Weekly Reflection – January 9, 2025

I might have taken it as an omen when I couldn’t log in to Zoom for the first of our Tech Education classes, had the rest of the class not gone so smoothly. As someone who loves learning new technologies and worked in the industry for eight years, I’m excited to explore how technology can (and should) be used in education.

Education is such an established institution that the gears of change grind slowly. I absolutely believe there are changes we can make in education. Inquiry-based learning is so much more engaging for students and for teachers. Imagine that, instead of planning a full day of lessons and trying to force students to be excited about them, teachers could support and facilitate students’ learning in subjects of their choice. Students and teachers would be excited to be at school every day.

My concerns about inquiry-based learning are mostly about primary grades. It’s all fine and dandy to have a 13-year-old choose a topic they’re interested in and pursue knowledge with support, but independently. But how does a 5-year-old do the same thing? How can we give more choice to our youngest learners? How can we still ensure they are learning enough of the basics to be able to learn more independently, while still allowing them to learn in the manner and at the pace that works for them? I am curious if there are technologies which might assist us in this endevor, and if so, if we will learn about them in this course.