Too many of the technological breakthroughs trumpeted in the education field today are for *group learning environments*.
Smartboards, Piazza, Blackboard, packaged software…
And most educational websites are designed for and marketed to classrooms and over-funded school districts. I would even, to a lesser extent, throw in all the free online lectures proliferating out there as semi-group-targeted.
Why? Because students can only learn so much from osmosis, from listening to and watching SOMEONE ELSE do something.
For example, a 14 year old math student should not listen to a teacher’s short bit on say *functions*, and then do assigned questions from a workbook.
No. Ideally the teacher will say, “Today we start functions….go look up what a function is, then come back tomorrow and EXPLAIN TO ME what a function is. Also, I want YOU to make up the questions and find real world examples that best illuminate exactly what is and what isn’t a function.”
The real educational bounty of the web is simply the ability to Google just about anything, along with the facility to communicate with human beings the world over. Do take advantage of it!
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