Reflection 7: Bringing the world into the classroom

The classroom, that interactive, educational place where knowledge, dreams, and learning become one, has turned into a global village. It cannot coexist in isolation anymore. Nowadays, both students and instructors stay connected with what happens around the world while having infinite access to knowledge. From a tablet and smart phone to a personal computer, classrooms have become enlightenment centers where, in the blink of an eye, people can satisfy their thirst for knowledge. However, this new reality is not the same for all of us involved in education because, while some people working in private, wealthy institutions can have all this and more, there are other people who do not even have access to the minimum necessities to have a decent class.

What would you do if your classroom were like this?

This is a world or contrasts, there is no doubt about it. So, what can we do? Well, play, fight... use what we have been provided with. This week, we have been given the opportunity of reading about two very interesting topics: Learner Autonomy and One-Computer Classrooms. Although the two of them might seem extremely different one from the other; reality shows us the opposite for one contains the other when it comes to learning.

Learner autonomy launches ones identity in search of knowledge

Learner autonomy deals with our own responsibility as learners. The learning process has drastically changed in the last decades, and it has moved from a teacher-centered environment to a student-centered one where each participant has the right, and the duty, to learn in accordance with his or her own terms, speed, and tastes. The main problem with learner autonomy is found on the level of maturity that, not only instructors, but also parents and mainly students need to have. The new learners have to struggle against centuries of educational imposition, where all the knowledge was and has been given to the students as if they would be a recipient on which learning is pour to. So, going against this unconscious method means an inner fight that is not easy to break or change. Important steps, nevertheless, have been taken and our society moves towards a new direction where the learning process has become active, personal,and globally interactive.

One way in which learner autonomy meets this limited-sort-of reality is when you have a classroom with one computer only and it has to be shared with every single member of the class. This scenario provides the best opportunity for a teacher to stir students´imagination within a context where each participant has learned to be responsible and respectful for others.  They have to work in relation to the rest of students, knowing that they also need to use the only computer in the classroom. Although, limited to a certain extent, one-computer classes can fill any classroom with technological devices that can help enhance the students´ knowledge.

One example in which the cyber world can interact with the physical world in a classroom with limited technological devices can be this lesson plan I came up with in a hypothetical composition, one-computer classroom: After reading about how to write a comparison and contrast composition (Condition), participants in the writing class (Audience) will do research in internet for the songs "Asleep" by The Smiths and "Krafty" by New Order to find similarities and differences within the lyrics of the songs (Behavior) to write a twenty-line,in-class composition (Degree).

Finally, this week that is about to start, my grammar advanced students will present their PBL activities which came up as a result of a problem detected along the progress of the course. I still have no clue on what they are going to come up with, but I am sure it will be something good. The truth is that I am really anxious to see their projects are going to be. In fact, I am thinking on taking pictures about the different presentations to include them in next week´s final report.

As it can be seen, life shows us different faces in different circumstances;  we, however, have to learn to see it with  the best look we have: that of our heart for there is where passion lives and, it is, through it that obstacles can easily be overcome. Let´s bring our world into the classroom!

Let´s bring our world into the classroom!