T&L Advisor Guest post — Carl Hooker, Director of Instructional Technology, Eanes I.S.D., and author of the Mobile Mindset series: Here are five things I’m pondering in the education world as we enter the second month of 2017:
1. Where does VR fit in education? I’ve seen some neat things and some amazing 3D virtual models out there, but do they really move the needle with learning to justify the cost of some of these systems?
2. What’s the future of public education? In my state and as well as the country, there seems to be an overwhelming need to slowly, or not so slowly, dismantle public education. How do we stop our slow death?
3. When will we stop teaching the “4 core areas?” I’ve been wondering this for years, but doesn’t anyone else find it curious that we continue to beat ourselves up over test scores over core subject areas, while thebusiness community is looking for things like empathy, collaboration, grit, and resiliency in its future employees?
4. How soon should we teach kids about fake news? Fake news is not a new thing (see: War of the Worlds circa 1938), but it seems to be hitting us at every turn. Today I spoke to 4th and 5th graders about it and tested their vetting skills. It doesn’t hurt to start them early!
5. Why do we still use traditional grading? In Texas, they are implementing an “A-F” accountability rating. Shouldn’t we realize that by making everything about grades, we aren’t teaching kids how to learn but instead how to get the best grade?
