A few years ago I came upon a flow chart for integrating technology into the curriculum which I felt did an excellent job of providing guidance in developing a technology plan. The customers, of course, are the students. We are teaching a new generation of student, many of whom come well equipped with a strong technology base, especially in computers. Even the media recognizes this issue when it portrays in a popular TV commercial a little girl offering tech support to two adults over the phone. Rather than listen to a professor regurgitate facts and theories, students discuss ideas and learn from one another, with the teacher acting as a participant in the learning.
Student s construct narratives that make sense out of their own experience.
Traditional approaches to learning have been more linear by using textbooks as the primary learning tool. You start with chapter one and work through to the last chapter by the end of the school year. It has been found that people learn best by doing rather than simply by listening to lectures or videos. We live in a very graphic world of charts, pie graphs, etc. The way we teach and analyze information in this manner must also be taught to the next generation of learners.