I read a post this week from the Encyclopedia Britannica blog. Several experts in the field of ed tech posted their thoughts about the use of educational technology. Michael Wesch is a professor at Kansas State University. He and some of his students created a video called "A Vision of Students Today." As if the video didn't give me enough to think about...
His post contained some observations and thoughts about how engaged students are with education today. One comment in particular stands out- "The room is nothing less than a state of the art information dump, a physical manifestation of the all too pervasive yet narrow and naïve assumption that to learn is simply to acquire information, built for teachers to effectively carry out the relatively simple task of conveying information."
Unless changes are made, is this where libraries could be headed? I've heard rumblings of books no longer being useful, shelves of books being replaced by computer kiosks, and librarians being replaced by paraprofessionals/aides/Google etc. (Ok, the unfortunate reality is that some librarians are being replaced due to funding cuts.) Libraries and librarians need to ensure that they are fully involved and leading the charge into the world and classroom of 21st century learning...
1 comment:
I am bewildered by the notion that librarians would somehow be less necessary in this age of exploding information. It seems to me that now more than ever students (and the rest of us!) can use knowledgeable guides to help us navigate. The library is changing, but I think our need fro librarians is greater than ever.
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