Miller (left) is a teenager living in the USA. It's always interesting to hear what young people think about educational technology, so I was delighted when Miller agreed to have a go at answering questions about it.
Miller works on the digiteen site
The questions below are all genuine, ie they have been submitted by real people, not just made up by me (although I can assure that I am a real person!).
Equally, Miller's answers are genuine too, which is to say she didn't receive any prompting or assistance from either her teacher, Vicki Davis, or me.
This week, Miller answers these questions:
- Is it exciting to have a worldwide audience?
- What would you like to see included in the primary (elementary) curriculum, and why?
- What would you like to see included in the secondary (high) school curriculum, and why?
- Do you think information technology should be taught as a subject in its own right?
If you would like to submit a question to Miller, please complete the extremely short questionnaire. This feature on the ICT in Education website will run only for the next few weeks, so be quick!
If you have any feedback, whether about the idea itself or Miller's answers, please let me know by leaving a comment here.
Is it exciting to have a worldwide audience?
Miller replies:
It is very exciting to have a world-wide audience. I am so grateful that i am able to share what I know about the computer with others. It is very exciting to see the questions that everybody posts for me, and I try my best to answer them.
What would you like to see included in the primary (elementary) curriculum, and why?
Miller replies:
In the primary curriculum, there definitely needs to be the basic reading, writing, math, science, and social science. These five subjects set the foundation for education in high school. I believe that elementary-aged students should also be exposed to the computer.
I am not saying that you should take them into more advanced programs like Microsoft and Adobe and drown them in information, but I believe that they should be introduced to keyboarding so that they may know how to type. Learning to type at an early age will help them tremendously in high school with writing reports and papers.
I am also a strong proponent of allowing children have fun on the internet, and learn at the same time. Introducing kids to the internet is fine, but we must do that in moderation.
Children need to be allowed to play games on the Internet while stimulating their desire to learn. Woogi World is a great website that teaches kids about internet safety by letting them play games. Some of the students in our 9th [14 and 15 years old] grade class experimented with the 4th [9 and 10 years old] grade students at our school. They took them into Woogi World and introduced them to the program and allowed them to play games and just have fun. We discovered that kids learn much better by doing.
If you make learning more fun for them, they will surely learn things more eagerly and willingly. FUN: sometimes we get so caught up in wanting to push information down the children's' throats that we forget that they are only children. They want to have fun and enjoy themselves. If we would incorporate fun into the curriculum, their minds would be so much more open to learning about new things. There is no telling how far a little fun will be able to take you.
What would you like to see included in the secondary (high) school curriculum, and why?
Miller replies:
In high school, students get a little more diverse in the subjects that they learn. The subjects that they are taught are a little more specific, for example biology, geography, geometry, world literature, computer fundamentals to name just a few. All of these subjects are great because they allow high school students to break down the general things that they learned in elementary school so that they can get an idea of what career path they want to take. I believe that high school students should definitely take a computer class.
In their computer class, the students need to learn how to use the Microsoft programs, and learn how to navigate through the internet. I also think that they should learn how to use a Google Doc. Writing a paper in a Google Document is so much more efficient because it allows you to:
1. Easy access over the internet;
2. Google Doc saves an auto-draft;
3. You can share it with other people and they can help you edit it.
With the world becoming more and more technologically advanced, high school students, who are the next generation, need to know how to use the computer. In about 10 years, technology is going to be a big part of our everyday lives. Having the knowledge that students would gain from a computer class will be very valuable.
Do you think information technology should be taught as a subject in its own right?
Miller replies:
I absolutely think that information technology should be taught in schools. Students need to learn how to use the computer and all of the programs that go with it because that knowledge will come in very handy when they go to college and have to write papers and do projects. Schools should be very willing to teach their students information technology as a class because it will also improve their grades in school. Being able to use the computer and type will make doing papers, projects, or anything that the schools ask for much more faster and efficient.
Miller’s acknowledgements
I would like to say thank you to the readers that support Mr. Terry's newsletter. Thank you to Mr. Terry for giving me this opportunity to write for his wonderful newsletter. Thank you to my Computer teacher Mrs. Vicki for giving me the knowledge to be able to answer the questions that everyone has asked. Thank you to my family for supporting me and allowing me to write for this website. Thanks to everyone for their support.
Sincerely,
Miller
My acknowledgements
My thanks to Vicki Davis for introducing me to Miller in the first place, and for managing the communications between all concerned, and allowing Miller time in school to answer the questions. Thanks also to Miller’s parents for allowing and encouraging her to take part in this little experiment. And, of course, to Miller herself for taking time out of her busy schedule! Finally, thanks to the people who have sent in questions for Miller to answer: keep ‘em coming!
Disclaimer
Miller's views do not represent the views of her school, her teacher, nor any other organization which she belongs to, or Terry Freedman, but are solely her own views and opinions.
Next week...
Miller answers questions about playing games online, and how she keeps herself safe on the internet. Remember, if you would like to ask her opinion on anything concerning educational technology, you may do so online -- it will take you just a couple of minutes!
If you enjoyed reading Miller's views...
Then you will probably enjoy the following: - What are your kids learning while you're not looking? That was the title of a presentation that Miles Berry and I did at the BETT Show 2009. Based on original research, it made it very clear that teachers make life more difficult for themselves, and less than interesting for their students, by ignoring what their students can already do. For more information, including a link to Miles' blog on the subject and a slide show, see my article on What are your kids learning while you're not looking?
- What does Miller think about digital citizenship, social networking and online safety? Listen to a discussion we had via Skype. It lasts just over 26 minutes.
- Miller lives in the USA. What does Edith, an English schoolgirl of around the same age, think about the same sort of issues? I'm in the process of editing an interview/discussion we had with Edith, who without a doubt was the star of the show at a recent Teachmeet. Look out for that on this website soon.
- Miller wrote a cracking article on the subject of social networking and digiteens for the special social networking issue of Computers in Classrooms. That will be out soon. If you don't want to miss it, sign-up for it now -- it's free!
- Finally, Miller will answer more questions next week. If you want to make sure you don't miss that, then subscribe to this site's RSS feed now!
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