This chapter was a very interesting chapter in the fact it dealt mostly with education outside of the k-12 age group. This means that education really never does stop and it is very important to realize that. The chapter began with the discussion of families having there children home schooled. Personally I have no problem with the idea of children being home schooled. I believe that people can learn anywhere because this has been going on for many years. As a future teacher I think it is important for public schools to strive and try to make the schools as appealing as they can be so that there is really not a need for home schooling. I would want to try and give parents no reason to home school their child because they would be getting a great education at school. I realize that you can’t please everyone and that is why home schooling can be a great alternative. Especially because of the increases in technology that will make it easier for students to be home schooled. I felt that the section on workplace learning was a very interesting section because I think it is a great idea for businesses to put money into educating their workers. They used technology to provide scenarios and real life situations that will help their employees in the work force which is beneficial to the employee and the employer. Technology helped this a lot because it is very easy for them to use and they can do it in a quick and easy manner. Distance education is also a very beneficial way for people to learn things that they are interested in but can’t really learn because it is not offered where they are or they have disabilities and can’t go to where it is offered. You are constantly seeing ads on TV for the University of Phoenix and how you can get a degree there. It is a good degree for a specialized job that you want to get but I personally don’t agree that it matches up to a college degree. I do agree that it is great for specializing in a certain thing that you want a job in though. Reading the section on adult educating was cool because it showed that just because you are in the workforce or you are retired doesn’t mean that you want to just stop learning and being educated. That is a great thing to think about because I feel you should always want to learn new thing. Technology is really able to advance this because it helps with distance learning by being able to learn in you own home. That is great that adult education is growing so fast. Technology is also helping learning centers flourish because it connects people who want to learn the same material a lot easier. These centers are great for students that want to focus on a certain subject or test like the ACT. It is a great opportunity for individuals to get together and focus on a certain area that they want to learn. I feel that this is a good addition to going to a school but it should not be the main place that you learn at. If you think about it schools are learning centers just at a larger scale then the way they talked about it in the book. Educational television videos, and computer based software have been going on for a very long time so I don’t feel that this is too much of a new area. Recent technology may have enhanced it but video games and videos have been used for a long time to facilitate learning. I think educational television and videos are a great way for students to learn and it is easy for teachers to incorporate them into their lesson plans. Students can learn a lot from these and it is a great alternative to lecturing all the time, especially for visual learners.
Looking at all of these new systems of education I am quite impressed as a future teacher. I feel that I can use these to my advantage by telling students about these things and having them try it out. I feel that they can be great additions to what and how I am teaching them in my future classroom. Teachers may feel that these systems are hurting education, which they could be if students only learn by doing this right now, but I feel that they can help students learn in different ways. Many of these systems apply to students outside of the k-12 age scheme which I cannot apply to my future classroom. What I can do is let students know about these opportunities and let them decide for themselves what they want to do. With the system now students feel that they have to graduate high school, go to college, and then apply for jobs and hope to get one. With these new systems they don’t have to do it by these steps. The goal for educators is to get students to learn. Students don’t always learn in the same ways and in the same format. I think that it is our job to cater to the students and help them succeed for the future. These systems can help if utilized right and are not the only source of education. I still feel that the main source should be schools but with these new systems and new technologies it can help them in different ways.
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