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Church Teachers College Mandeville

Education Technology

Article Critique

Date: March 29, 2015

Mrs. Williams Young

Group V

Oneka Robinson

CH200128822

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In the article entitled Our Brains Extended by Marc Prensky speaks to the holistic
incorporation of technology in the school curriculum. The article speaks about the ways in which
technology should be a part of the school curriculum and why. The writer argues that technology
is already the first language of this generation of screenagers and given the level of
familiarity they already have with technology they should be taught using technology. The writer
also argues that due to technological advancement educators should think about teaching using
machines to do calculations for math, also instead of writing essays the old fashion way they
should implement a new way by incorporating the use of technology. The article also speaks to
ways technology has advance learning, and technology as a learning tool, furthermore the writer
spoke about educators moving away from the trivial ways of viewing technology and think of it
as something new and powerful. Technology in and of itself is something that have impacted the
lives of everyone in many ways more than one, it has changes the way the world is viewed today,
it made things that were deemed as impossible, possible. It enhanced the minds of many in its
reach and has influenced the ways in which we communicated and the way students are been
educated. This critique will examine three new subjects Prensky proposes and their relevance in
the 21 century, how the new ways of teaching impacted traditional pedagogical norms, one
implication of embracing this new curriculum, one implication of instituting this new curriculum
from the policy makers perspective, and finally ways in which the teacher could integrate
technology in teaching and learning to aid in effective thinking, action, relationships and
accomplishments.
There new subjects Prensky proposes is that of effecting thinking, effective actions, and
effective relationships. The relevance of effective thinking is that students will develop it from an
early age with the help of simple mathematics and logical thinking. Technology when integrated

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at an early age would enable the student to become critical thinkers. At a young age they will
become advanced in their thinking and as a result they will be able to utilize certain softwares,
spreadsheets, and other analytics which are web based as parts of projects. These young children
thinking processes will become advanced and they will become familiar with various forms of
technology. Due to the early introduction of the students to technology they will gain knowledge
of various subjects. The teacher coupled with technology, reading and writing as the foundation
for teaching the skills the students would garner from technology.
The second subject that Prensky mentioned was that of effective action which is speaking
about fostering positive mind set in students, as well as developing early entrepreneurial skills
that these students may need in order to excel in this field. The relevance of this subject is to
allow student from an early age to develop a sense of entrepreneurship, which may in turn aid in
them becoming future nation builders. By allowing the students to become involve in nonprofitable organization and website development at an early age it will allow them to contribute
tremendously in the world that they live in. The third and final subject that was mentioned by
Prensky is the effective relationships; he indicated that this will strengthens students
communication skills, whether they communicate one on one or their peer group community.
He went on to indicate that these communications continue through both the real and
virtual world which are of equal importance. They will learn based on their k12 experiences how
to increase their communication skills and eliminate their weaknesses. The students will also
learn how to analyze literary works about human relationships; they will also be able to study
various languages and how to translate them. This subjects main focus will be on producing
people who know, and people who relate better in a wide variety of situations. Prensky (2013)

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the relevance of this subject is to build the students self concepts as well their social interaction
skills whether virtually or directly. The students would become versatile when communicating
with others who are not native speakers effectively. This subject aims to build the students selfesteem and communication skills.
The new ways of teaching proposed by Prensky will impact pedagogical norms in
tremendous ways. By giving insight on how advance students may become if certain outdated
subjects within the curriculum are eliminated, allowing the students to be introduced to new
subjects that will enhance their critical thinking skills, their entrepreneurial skills and their
communicational skills, speaks volumes to how successful and advance the next generation will
become. These are suggestions that the school stakeholders should deeply consider, however if
these suggestions are seriously taken into consideration grave attention and emphasis must be
place on the teacher, and the ways in which she would have to be able to master and manipulate
technology. Teachers, when they enter a teacher training institution they are taught how to
teacher a particular subjects, for instance English, math, science, etc. she is not taught in entirety
how to educate students using certain advance forms of technologies that Prensky proposed. In
order for her to educate and become knowledgeable of ins and outs of the technological tools
that will be implemented in the classroom, in order for Prensky suggestions to become plausible
the teachers would have to re-visit various institutions so that they would acquire the knowledge
and skills that are needed for them to be able to successful educate their students by correctly
using the various technological tools mentioned by Prensky. Furthermore the lessons that would
be taught would become more student centered, rather than teacher centered the teacher would
rarely be involved in the teaching process.

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The teacher would be the one to administer the tasks and establish classroom
management and act as a guide for the students, ensuring that they remain on the right tract.
However the teacher pre say will not be the one to give instructions, therefore the teacher would
have to rely heavy on real life models and stimulations and how each student interact with
these models and stimulation Kozma (2001). Attention now would be shift from lesson planning
to adequate design of online materials. Rossett (2002) postulates that online learning has many
promises, but it takes commitment and resources, and must be done right. Doing it right means
that online learning materials must be designed properly, with the learners and learning in focus,
and that adequate support must be provided. Hence the students would be highly responsible for
their own learning.
One implication of instituting this new curriculum from a policy maker perspective is that
it may be a challenge as it relates to funding the resources that it would take to retrain teachers to
become more technologically savvy. The ministry of education would have to ensure that it is
explicitly stated that teachers graduating from various teacher training institutions are highly
trained, on how to manipulate and use various technological tools; this would in turn cut the cost
to fund the training of these teachers. However the ministry of education would have to finance
the training of the teachers who have already been introduced into the teaching profession. The
ministry would have to first take into consideration how they would source the resources that
they would need to train these teachers, as well as the individual who would be responsible for
teaching these educators how to use these various forms of technology. Therefore based on the
current issue of unavailable funds in the education sector this will pose an issue for the ministry
of education to fund the training of the teachers who have already begun their teaching careers in

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various areas of the teaching field and have exhibited mastery in other areas that that was not
influenced by technology during their course of study.
Three ways in which the teacher could integrate technology in teaching and learning, to
aid in enhancing effective thinking, action, relationships and accomplishments in the literature
classroom are allowing students to explore these of online discussion using 2.0 tools such as
schoology by integrating the use of this tool into the classroom students will be able to
participate in online discussions with their peers. For instance after the teacher has created the
schoology accounts she could formulate discussions based on a particular text being studied in
the literature class. The teacher could pose various questions based on the topics that she is
covering in the class; she could pose questions on characterization and ways in which it
contribute to plot development. Before the teacher would begin the online discussion she will
provide the students with a checklist on information that should be coming out in the discussion,
and grade their responses based on the checklist given. She would allow the students to use
examples from the text.
This build the students critical thinking skills because they will be expected to look at
characterization relating to a text being studied and indicate how it influences plot development,
if critical thinking is not present in this instance the students will not be garnering correct
information while participating in the online group discussion. The online discussion will also
enhance students relationship with each other, as well as their ability to communicate with each
other, respecting each others stance despite of their own beliefs. Based on both the students and
the teachers feedback during the online discussion, the students will be able to demonstrate their
understanding of characterization, as well as gaining insight on the importance of

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characterization and the ways in which it influences plot development, hence accomplishing
useful information, as well as sharing their thoughts which was the aim of the discussion.
Using an online journal after learning about literary devices, students would be instructed
to create two poems on their own, correctly using three or more literary devices. By doing this
the teacher may assess the students understanding based on the use of each literary device. Thus
stimulating the students critical thinking skills because they will be given the opportunity to first
think about the literary devices they would use seeing how effective it contributes to the meaning
of the poem they have created. This activity would enhance effective action because the students
will be able to use their understanding of literary devices and their creativity to create poems,
therefore fostering their writing skills which may help them to become aspired writers. This
activity may contribute to the students relationships because they could share these poems with
each other through collaborative learning so that they could make improvements based on peer
critique. Students future accomplishments may stem from them developing their writing skills
by completing this writing activity.
The literature teacher after completing the reading of a text or various chapters in a text
can group the students and instruct them to re-enact a chapter from the under studied play, they
would be instructed to video this re-enactment, highlighting the use of stage conventions. After
they have completed this video it should be presented on a CD or a flash drive for grading. This
will enhance the students critical thinking skills because they would have to desirer where they
would reenact this scene and or chapter, how many actors, and the type of props that would be
needed to bring this scene to life. This activity will also enhance the students relationship
between each other, because they would need to be able to work together to create this

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dramatization, they would also have to communicate their inputs to achieve one common goal.
This would also enhance the students action because this will give the opportunity be as creative
during this dramatic presentation.

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References

Prensky, M. (2013). our brain's extended. Technology-rich Learning, 22-27. Retrieved from
Educational Leadership.

Anderson, T. (2008). The Theory And Practice. Edmonton: AU Press, Athabasca University.