Today’s post is destined to
comment on the salient aspects grasped in Dolors Reig's conference "Educar
para las TEP (tecnologías del empoderamiento y la participación)".
An issue she tries to demystify in the
conference is the preconceived idea that due to the new technologies our
intellect is said to be in decay. This is far from being true since we have
internalized new ways of coping with information, processing it at a higher
speed and attending to more than one task at a time; I have referred to this in
the blog several times, as the ability of "multi-tasking". So, when
it comes to our brain's potential we are rewarded and affected positively.
However, as Dolors noted, we do find it tedious and hard to memorize
encyclopedic fragments or concrete data. Nevertheless, this is a peculiarity
inherent to the era we are living in, memory is not as treasured as it used to
be in former times.
A further reason to unveil this taboo that
revolves around technology, is the fact that we have become more powerful
thanks to technology and the Internet for our capacity to judge things, and
being critical towards the bombardment of advertising has increased enormously.
We are equipped with many digital and cognitive tools that help us to be less
vulnerable to public propaganda.
Another viewpoint I found enticing was that not
only do we have to teach our students to use web 2 tools appropriately, but
also teach them how to disconnect and occupy the rest of their time doing
something different. I personally believe this is paramount since this
"Techno-frenzy" is aggravating and children seem to be numb. I think
it is important for them to enjoy outdoor activities as well, and play with other
kids in a face-to-face way for this has positive effects on their subjectivity.
I also found quite appealing her idea of the
"sharing-fashion" that is very much present in this new generations.
I reckon that we have access to a vast array of information thanks to these new
webs that allow people from all over the world to make their contributions,
enabling us to pick their brains whenever we have the need to.
Last but not least, I would like to highlight a phrase that somehow summarizes the main purpose of her conference and that we should profit from in our future teaching. She mentioned that the human being is the happiest and is at his best when he/she is actually doing things, creating and actively participating, giving his/her opinion. This is food for thought, especially when our aim is to make the most out of digital tools to enhance learning. We need to get our students to generate and contrue things, since this is a direct way of stimulating their creativity and critical thinking.
