It is plausible to say that each of us has once read educational materials which are not aligned with our interest. I recently came across an article about educational technology, classifying this problem as an “emotional” problem. The way it works is that all the articles available for the subjects will be rated by students as “boring” or “interesting”. The information will then be collected and applied for future usage. Although this fact seems mundane, studies have shown that the more engagement from students results in more effective understanding of the subjects. Thus, this project provides a valuable database for future programs.
This article reminds me of Dewey’s “old school” vs. “new school”. The old school is the traditional form of education with books and teachers. Whereas, the new school emphasizes on experience and originality. In my opinion, Udio, an educational project mentioned in the article, can fit into both schools. On one hand, the materials are compiled from online articles, past sources and researches (old school). On the other hand, the emphasis on experience is pertain to the new school because it focuses on how students interact with the software. Dewey mentions that “we must escape from the tendency to think of organization in terms of the kinds of organization” (30). Thus, the “organization” of modern education is a hybrid between old and new education just like Dewey might have searched. So, is this the perfect form of education? I think that we are still far away from it. Education still has a long way to go. There needs to be a balance between students’ interest and the implementation of classical materials (which are often not interesting in modern society).
Link: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/03/universal_design_for_learning_brings_emotions_into_education_technology.html
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