated and connected teaching methods. Mobile devices and connectivity are already part of the lives of students of all ages and provide coherence to the multimedia environment of interactive whiteboards, creating new experiences that use technology as a medium.

Sources:

http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/CiscoEdBestPracticesWhitePaper-D2_V1.pdf

http://www.uff.br/aleph/textos_em_pdf/caminhos_para_o_uso_do_rpg_na_educacao.pdf