Immersive Learning: Creating "an" experience
Many educators I know, including myself, would agree with the Deweyan idea that the goal of education is to help students lead lives rich in worthwhile experiences. We strive to broaden horizons and grow perspective. The difference for our students is how we go about reaching those goals. For Dewey, it was the difference between ordinary experience and “an” experience.
The ordinary experience is one that occurs simply because we as humans interact with our environment and therefore, naturally have experiences. These events happen through the mere course of living, and are not further developed beyond this surface level. In contrast to ordinary experience, Dewey proposed the idea of “an” experience. It is here where material “runs its course through to the end”. In such experiences, a problem is solved, a game is played to the end, a situation is rounded out and it's elements connected in unity to one another. It is an event of thinking and meaning driven by anticipation of the endpoint. An event carries suspense on what the endpoint will be. If we take this Deweyan outlook, then as teachers it is our job to foster anticipation in our students.
Our question is then, “How can we use technology to help create “an” experience for our students?”. Dewey says that effective teaching is dramatic. An instructor must take the content at hand and find the drama in the idea to connect it with their students. One of the most interesting applications of this theory is through the growing use of extended and virtual reality. I explored the technologies currently being developed by Google specifically for use in the classroom. Google expeditions brings the world into your classroom through 360 degree scenes and 3-D objects that are accompanied by guided information. Additionally, a teacher could create their own field trip with information specific to what they want to share with their students. Other companies such as Lifeliqe are designing entire science curriculums around these extended reality tools to really ensure the technology is a crucial part of meaningful learning.
The ordinary experience is one that occurs simply because we as humans interact with our environment and therefore, naturally have experiences. These events happen through the mere course of living, and are not further developed beyond this surface level. In contrast to ordinary experience, Dewey proposed the idea of “an” experience. It is here where material “runs its course through to the end”. In such experiences, a problem is solved, a game is played to the end, a situation is rounded out and it's elements connected in unity to one another. It is an event of thinking and meaning driven by anticipation of the endpoint. An event carries suspense on what the endpoint will be. If we take this Deweyan outlook, then as teachers it is our job to foster anticipation in our students.
Our question is then, “How can we use technology to help create “an” experience for our students?”. Dewey says that effective teaching is dramatic. An instructor must take the content at hand and find the drama in the idea to connect it with their students. One of the most interesting applications of this theory is through the growing use of extended and virtual reality. I explored the technologies currently being developed by Google specifically for use in the classroom. Google expeditions brings the world into your classroom through 360 degree scenes and 3-D objects that are accompanied by guided information. Additionally, a teacher could create their own field trip with information specific to what they want to share with their students. Other companies such as Lifeliqe are designing entire science curriculums around these extended reality tools to really ensure the technology is a crucial part of meaningful learning.
Comments
Post a Comment