Education for an Information Age

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Education for an Information Age

• Presentation given by
• Bernard John Poole, MSIS, PGCE
• for the
• REFRESHER COURSE IN Pharmacy Education
• Sponsored by
• The University Grants Commission
• Directed by
• Dr. Jyothi
• Head i/c Dept. of Pharmacy
• Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam (Womens
  University)
• Tirupati 517 502, Andhra Pradesh, India

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Food for Thought
As of August of 2000, all entering full time
pharmacy students will be issued a personal
notebook computer. The expense for the notebook
computer will be incorporated into the normal
tuition for the pharmacy school curriculum.
Pharmacy education and pharmacy practice in the
21st century will critically depend on graduates
who have mastery of information technology. All
health care professionals depend on the timely
delivery and use of many types of networked
information resources. Pharmacists already rely
extensively on information systems for the
provision of pharmaceutical care to patients.
Access to the world wide Internet for personal
education and professional practice is no longer
an option for Creightons future pharmacy
graduates. The Internet commerce generation is
ahead for all of us and we intend to insure that
our graduates are well prepared to capitalize on
the rich opportunities that lie ahead for
education, research and professional practice
using advanced information technologies.
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• Good tools do not make a good teacher, but a
  good teacher makes good use of tools.
• Eleanor Doan

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What goes on in a good teachers classroom?

• Teacher and students seem to be involved in
  everything that is happening
• Teacher has a ready alternative whenever students
  fail to understand and/or perform a given task
• All students are actively involved in the
  proceedings
• Students show willingness or interest
• All students are attentive to others and the
  teacher
• Learner reactions to learning activities seem to
  be expected by the teacher
• Teacher is in possession of all the material that
  is required
• The entire classroom is buzzing with eager
  anticipation in the activities

Excerpted from Conceptual Inputs for Secondary
Teacher Education The Instructional Role. by
M.S. Yadav T.K.S. Lakshmi, 2003 National
Council for Teacher Education, New Delhi.
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Reflections on teaching from Carl Rogers

• When I have been able to transform a groupand
  here I mean all members of a group, myself
  includedinto a community of learners, then the
  excitement has been almost beyond belief. To
  free curiosity to permit individuals to go
  charging off in new directions dictated by their
  own interests to unleash curiosity to open
  everything to questioning and exploration to
  recognize that everything is in process of
  changehere is an experience I can never forget.
  I cannot always achieve it but when it is
  partially or largely achieved then it becomes a
  never-to-be-forgotten group experience. Out of
  such a context arise true students, real
  learners, creative scientists and scholars and
  practitioners, the kind of individuals who can
  live in a delicate but ever-changing balance
  between what are presently known and the flowing,
  moving, altering problems and facts of the
  future.
• In Rogers, Carl, 1965. Client-centered Therapy
  Its Current Practices, Implications, and Theory.
  Boston Houghton Mifflin

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Thomas Armstrongs 12 Qualities of Genius

• Curiosity
• Playfulness
• Imagination
• Creativity
• Wonder
• Wisdom

Inventiveness Vitality Sensitivity Flexibility Hum
or Joy
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Brain-based Learning and Multiple Intelligences

• These qualities of genius emanate from a
  brain-based approach to teaching and learning
• We (along with our students) have a complement of
  at least eight distinct intelligences, according
  to Howard Gardners Theory of Multiple
  Intelligences
• You need multimedia to stimulate these qualities
  of genius and to more likely tap into the
  intellectual potential of your students

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The most important multimedia element in the
classroom?
The Teacher!
Insert your picture here ?
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A Chinese proverb

• I hear and I forget.
• I see and I remember.
• I do and I understand.
• Hence the importance of the senses in learning,
  because when you do you engage all the senses.
• Data visualization, music/sound, play, physical
  interaction, communicationespecially writing and
  speech communicationall help students understand
  and retain information.
• Alan Kay Doing with images makes symbols.

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The Affective nature of learning

• Feelings are important, too
• A ffective learning is E ffective learning
• Good teaching begins, not in the mind, but in the
  heart
• Teaching is hard work because its heart work

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Education is a balancing act between teaching and
learning

• The learning becomes more as the teaching becomes
  less
• The student is at the center of the learning
  process
• The teachers role is to prepare the environment
• Not the sage on the stage, but the guide at the
  side

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Theres nothing new under the sun

• These ideas about education are as old as the
  hills
• Froebel (à la Plato and Pestalozzi)
• Educational value of play and physical activity
• Montessori
• Prepare the environment so that the student will
  learn spontaneously
• Dewey
• Learning by doing
• Piaget
• Reaffirmed Vigotskys Constructivism
• Bruner
• Discovery learning

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A great quote

• The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to
  be able to say, "The children are now working as
  if I did not exist.
• Dr. Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

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Technology enables new/old ways of teaching and
learning

• Discovery methodslet them find out for
  themselves
• Contructivism (Vigotsky)
• Group workcollaboration/cooperation
• Projects
• Portfolios of workalternative methods of
  assessment

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Sachin Tendulkar
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I have a dream

• that modern, computer-based technologies for
  teaching and learningin time, and as these
  technologies become ubiquitous at home and at
  schoolwill fundamentally change the way
  education is done.
• For each one of us, the journey begins here the
  journey begins now.

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Multiple Intelligences

• Visual-Spatial
• think in terms of physical space, as do
  architects and sailors. Very aware of their
  environments. They like to draw, do jigsaw
  puzzles, read maps, daydream. They can be taught
  through drawings, verbal and physical imagery.
  Tools include models, graphics, charts,
  photographs, drawings, 3-D modeling, video,
  videoconferencing, television, multimedia, texts
  with pictures/charts/graphs.
• Bodily-kinesthetic
• use the body effectively, like a dancer or a
  surgeon. Keen sense of body awareness. They like
  movement, making things, touching. They
  communicate well through body language and be
  taught through physical activity, hands-on
  learning, acting out, role playing. Tools include
  equipment and real objects.
• Musical
• show sensitivity to rhythm and sound. They love
  music, but they are also sensitive to sounds in
  their environments. They may study better with
  music in the background. They can be taught by
  turning lessons into lyrics, speaking
  rhythmically, tapping out time. Tools include
  musical instruments, music, radio, stereo,
  CD-ROM, multimedia.
• Interpersonal
• understanding, interacting with others. These
  students learn through interaction. They have
  many friends, empathy for others, street smarts.
  They can be taught through group activities,
  seminars, dialogues. Tools include the telephone,
  audio conferencing, time and attention from the
  instructor, video conferencing, writing, computer
  conferencing, E-mail.
• Intrapersonal
• understanding one's own interests, goals. These
  learners tend to shy away from others. They're in
  tune with their inner feelings they have wisdom,
  intuition and motivation, as well as a strong
  will, confidence and opinions. They can be taught
  through independent study and introspection.
  Tools include books, creative materials, diaries,
  privacy and time. They are the most independent
  of the learners.
• Linguistic
• using words effectively. These learners have
  highly developed auditory skills and often think
  in words. They like reading, playing word games,
  making up poetry or stories. They can be taught
  by encouraging them to say and see words, read
  books together. Tools include computers, games,
  multimedia, books, tape recorders, and lecture.
• Logical Mathematical
• reasoning, calculating. Think conceptually,
  abstractly and are able to see and explore
  patterns and relationships. They like to
  experiment, solve puzzles, ask cosmic questions.
  They can be taught through logic games,
  investigations, mysteries. They need to learn and
  form concepts before they can deal with details.