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Mostrando entradas de julio, 2018

THE SCHOOL FOR THEIR FUTURE OR FOR OUR PAST?

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Mari Petrelius is an educational technologist and biology teacher who is very concerned about the worries teachers have regarding the use of technology in class. She is sure that, somehow, society makes us believe that everything was better at old times and maybe teachers are afraid of changes and worried about their possible mistakes and lacks in this field. We, teachers, are continuously asked to implement new technologies in our lessons, to integrate their use in the curriculum but, hang one, what are new technologies? Or even better, new technologies for whom? Technology is technology only for those born before technology. Would we consider flushing a toilet technology? It may have been technology at a time, but is not considered so any more. The same happens with the use of tablets or social networks. Most of our students were born after the invention of these ‘new technologies'. So they use them as natural tools for their development, their communication and, in th

What should schools be like?

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The education in Finland worries about their system and curriculum but also about the design and equipment of their schools and high schools. When you enter a school you feel as if you were entering a high performance centre where every single detail has been carefully thought and is ready to help both teachers and students to do their best. A centre is planned well in advance. Great amounts of money are spent on buildings and designs, though this money is considered an investment rather than an expense. The principal of the school works together with architects and builders and transmits the teachers' suggestions. The new building is designed to fulfil the educational project of the team and the design depends on what type of methodology is going to be used. New educational environments appear. Yhteiskoalum Lukio School is a modern upper secondary school where corridors bend themselves as a sign of the great flexibility their curriculum offers. Students decide t

THE SCHOOL FOR THEIR FUTURE, OR FOR OUR PAST?

Mari Petrelius is an educational technologist and biology teacher who is very concern about the worries teachers have regarding the use of technology in class. She is sure that somehow society makes us believe that everything was better at old times and maybe teachers are afraid of changes and worried about their possible mistakes and lacks in this field. We teachers are continuously asked to implement new technologies in our lessons, to integrate their use in the curriculum but, hang one, what are new technologies? Or even better, new technologies for whom? Technology is technology only for those born before technology. Would we consider flushing a toilet technology? It may have been technology at a time, but is not consider so any more. The same happens with the use of tablets or social network. Most of our students were born after the invention of these ‘new technologies'. So they use them as natural tools for their development, their communication and, in the end, for their

Libertad y confianza

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Finlandia siempre ha sido un referente para el resto de Europa y, me atrevería a decir, del resto del mundo. De alguna forma, los políticos y entendidos en educación nos intentan hacer ver que la enseñanza en el país escandinavo no necesariamente tiene que ser una utopía y que sus casi impecables resultados en los informes PISA son alcanzables para los pobres docentes del sur del continente. Pues bien, yo diría que no. La primera sensación al entrar a un Instituto finlandés es que te adentras a un centro de alto rendimiento que intenta exprimir al máximo las posibilidades de los alumnos desde una  perspectiva relajada y de libertad. Espacios abiertos, zonas de conversación y recreo, aulas  espaciosas y de disposición cambiante, modernos recursos tecnológicos… En definitiva, un lugar en el que se percibe calidad y en el que se cuida hasta el más mínimo detalle.  Esos mínimos detalles son pensados siempre para favorecer el bienestar del alumno. El estudiante es el centro del

¡RUMBO A FINLANDIA!

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Comienza la primera movilidad del KA101-2018. Eduardo Arcas va a realizar un curso en Joensuu, Finlandia.  New learning environments, what kind of schools would you build in the future? Thematic field of the training: * Planning new school buildings * Modern technology and webtools (ICT) * Virtual reality and 3D in classrooms and outside school * Curricula * Future schools * Learning environments * Furniture inside school * 360 photos