What I first noticed when I read Ms. Vaidyanathan's article, "Fostering Creativity and Innovation Through Technology" is the emphasis on educating students for the "global workforce." This seems to be a common concern among educators who work with technology. The internet has opened up ways to connect with people around the world, and the internet can help us prepare to function in the new "global" economy and society. As a teacher of language, I can appreciate that!
Secondly, it was very interesting to read about all of the innovative things that her students were creating. Making original work is something that many students do not do in their classes; they memorize and repeat without synthesizing or creating anything new. Ms. Vaidyanathan pointed out that technology gives students room to be creative and try new things without negative consequences. It makes sense that students would at first just make copies of the example and ask a lot of questions about the assignment before they felt the freedom to really experiment. We need more of that in our schools.
Lastly, Ms. Vaidyanathan made an interesting point about technology as an affordable school resource. Many people understandably see technology as a luxury that most schools cannot afford, but with just a few computers, students and teachers gain access to the entire internet of tools such as Web 2.0, online news and scholarly journals, textbooks, videos, music, and software that fosters creativity- all of which can be accessed freely. Once a school invest in a few computers, then an entire world of tools becomes available.
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