When people think of a normal education they think of going to a classroom, listening to a teacher and taking tests. However, with more and more information being available on the Internet, online classes have become popular. Online classes are becoming more available and at a much more reasonable cost.
I go to college out in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, which is about 6 hours from my home. I must live out in Pittsburgh year round, pay to travel back and forth to and from home for holidays, as well the cost of tuition. Being a full time student makes it hard to manage your time because of activities and jobs. The costs of a good education adds up very quickly and can become very expensive. It can be challenging to have a job to help compensate the cost.
Over the summer, I took a few online classes. This allows me to have a job during the day and then work on my studies at night. Online classes were also more reasonably priced and I did not have to worry about travel costs or living costs.
I learned just as much from online classes, if not more, because I have to sit down and teach myself the information. There is a teacher to help guide the course and ask questions. However, having the self-discipline to take a course independently forces you to focus and memorize the information. Every assignment has its own due date and I have to make my schedule work to get the assignment in on time. This allows me to have flexible hours to get the work done especially if I worked ahead. It is nice to be able to work on assignments during my own time instead of having to be at an 8am class every day where I am half asleep trying to take notes. I learn a lot during physically attending the class room, but most of the learning comes from studying the material at a later time.
More and more universities are offering online classes each semester and a larger variety of subjects are also being offered. This can allow students to study whatever they wish and get a quality education. Some colleges and Universities, such as the notable, Penn State University, allow students to earn their degree through online classes. They call it Penn State World Campus. Other colleges and universities even have their online courses available at no cost to the student. This allows anyone who wants an education to capitalize on this opportunity.
With all that is available on the Internet, the ease and accessibility of online classes can be very beneficial to those seeking a solid education with a busy schedule. By having courses available for little to no cost there is almost no excuse for people no tto take advantage of this great opportunity and receive a great education.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Hillsborough Schools Incorporate Technology into Learning
By Meghan Scarpiello
There was a story in the news,recently about a school in Hillsborough ,New Jersey having incorporated technology into their classrooms for students of all ages. There was a panel discussion with attendees from more than 25 districts, middle school students, and high school students to discuss the benefits of integrating Nexus tablets and Chromebooks into the classrooms. Hillsborough had distributed 2,800 Nexus tablets to all of their kindergarten through fourth grade students in their district. There are also Chromebooks available for the students and teachers to use. Majority of the Chromebooks, 4,600 of them, were distributed to students in fifth through twelfth grade for their use at home and at school.
Hillsborough started trying to incorporate these devices during the 2011-2012 school year in algebra 1 courses and since have grown. The following school year the devices accommodated at least 10 percent of the fifth-twelfth grade population. The third year the Chromebook accounted for 20 percent of the fifth-twelfth grade population. Finally this year, every student was able to have access to their own Chromebook. The school district hopes that having a 1:1 ratio of student to technology means that having technology will become more of a normalcy of learning in the classroom.
This is an example of how technology is beginning to truly make an impact at school and at home. The school district is trying to expose students to these new styles of learning and use them to benefit higher learning. There is also no discrimination for students who may or may not be able to afford this type of technology on their own because the schools are providing it and using it as a special tool. Over time I believe this will be seen more in many school districts. After more districts become comfortable with the new technology integration, there will be more and more data coming out about how well technology really is working as a tool in the classroom as well as at home to complete schoolwork.
There was a story in the news,recently about a school in Hillsborough ,New Jersey having incorporated technology into their classrooms for students of all ages. There was a panel discussion with attendees from more than 25 districts, middle school students, and high school students to discuss the benefits of integrating Nexus tablets and Chromebooks into the classrooms. Hillsborough had distributed 2,800 Nexus tablets to all of their kindergarten through fourth grade students in their district. There are also Chromebooks available for the students and teachers to use. Majority of the Chromebooks, 4,600 of them, were distributed to students in fifth through twelfth grade for their use at home and at school.
Hillsborough started trying to incorporate these devices during the 2011-2012 school year in algebra 1 courses and since have grown. The following school year the devices accommodated at least 10 percent of the fifth-twelfth grade population. The third year the Chromebook accounted for 20 percent of the fifth-twelfth grade population. Finally this year, every student was able to have access to their own Chromebook. The school district hopes that having a 1:1 ratio of student to technology means that having technology will become more of a normalcy of learning in the classroom.
This is an example of how technology is beginning to truly make an impact at school and at home. The school district is trying to expose students to these new styles of learning and use them to benefit higher learning. There is also no discrimination for students who may or may not be able to afford this type of technology on their own because the schools are providing it and using it as a special tool. Over time I believe this will be seen more in many school districts. After more districts become comfortable with the new technology integration, there will be more and more data coming out about how well technology really is working as a tool in the classroom as well as at home to complete schoolwork.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Friday, May 1, 2015
The Pros and Cons of Studying with Technology
By Meghan Scarpiello
It’s that time of year again! With finals around the corner it is time for all the college kids to start studying and cramming a whole semesters worth of information into their brain in only a few days. Guaranteed, technology will play a role in both hurting and helping these students survive.
The tables in the library will be full of scattered notes, both written by hand and typed. The typed notes are obviously due to technology. Many students may even study their notes straight from their laptops. The computer, in my opinion, is one of the best technology advances to assist students with schoolwork. Not just for reviewing clear notes, but also for accessing the Internet and typing the many papers that will be due.
The Internet is a great source for watching videos and answering any of the questions you may have. Can’t visualize how DNA is transcribed? Search for it on YouTube and watch a video of it being explained. Can’t remember what DNA stands for? Open a tab from Google and search for it; guaranteed the answer will pop right up. The Internet is a quick way to help students answer questions they may have instead of wasting time searching through notes, textbooks, or even trying to get a hold of their professor. Using technology could have students getting answers quickly and conveniently rather than having to hunt professors down or waiting until office hours. Granted, old fashioned office hours are very beneficial, but the Internet is an excellent resource, as well. Students can also access their textbooks online rather than carrying so many heavy books. The fewer the books students, the more they preserve their backs. The Internet will save many students time when it comes to studying.
Not only will it save them time studying, but time writing papers as well. My mother always told me how lucky I was to be able to use Microsoft Word to write my papers instead of using a typewriter. Being able to make mistakes, correct them, do an automatic spell check all on the computer is enormously easier than having to retype a paper because of a few mistakes. It is amazing to think about how much technology has advanced through the decades. I do not view my mother as being that old and knowing she had to use a typewriter in college is mind blowing. The computer has advanced so much in my lifetime that I cannot picture schoolwork without it. Even research papers nowadays have become much easier than in the past. My mother told me she had to go through books and newspapers and magazine in the library to find the information she needed. Now a days, just type it into Google Scholar and you have a handle of articles at your fingertips. If you have access to databases, then searching for articles is just as easy. This will save a lot of time and get you the best research possible from updated studies. Writing papers of all kinds has improved due to the use of computers.
These are the positive ways the computer has helped students, but there are also some negative ways. Students already have a lot of work around finals time, but trying to finish up other assignments and submit them, can pile up during this time due to procrastination. It is always a good idea for students to take breaks during studying so they do not exhaust their brain. However, a five or ten minute study break can turn into an hour if students get overly distracted by social media websites. Media sites such as: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, can be accessed through ones laptop and this can easily waste precious study time. This will only add to the students stress and the need to cram more information. It will reflect in their grades and the student may not achieve the grade desired. Even smartphones are pretty much handheld computers that have notifications, texting, games, and many other applications that can be a distraction and affect how students study. It will divert their focus and increase stress levels and poor grades will arise from it.
All this technology can benefit us and hurt us at the same time. We just need the self-control to be able to use it wisely.
It’s that time of year again! With finals around the corner it is time for all the college kids to start studying and cramming a whole semesters worth of information into their brain in only a few days. Guaranteed, technology will play a role in both hurting and helping these students survive.
The tables in the library will be full of scattered notes, both written by hand and typed. The typed notes are obviously due to technology. Many students may even study their notes straight from their laptops. The computer, in my opinion, is one of the best technology advances to assist students with schoolwork. Not just for reviewing clear notes, but also for accessing the Internet and typing the many papers that will be due.
The Internet is a great source for watching videos and answering any of the questions you may have. Can’t visualize how DNA is transcribed? Search for it on YouTube and watch a video of it being explained. Can’t remember what DNA stands for? Open a tab from Google and search for it; guaranteed the answer will pop right up. The Internet is a quick way to help students answer questions they may have instead of wasting time searching through notes, textbooks, or even trying to get a hold of their professor. Using technology could have students getting answers quickly and conveniently rather than having to hunt professors down or waiting until office hours. Granted, old fashioned office hours are very beneficial, but the Internet is an excellent resource, as well. Students can also access their textbooks online rather than carrying so many heavy books. The fewer the books students, the more they preserve their backs. The Internet will save many students time when it comes to studying.
Not only will it save them time studying, but time writing papers as well. My mother always told me how lucky I was to be able to use Microsoft Word to write my papers instead of using a typewriter. Being able to make mistakes, correct them, do an automatic spell check all on the computer is enormously easier than having to retype a paper because of a few mistakes. It is amazing to think about how much technology has advanced through the decades. I do not view my mother as being that old and knowing she had to use a typewriter in college is mind blowing. The computer has advanced so much in my lifetime that I cannot picture schoolwork without it. Even research papers nowadays have become much easier than in the past. My mother told me she had to go through books and newspapers and magazine in the library to find the information she needed. Now a days, just type it into Google Scholar and you have a handle of articles at your fingertips. If you have access to databases, then searching for articles is just as easy. This will save a lot of time and get you the best research possible from updated studies. Writing papers of all kinds has improved due to the use of computers.
These are the positive ways the computer has helped students, but there are also some negative ways. Students already have a lot of work around finals time, but trying to finish up other assignments and submit them, can pile up during this time due to procrastination. It is always a good idea for students to take breaks during studying so they do not exhaust their brain. However, a five or ten minute study break can turn into an hour if students get overly distracted by social media websites. Media sites such as: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, can be accessed through ones laptop and this can easily waste precious study time. This will only add to the students stress and the need to cram more information. It will reflect in their grades and the student may not achieve the grade desired. Even smartphones are pretty much handheld computers that have notifications, texting, games, and many other applications that can be a distraction and affect how students study. It will divert their focus and increase stress levels and poor grades will arise from it.
All this technology can benefit us and hurt us at the same time. We just need the self-control to be able to use it wisely.
Monday, April 20, 2015
The Benefits of YouTube in Education
By Meghan Scarpiello
In many schools across the nation the website that always seems to be blocked is YouTube. YouTube is a site for videos of all kinds, but primarily videos for entertainment. These videos can be a distraction while students are doing schoolwork or these videos can also be used as a tool for helping students with their schoolwork.
There are various times that just simply explaining the material in class is not enough. Majority of students are visual learners and therefore a video of a process or series of events can help them better understand the material. They can review the video in their head to make it easier to remember the information. Also, the way the information is explained by someone besides the instruction or even just hearing it a second time can help grasp the material. YouTube is filled with informational videos that teachers can share with their students during class, or even allow the students to watch on their own. Watching videos enhances the visual aspect of knowing important facts.
Not only can students watch videos, but the teacher can always assign projects for the students to create their own video on a certain topic. For example, if the teacher is teaching a lesson on history , the assignment maybe to have different groups of people reenact different events in history on video. The groups of students would work together and become experts on their event to be able to make a successful video. It also gives hands on experiences of what has actually happened in history and let's the students put themselves in the historical event. This gets students thinking in many ways. Once all the videos are completed, students can upload them to YouTube and this allows the teacher to view the videos. Having the students watch each others video is good laugh as well as relaying the information to the students. It puts a visual aspect to the events instead of always trying to put the pieces together in their heads. This also, can be helpful for reviewing the information by relating the information back to what their classmates video was about and be an easy way to remember the information. If a student is absent the day of the presentations, the videos are online and can be watched by the student at any time.
YouTube makes it easy to watch videos. Going onto YouTube to watch videos can be a very useful studying technique. I know I go on YouTube all the time to help me get a visual of scientific processes. This helps me understand what is actually going on in a cell. It can be difficult to understand the microscopic world and these videos make it easier to grasp the subject. Teachers should emphasize and encourage students to go online and watch these types of videos if they are struggling in class. YouTube is so large it has multiple videos of just about every topic you can think of. You can get help with any subject at any level. There are college professors who even post their lectures on YouTube for their students to go back and watch. Anyone can view these lectures (if made public by the professor) and can help students succeed. There is one series of topics called “Crash Course” that is very informational and made by students to specifically help other students. There is more to YouTube than entertainment and procrastination.
YouTube is already a large website full of untapped potential. If more teachers and professors would encourage it and/ or add to it, then there would be even more beneficial videos to aid students. It would be a good way to tap into what popular Internet sources we have, and make education stronger using technology.
In many schools across the nation the website that always seems to be blocked is YouTube. YouTube is a site for videos of all kinds, but primarily videos for entertainment. These videos can be a distraction while students are doing schoolwork or these videos can also be used as a tool for helping students with their schoolwork.
There are various times that just simply explaining the material in class is not enough. Majority of students are visual learners and therefore a video of a process or series of events can help them better understand the material. They can review the video in their head to make it easier to remember the information. Also, the way the information is explained by someone besides the instruction or even just hearing it a second time can help grasp the material. YouTube is filled with informational videos that teachers can share with their students during class, or even allow the students to watch on their own. Watching videos enhances the visual aspect of knowing important facts.
Not only can students watch videos, but the teacher can always assign projects for the students to create their own video on a certain topic. For example, if the teacher is teaching a lesson on history , the assignment maybe to have different groups of people reenact different events in history on video. The groups of students would work together and become experts on their event to be able to make a successful video. It also gives hands on experiences of what has actually happened in history and let's the students put themselves in the historical event. This gets students thinking in many ways. Once all the videos are completed, students can upload them to YouTube and this allows the teacher to view the videos. Having the students watch each others video is good laugh as well as relaying the information to the students. It puts a visual aspect to the events instead of always trying to put the pieces together in their heads. This also, can be helpful for reviewing the information by relating the information back to what their classmates video was about and be an easy way to remember the information. If a student is absent the day of the presentations, the videos are online and can be watched by the student at any time.
YouTube makes it easy to watch videos. Going onto YouTube to watch videos can be a very useful studying technique. I know I go on YouTube all the time to help me get a visual of scientific processes. This helps me understand what is actually going on in a cell. It can be difficult to understand the microscopic world and these videos make it easier to grasp the subject. Teachers should emphasize and encourage students to go online and watch these types of videos if they are struggling in class. YouTube is so large it has multiple videos of just about every topic you can think of. You can get help with any subject at any level. There are college professors who even post their lectures on YouTube for their students to go back and watch. Anyone can view these lectures (if made public by the professor) and can help students succeed. There is one series of topics called “Crash Course” that is very informational and made by students to specifically help other students. There is more to YouTube than entertainment and procrastination.
YouTube is already a large website full of untapped potential. If more teachers and professors would encourage it and/ or add to it, then there would be even more beneficial videos to aid students. It would be a good way to tap into what popular Internet sources we have, and make education stronger using technology.
Friday, April 10, 2015
The Advent of the Smart Classroom
By Meghan Scarpiello
Most teachers are used to the old method of lecturing while the students take notes. While this is still an effective way to teach, technology can assist students in the learning process. Currently, being in college, I have noticed that technology has helped me take notes. Many teachers now change their lecture into a PowerPoint presentation. This gives students the benefit of printing out the notes and being able to write down even more notes as need be. They can be attentive and participate in class. It prevents students from speed writing notes and barely listening to what the teacher is saying. Not listening to the teacher can lead to missing information and lower grades. Always having the notes on hand is beneficial. It is especially beneficial when you are too ill to make it to class. You can ask a friend to provide the notes, but at least you will have the majority of the notes through technology, without having to worry or rewrite all the notes from a friend. All in all, there will be less worrying for the student.
Now this is a basic idea of technology impacting a classroom, it can increase to a new level in various ways. For example, I am in a biology class and instead of it being held in a large lecture hall or normal classroom where all the desks face the teacher, we have what is called a smart classroom. This classroom has the seats arranged so they are in small groups called pods. These pods are large tables with five or six chairs around them but one side of the table is against the wall. The side that is against the wall has a television mounted on it that the teacher projects her presentation onto. The teacher can only show us her notes if we hit a button on the television that says classroom. We can hit another button that says computer, and the television screen is now a screen for our own personal pod computer. In this mode we do research and type up our findings. Then we simply hit a share button and we can share our work with all the other pods in the classroom. One last helpful device is having built in dry erase boards as a table top. We can draw and write out cell models and special molecules to review and discuss. By downloading a special application onto our phones we can take a picture of our work, hit share, and it automatically shares our work with the whole class. As nice as all these cool features may be, it still has its pros and cons.
One of the pros to having a smart classroom like this is having a very hands on and interactive experience. There is no excuses for being bored and inattentive in class. The notes are always available and being close to your pod mates helps you if you struggle with the material. Any material can be looked up on the computer at any time if needed. The students are in control of what they view on their pod screens and it is there to benefit them only. It is a very visual classroom and can alter between a lecture type class setting one day and a dry erase board setting day accessing the tabletops. The technology used is only for the students’ benefit.
As helpful as it all may seem, there are still some cons to the system. The teacher must be taught ahead of time on how to operate all the updates in the classroom. If the teacher is lost or confused, class time is wasted. The teacher also needs to be able to allow their material to work with the technology. If they only want to lecture the entire time then there is no point in having all the extra bells and whistles. The teacher needs to want to embrace the beauty of their smart classroom to allow the students to get a solid interactive experience. The students also need to be open and sharing to their pod mates. Everyone needs to get along and compromise on what he or she wants to view on the screen all the time. Also, when it comes to doing work amongst the pod, they all need to pay attention and do their fair share. The smart classroom has its cons, but these can easily be prevented and avoided if handled properly.
For this smart classroom, I believe the pros outweigh the cons. By using technology in this aspect it can further education and help students understand the material. Being interactive is better than being lectured because the mind is less likely to wander off. As long as the teacher is well prepared for the type of classroom given to them, they can embrace the luxury of new teaching approaches and really help students improve. I enjoy the smart classroom because it is interactive and all around more fun for even a challenging science topic like biology.
Most teachers are used to the old method of lecturing while the students take notes. While this is still an effective way to teach, technology can assist students in the learning process. Currently, being in college, I have noticed that technology has helped me take notes. Many teachers now change their lecture into a PowerPoint presentation. This gives students the benefit of printing out the notes and being able to write down even more notes as need be. They can be attentive and participate in class. It prevents students from speed writing notes and barely listening to what the teacher is saying. Not listening to the teacher can lead to missing information and lower grades. Always having the notes on hand is beneficial. It is especially beneficial when you are too ill to make it to class. You can ask a friend to provide the notes, but at least you will have the majority of the notes through technology, without having to worry or rewrite all the notes from a friend. All in all, there will be less worrying for the student.
Now this is a basic idea of technology impacting a classroom, it can increase to a new level in various ways. For example, I am in a biology class and instead of it being held in a large lecture hall or normal classroom where all the desks face the teacher, we have what is called a smart classroom. This classroom has the seats arranged so they are in small groups called pods. These pods are large tables with five or six chairs around them but one side of the table is against the wall. The side that is against the wall has a television mounted on it that the teacher projects her presentation onto. The teacher can only show us her notes if we hit a button on the television that says classroom. We can hit another button that says computer, and the television screen is now a screen for our own personal pod computer. In this mode we do research and type up our findings. Then we simply hit a share button and we can share our work with all the other pods in the classroom. One last helpful device is having built in dry erase boards as a table top. We can draw and write out cell models and special molecules to review and discuss. By downloading a special application onto our phones we can take a picture of our work, hit share, and it automatically shares our work with the whole class. As nice as all these cool features may be, it still has its pros and cons.
One of the pros to having a smart classroom like this is having a very hands on and interactive experience. There is no excuses for being bored and inattentive in class. The notes are always available and being close to your pod mates helps you if you struggle with the material. Any material can be looked up on the computer at any time if needed. The students are in control of what they view on their pod screens and it is there to benefit them only. It is a very visual classroom and can alter between a lecture type class setting one day and a dry erase board setting day accessing the tabletops. The technology used is only for the students’ benefit.
As helpful as it all may seem, there are still some cons to the system. The teacher must be taught ahead of time on how to operate all the updates in the classroom. If the teacher is lost or confused, class time is wasted. The teacher also needs to be able to allow their material to work with the technology. If they only want to lecture the entire time then there is no point in having all the extra bells and whistles. The teacher needs to want to embrace the beauty of their smart classroom to allow the students to get a solid interactive experience. The students also need to be open and sharing to their pod mates. Everyone needs to get along and compromise on what he or she wants to view on the screen all the time. Also, when it comes to doing work amongst the pod, they all need to pay attention and do their fair share. The smart classroom has its cons, but these can easily be prevented and avoided if handled properly.
For this smart classroom, I believe the pros outweigh the cons. By using technology in this aspect it can further education and help students understand the material. Being interactive is better than being lectured because the mind is less likely to wander off. As long as the teacher is well prepared for the type of classroom given to them, they can embrace the luxury of new teaching approaches and really help students improve. I enjoy the smart classroom because it is interactive and all around more fun for even a challenging science topic like biology.
Monday, March 30, 2015
How the iPad is Changing the Way We Learn
by Rhiannon Williams
“What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.” So said Steve Jobs in 1996 - during an interview in which the Apple co-founder claimed the bureaucratic, political and sociopolitical problems facing the education sector were beyond technology’s capacity to fix.
In the 19 years since Jobs uttered those words, the issues weighing heavily on the shoulders of educators, schools, universities and other educational facilities have undoubtedly multiplied. But so too have the ways in which technology can be harnessed to address some of the tensions within teaching and learning.
VoksenUddannelsesCenter Syd, or VUC for short, is one of 29 adult education programmes across Denmark, situated across the four towns of Haderslev, Aabenraa, Tonder and Sonderborg. The state-funded centres use legislative frameworks issued by the Ministry of Education, and are run by principals who answer to the centre board. The programmes originally issued students with MacBooks before plumping for iPads to replace traditional textbooks and paper-based essays two years ago, in a bid to help educate those who may struggle with more conventional means of teaching.
The Haderslev branch is a beautiful glass and bleached wood Scandi-cool building overlooking a calm body of water built 18 months ago at a cost of around 200m Danish krone (£20m). It caters for around 2,200 full-time students (around 8,000 in total, including distance learners as far afield as China and Kenya), aged between 16 and 60 over two years.
VUC centres aim to help those who may have struggled to learn within more traditional, rigid teaching systems, alongside adults wishing to gain new skills later in life, with an aim to equipped them with the qualifications necessary for attending university.
"Many of our students are dropouts from other education systems and they don't believe in themselves,” managing director Hans Jørgen Hansen tells me. “They think they are stupid or not able to learn. A really important job for our teachers is to recreate their curiosity, so they remember it is good to be curious. They need to feel like they are able to learn, and that they’re succeeding at learning.”
Rebuilding the students’ self-confidence in their own abilities and encouraging a different form of learning is at the heart of the centres’ ethos. Haderslev is divided into four kinds of new-age classrooms; quiet, presentation, dialogue and group rooms, designed for individual or mass-studies. Students quietly troop between the tasteful, open spaces equipped with flatscreen displays on walls and tables, glass-walled units and communal pod areas known affectionately as pumpkins, where groups sit in a circular formation around a multi-screened central unit.
The 'pumpkin' units encourage pupils to sit in a circular formation
Beyond lockers for their coats against the bitter Danish wind, the building bears closer resemblance to a successful start-up’s achingly hip headquarters than even the most switched-on school. The building has been designed to act as a local community hub, where members of the public are welcome to eat at the canteen among the students, and local groups are encouraged to book out the halls and other facilities. The day I visit, a local running club has booked to use an auditorium for a meeting that evening. And as all coursework, assignments and communication is conducted via the Cloud and internet, the only bit of kit students are required to carry is their issued iPad, which they can choose to buy outright after six months for a low sum.
This deconstruction of traditional learning environments which are not necessarily working for all involved is essential, Mr Hansen maintains. “We believe in our teachers’ ability to cope with the fact we don’t have normal classrooms; we didn’t feel a need for them.”
Mr Hansen pulls up an image of a 21st century classroom for me to look at on his iPad; an indifferent-looking boy leaning back on his plastic chair in a row of similarly apathetic pupils, the teacher out of shot. The picture disappears, replaced by a Victorian era Danish school hall. The children still sit in rows, their blank faces turned towards the front of the room where the teacher is presumably standing.
"The two are almost the same - we're really not seeing a lot of changes in education,” he says. “We speak about it and have visions about it, but we're not doing it. In reality you will see the same picture in many schools. The students are not learning a lot in that way. You can't just tell teachers to teach in another way, you have to change the structure of the spaces where the learning is going on.”
A key investment in alternative learning is the centre’s commitment to training its staff to become iPad-savvy. Of the 200 teachers, 16 are now part-time iBook authors, creating interactive textbooks and guides using Apple’s iBooks Author software for use in lessons and aiding the students making their own. They work with a talented team of copywriters, proofreaders, translators, video-producers and multi-media designers to create the most professional-looking content possible, and whom are aiming to publish some 400 downloadable iBooks by January 2017.
Completing interactive tasks within iBooks, teacher and part time author Klaus Vejlgaard Just says, helps shape the students from passive observers into active participants and producers.
“I want to have active students, not ones who passively receive education,” he says. “They create their own content from our fieldwork, including films and ebooks. It sharpens the focus, and forces them to reflect on what they have learned.”
Mr Hansen agrees. “You can be a very, very good teacher, but if I give Klaus a traditional classroom with no ICT, he would teach in a traditional way - the space and structure decides that.”
Jobs wasn’t wrong when he poked holes in the education system, or even when he condemned the majority of what is studied in school as “completely useless.” “But,” he continued, “Some incredibly valuable things you don’t learn until you’re older — yet you could learn them when you’re younger.” Perhaps the sooner we all start thinking differently, the more we stand to learn.
“What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology. No amount of technology will make a dent.” So said Steve Jobs in 1996 - during an interview in which the Apple co-founder claimed the bureaucratic, political and sociopolitical problems facing the education sector were beyond technology’s capacity to fix.
In the 19 years since Jobs uttered those words, the issues weighing heavily on the shoulders of educators, schools, universities and other educational facilities have undoubtedly multiplied. But so too have the ways in which technology can be harnessed to address some of the tensions within teaching and learning.
VoksenUddannelsesCenter Syd, or VUC for short, is one of 29 adult education programmes across Denmark, situated across the four towns of Haderslev, Aabenraa, Tonder and Sonderborg. The state-funded centres use legislative frameworks issued by the Ministry of Education, and are run by principals who answer to the centre board. The programmes originally issued students with MacBooks before plumping for iPads to replace traditional textbooks and paper-based essays two years ago, in a bid to help educate those who may struggle with more conventional means of teaching.
The Haderslev branch is a beautiful glass and bleached wood Scandi-cool building overlooking a calm body of water built 18 months ago at a cost of around 200m Danish krone (£20m). It caters for around 2,200 full-time students (around 8,000 in total, including distance learners as far afield as China and Kenya), aged between 16 and 60 over two years.
VUC centres aim to help those who may have struggled to learn within more traditional, rigid teaching systems, alongside adults wishing to gain new skills later in life, with an aim to equipped them with the qualifications necessary for attending university.
"Many of our students are dropouts from other education systems and they don't believe in themselves,” managing director Hans Jørgen Hansen tells me. “They think they are stupid or not able to learn. A really important job for our teachers is to recreate their curiosity, so they remember it is good to be curious. They need to feel like they are able to learn, and that they’re succeeding at learning.”
Rebuilding the students’ self-confidence in their own abilities and encouraging a different form of learning is at the heart of the centres’ ethos. Haderslev is divided into four kinds of new-age classrooms; quiet, presentation, dialogue and group rooms, designed for individual or mass-studies. Students quietly troop between the tasteful, open spaces equipped with flatscreen displays on walls and tables, glass-walled units and communal pod areas known affectionately as pumpkins, where groups sit in a circular formation around a multi-screened central unit.
The 'pumpkin' units encourage pupils to sit in a circular formation
Beyond lockers for their coats against the bitter Danish wind, the building bears closer resemblance to a successful start-up’s achingly hip headquarters than even the most switched-on school. The building has been designed to act as a local community hub, where members of the public are welcome to eat at the canteen among the students, and local groups are encouraged to book out the halls and other facilities. The day I visit, a local running club has booked to use an auditorium for a meeting that evening. And as all coursework, assignments and communication is conducted via the Cloud and internet, the only bit of kit students are required to carry is their issued iPad, which they can choose to buy outright after six months for a low sum.
This deconstruction of traditional learning environments which are not necessarily working for all involved is essential, Mr Hansen maintains. “We believe in our teachers’ ability to cope with the fact we don’t have normal classrooms; we didn’t feel a need for them.”
Mr Hansen pulls up an image of a 21st century classroom for me to look at on his iPad; an indifferent-looking boy leaning back on his plastic chair in a row of similarly apathetic pupils, the teacher out of shot. The picture disappears, replaced by a Victorian era Danish school hall. The children still sit in rows, their blank faces turned towards the front of the room where the teacher is presumably standing.
"The two are almost the same - we're really not seeing a lot of changes in education,” he says. “We speak about it and have visions about it, but we're not doing it. In reality you will see the same picture in many schools. The students are not learning a lot in that way. You can't just tell teachers to teach in another way, you have to change the structure of the spaces where the learning is going on.”
A key investment in alternative learning is the centre’s commitment to training its staff to become iPad-savvy. Of the 200 teachers, 16 are now part-time iBook authors, creating interactive textbooks and guides using Apple’s iBooks Author software for use in lessons and aiding the students making their own. They work with a talented team of copywriters, proofreaders, translators, video-producers and multi-media designers to create the most professional-looking content possible, and whom are aiming to publish some 400 downloadable iBooks by January 2017.
Completing interactive tasks within iBooks, teacher and part time author Klaus Vejlgaard Just says, helps shape the students from passive observers into active participants and producers.
“I want to have active students, not ones who passively receive education,” he says. “They create their own content from our fieldwork, including films and ebooks. It sharpens the focus, and forces them to reflect on what they have learned.”
Mr Hansen agrees. “You can be a very, very good teacher, but if I give Klaus a traditional classroom with no ICT, he would teach in a traditional way - the space and structure decides that.”
Jobs wasn’t wrong when he poked holes in the education system, or even when he condemned the majority of what is studied in school as “completely useless.” “But,” he continued, “Some incredibly valuable things you don’t learn until you’re older — yet you could learn them when you’re younger.” Perhaps the sooner we all start thinking differently, the more we stand to learn.
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