As a form of reflection on Khurram Virani’s TED talk, I chose to create a YouTube video to summarize his main ideas on the topic.
Here is the video:
Khurram’s main idea is that we need the education world to not only use technology, but use its methodologies as well. The first thing he says and admits is that, all three, teaching, curriculum, and improvement are very difficult to do. Just like many teachers, I too agree with Khurram about this since there is no one method or way for a teacher to master these. He addresses the fact that, yes, there are similarities between education and technology. This similarity comes with how both these industries aim to push forward other industries by giving them the right tools and people to do so. In both a student and a user’s perspective, all they care about is the outcome or the result; how did they gain from what they just did. The hard part here is that there is no correct answer to both teaching and to software. This is why many people, including me, get very frustrated. Instead, it becomes all about trial and error. You try something, see if it works or you try something different and see if that works.
The difference between education and technology is the approach they are taking. Technology is much faster in changing the way they do things and trying out new ideas, methods, and products. Education, on the other hand, doesn’t have that constant change like software does. I, very much, agree with this in that as teacher candidates we always hear that teaching methods have always been the same but they’re just recycled. I think it is important that as teachers I should be open to new ideas and forms of technologies, though it may be very uncomfortable for me. To be able to master the craft of either technology or education, one must create a balance between art and science. By collecting data, one is able to move forward in the direction they feel will change things for the better. I believe that this is essential as a teacher because you have to know your students, what they are good at, what they are struggling with and so on in order to move them forward in the right direction.
Before reading this text I still had the same ideas and opinions on the topic. I know that as a teacher technology should be a part of my classroom. I believe this because as a teacher I want to prepare my students for the future. In this day and age technology is very important as it is a part of both adults careers and personal lives. Due to the fact that I myself am not used to the use of a lot technology, I am a bit uncomfortable using new forms of software, but I am willing to put in effort to learning these on my own in order to provide my students with more tools for their future use. On the other hand, I also felt the same as Khurram even before watching the talk in that sometimes technology may be used too much in the classroom. This is when it is not used t benefit the student, but rather for the sake of saying that the teachers uses technology in their class.
The form of media I chose to use for this reflection was a YouTube video. First I had to watch the TED talk and write down the points I felt stood out to me and were the most significant. I then watched the video again but slower and added more detail to the points I made previously. I then drew out the titles for different pages for the main points of the video I had made. Recording the video was the next step. In the video I am flipping through the main points of the video as I am further explaining them in audio form for further detail.