Education and the digital Era

I do not believe that the social role of education has to change in the digital era. I do not believe that the philosophy of one school has to change because of the use or not use of technology. But I do believe that education needs to rethink what is happening in this new digital era. I remember in my experience as a teacher of the parent told me about a 4 year old and his homework “he cannot remember what was the homework when we get home, but he can use my ipod without even ask me for instructions”.

                Education is a dynamic process and it change because of the different necessities that a society or even a social group has. Something that works in one place does not need to work in another place. For this reason the most important thing is to value, to know and to respect the necessities of those who are being educated.  When I was in 5th grade my Italian school decided to exchange letters with a 5th grade in Italy. We did it for one year and we waited for the letters for months. The goal was clear: to know the Italian and Chilean culture through the interaction of peers. The same goal can be developed today, and is the teacher goal to match that goal in this era. Today the same process can be done my email, for example. What did really change in that activity? Did the goal change?

                If we are educators and our students are immerse in social networks, video game or other technology it is our duty to make those technologies familiar with us. This new approach is not only inviting us to new ways for teaching, it is inviting us to realize how important is to always improve and find new ways of teaching. Now, the question is how technology can help educators to improve their teaching. The question cannot be answer if we do not explore different tools and validate them as our students do in their everyday life.

                Finally, I believe that it is very important to have a balance in our classroom. The digital era does not mean to replace book, as a lot of people might think. The digital era have to be understood as a new tool of learning. As a calculator will not replace the importance of developing computational skill in our student, a social network will never replace the importance of generate social interactions and face to face relationship but both of them can be use to improve the understanding of our student.