Matt Micciche, Head of School
Friends School of Baltimore
The world needs what our children can do.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Relationship between Technology and Teaching

http://chronicle.com/article/Dont-Confuse-Technology-With/133551/

This thoughtful article from the Chronicle of Higher Education makes the important distinction between technology and teaching.  As the author says, "A set of podcasts is the 21st-century equivalent of a textbook, not the 21st-century equivalent of a teacher."  She goes on to equate educators with "coaches, personal trainers in intellectual fitness. The value we add to the media extravaganza is like the value the trainer adds to the gym or the coach adds to the equipment. We provide individualized instruction in how to evaluate and make use of information and ideas, teaching people how to think for themselves."

As we at Friends continue to embrace the ever-expanding technological developments in the field of education, we will need to keep this relationship between teaching and technology in optimal balance, for the good of our students.