Team+2

Holli Ferguson, Josh Maki & Tim Mulrain EdL 755 Dr. Nari Kim July 14, 2011

=**__Introduction:__**= Imagine the following scene: as the bell to start class rings, the teacher walks to the front of the classroom and explains the day’s lesson: history of the English Language. As the teacher walks over to flip the lights off, the students are already preparing their surroundings for the lesson; books drop loudly on the floor, notebook pages open, and pencils are out. By the time the teacher begins with slide one, “origins of English,” eyelids are sinking low. By slide five, the only thing students are learning is how to sleep in a sitting position with a slight background hum. Once all fifty slides are complete the teacher flips the light back on just in time for the bell to ring. Another successful PowerPoint presentation delivered!

This scene is all too common in the educational field, and what is even more worrisome is that the PowerPoint presentation, all things considered, is not very old. So why do students seemingly power down their brains just as the lights in the classroom dim? Clay Shirky, author of //Cognitive Surplus//, argues that a surplus of passive consumption of media has caused a backlash. Shirky states, “Life in the developed world includes a lot of passive participation: at work we are office drones, at home we are couch potatoes” (2010, p. 17). All of this passive consumption has caused a revolution of free time. People today are beginning to find traditional, passive media consumption like television less engaging than ever before. Shirky cites research that finds, “young populations with access to fast, interactive media are shifting their behavior away from media that presupposes pure consumption” (p. 17). When students walk into a classroom in the 21st century, they see PowerPoint as a media made purely for linear consumption and automatically go into sleep mode.

As engagement in passive media wanes in schools, educators must find new ways of presenting factual information to students in an engaging manner. The linear, top down organization model of PowerPoint is outdated and ineffective. Students spend more time interacting while playing video games online and creating videos for YouTube than reading books or completing homework. More interactive, holistic, and circular modes of communication are needed to re-engage students. Prezi, video games, and GoAnimate take small steps toward student engagement.

Image courtesy of prezi.com

Image courtesy of thesims3.com

Image courtesy of goanimate.com

= = =**__Conclusion:__**= = = Revitalized presentation software, video games, and animation software are tools that, utilized by a knowledgeable teacher, will enhance student engagement, creativity, and learning. Web 2.0 tools such as these “have unprecedented power to amplify their ability to think, learn, communicate, collaborate, and create” (Fadel & Trilling, 2009, p. 64). A modernized curriculum geared around 21st century tools that engage students and promote creativity is necessary to prepare them for the future they will encounter as adults. Rather than learning facts and figures, students need to learn how to think critically and creatively. It is not enough for them to become qualified for the jobs of today; teachers must prepare students to blaze new trails and to create the jobs of tomorrow.

=__References:__=

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