Perceptions

Romano, in his book Empowering Teachers with Technology, shares several perceptions about technology, information, and the teaching and learning process. In this post, I will discuss several of these perceptions and their relevance to my experience as an educator.

1. “All human activity is driven by information; the more demanding the activity- the greater the need for information. Thus information can be termed the fuel that powers the teaching-learning process.” -As one who has grown up during the early information age, I can see the need for information for the increasingly varied tasks of the world today. I would prefer to flip the emphasis and say that the potential for accomplishing extremely complex tasks will be heightened due to the increased information availability.

2. “At the fundamental level it can be assumed that all learning is initiated by information perceived by the senses: specifically, what you see, hear, taste, smell, and feel.” -We are always learning, in everything we do. We are gaining information in every experience. The ability to relate and connect experiences and to construct new meaning is the capacity to learn.

3. “Information technology empowers teachers by amplifying their capacity to readily provide their learners the heightened sensory perceptions of multimedia.” -The majority of student acquisition of knowledge outside of school comes from the television. Students can absorb and retain information at a very high level of accuracy. Why are teachers not increasing their effectiveness by integrating the available technologies? A shift in educational thinking and training must take place.

4. “For centuries, the teaching-learning process has been primarily fueled by words- the lecture and the book- mainly because up until now, teachers have found words easier to use; not because it was determined that words impact learners better than the combination of words and images.” -Why are we continuing the educate children the way we have always done it? Is it the most effective process available? Is it easier? If we want to assist our learners in their information acquisition we need to be about doing what is best for them, not what is easiest for teachers.

5. “A verbal description alone of anything that can be seen must be considered a compromise; a compromise that takes place every day in classrooms in an age where technology makes it unnecessary.” -A picture is truly worth well more than a thousand words. Why spend the time on thousands of words when we can share several pictures? We only need to be willing to find the pictures that will tell the stories.

6. “In great part, the effectiveness of the communication phase of the teaching-learning process determines the outcome” -The manner in which information is communicated makes all the difference. Use tools for effective information communication and wait for increased achievement. TAKS prep question and test taking strategy are not the tools needed.

I am constantly looking for ways to improve my teaching. I have been given a new tool for tool belt just about every time we meet for this course. The learners I interact with are benefiting daily.

*All quotes taken from Romano (2003)