TODAY'S CUSTOMERS | wentworth-554

Today’s classrooms look, feel, and sound eerily similar to classrooms from 50 years ago. Teacher’s standing at the front of the room talking at students arranged in neat rows of desks listening, or perhaps not to the teacher. The teacher uses “new” tools, but really only use them as improved versions of the old. Document cameras and projectors are just improved versions of overhead projectors. Gone are the days of making transparencies, now teacher can slip the worksheet under the camera and viola, it appears on the screen for everyone to see. Interactive whiteboards serve as great projection screens and can even be used like a chalkboard but with no dust!! Computers have now replaced gradebooks and are great tools for communicating with staff. Is this really the most effective use of these great tools? It is as though we have expected the technology to transform the classroom.

The infographic below displays some of the more noticeable differences between the 20th century teacher and what the 21st century teacher should look like. It concludes with a list of task to perform in order begin the transformation of traditional classrooms and prepare students for the fast-paced 21st century.

TODAY'S CUSTOMER

Teaching has changed relatively little over the past 50 years but with the many advances in technology, education must undergo changes. This assignment highlights the differences between what is typically seen in 20th century teaching versus what a 21st century teacher should look like. I wish I had more artistic talent with creating my own graphics, but I feel the infographic displays some of the skills I have in manipulating graphics in an effort to make them work for me.