TIL that John Dewey is still an inspiration to educators and educational technologists. Rich & Reeves (2006) paint a picture of Dewey's contribution to the field in a (academic) love letter published in Educational Technology magazine. In this article they cite a number of his pedagogical creeds (written in 1897) and give him praise for setting the foundation for education technology that is still strong over 115 years later. When Dewey wrote his Pedagogical Creed he stated, "With the advent of democracy and modern industrial conditions, it is impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be twenty years from now. Hence it is impossible to prepare the child for any precise set of conditions." Dewey was right to say that he had no idea what the learning environment would look like twenty years down the road, and certainly not a hundred years later. No one during that era could imagine a definition of technology that includes smartphones and tablet computers.
More importantly, Rich & Reeves showcase Dewey's complete commitment to the teacher's role in the classroom, as opposed to some who believed that the teacher could be replaced by radio and, later, televisions (Cuban 1886). Rich & Reeves are able to go even further and explain that Dewey "extols the idea that it is necessary for the more knowledgeable members of society to interact with students in order to most effectively prepare them." For me, this statement goes beyond the classroom and the teacher. It acknowledges all people who can influence and teach students because of their expertise and knowledge on a certain subject. I find this liberating because I know that my curiosity leads me to "teachers" that I find in my wider community, not people who have gone through a teacher training program. I hope to share this idea of teacher with my students so they may see themselves as a teacher someday, regardless of the profession they choose.
"I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform." John Dewey
p.s. Did anyone else reading John Dewey's Pedagogical Creed think of the This I Believe series on NPR? I couldn't stop thinking about it!
p.p.s. I have a lot of questions for Mr. Dewey about this document but the most intriguing right now is, how many statements did he weed out and when did he come to this final version?
I really liked your comment at the end about how you would like your students to see themselves as teachers someday. I think that is very important for us to keep in mind and something that I have never really considered. It is important for our students to have the mastery of the information to teach others. I would also like to impart the skills of sharing knowledge on my students so they continue to teach others and themselves.
ReplyDeleteI also have a lot of questions for Dewey and I would very much like to know what he would think of our current education program and what he would think of the MAC program.
The very first thing I did when reading this post was click on "TIL" and was taken away into a world I never knew. That's a fascinating possibility with computers/blogs/hyperlinks. We can say so much more in much less space by just linking to it.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Sorry about that, reddit can suck you in... but I think your point about "saying more" by using a hyperlink is really insightful. I like that idea.
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