DeAnza College/CIS2/Spring 2009/Seven Principles for Good Practice/7. Respect diverse talents and ways of learning

CIS2 Computers and the Internet in Society : Winter 2009

Group Members: H.K. & C.I.

Respecting Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning
The topic, “Respecting diverse talents and ways of learning,” is to discuss how we should respect other individuals’ way of thinking and operation of thoughts along with natural talents. There are some simple steps provided by Colorado State University to help with respecting others’ talents and ways of learning: a.	Design more than one method of learning for students

b.	Recognize, respect, and reward creativity

c.	Be sensitive to cultural differences

d.	Allow students to choose from different modes of project presentation

e.	Understand and allow for different pacing

f.	Design course materials, activities, and assessments to encourage analysis, synthesis, application and evaluation [1]

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We will be touching bases on the subtopics as suggested: •	What will be the important global social and technology issues in the next 3-5 years?

•	What role will computer and internet technology play?

•	Will the impact of technology be positive or negative?

•	Who will benefit and how?

•	Who will be hurt?

•	Who is driving the use of technology around this issue?

Each of the subtopic will have to deal with the society development toward the talents and ways of learning in regards to the aid of technology advancement.

What will be the important global social and technology issues in the next 3-5 years?
Technology will be a way of expressing a person’s talents and way of learning in the near future. With technology advancement, online courses, instant messaging software, emails, and more are many ways to respect others’ talents and learning methods. People prefer different ways of learning and achieving the final goals. Dr. Garvey Pyke stated that “''Some people refer to learning styles, a belief that students approach learning differently from one another with different preferences, such as some students learning better by listening, some better by doing, some better by reading or seeing information. Whether or not you subscribe to a belief in learning styles, research shows that when content is provided in a variety of different ways, and students are asked to interact with that content in a variety of different ways, then they will learn better and succeed in your class''” [2]. Through the usage of technology, it is another way of displaying one’s talents and ways of learning. However, the possible issue of the future is that technology advancement will create a type of generality, where many have similar talents or ways of learning that some may get ignored.

What role will computer and internet technology play?
Computer and internet will be a way of communication between people to further discuss differences and compromise between different talents and ways of learning. As said by the TLT Group, “''WebCT has allowed me do much more mixing of visuals and text and use both as learning tools. It has also allowed us to post study guides often made in response to specific requests or confusions. I know that these serve some students more than others and we are not taking time out of class to serve just a few but those few have what they need. E-mail also allows me to learn about specific needs more than the traditional classroom did, to respond individually to those needs, and to broadcast information to all who need it when that looks desirable''” [3]. Projects could be completed through the usage of computers and internet due to a person’s way of learning. The projects could be further improved by demonstrating the person’s talent with computer and internet technology. Technology will play a major role in the future as projects such as these will get displayed through the internet. Talents will be featured on new section of large sites such as Yahoo, Google, MSN, etc.

As Don St. Hilaire also stated, “Students need opportunities to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them”. He claimed that technology can help promote how to respect talents and diverse ways of learning by: a.	Helping students learn more effectively and broaden their learning skills portfolio

b.	Enable students to use a wider variety of materials at their own pace

c.	Encourage self-reflection and self-evaluation. [4]



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Will the impact of technology be positive or negative?
The impact of technology involvement will be positive. Tom Wulf suggested, ”If you haven't already been doing most of the suggestions provided here for adopting this principle, you should see your students become more engaged as you begin to use these techniques” [5]. People will learn to not discriminate others’ talents and ways of learning through the involvement of technology with the already diverse ways of learning. Technology will show no ethnicity, gender, culture and such, but technology is a great aid for different people of different styles. Everyone will strictly see the talent and ways of learning without judging the person’s character.



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Who will benefit and how?
With technology as an aid, everyone will benefit along with it. John F. Kremer suggested a couple of beneficial impacts with the usage of technology: (1) The exercises have a good motivational component. Most students enjoy the exercises. Students clearly have preferences in the exercises. Each exercise is the "best" one for some students. No one exercise has a universal appeal to the majority of the students.

(2) Because the computer does the grading (except for essays which are graded by student assistants), faculty have less time invested.

(3) Students get immediate feedback

(4) Students are less likely to copy the homework from other students.

(5) The criteria for grading is implemented uniformly and fairly across all students.” [6] For those who display their talents on internet, such as Kremer, they offer others a chance to learn about them and in return, not only do they voice their way of thoughts, but also earn respect from others about their talents. It will even allow those who are disabled to have easier access to display their individual talents.

Who will it hurt?
Learning respect for others can never really hurt a person. Respect is something that, as a person, should learn and apply to daily life. It will not hurt a person, unless of course, that person is against respecting other people’s talents and ways of learning.

Who is the driving use of technology around this issue?
Everyone will be the driving use of technology around this issue, especially those who wants to display their talents to the public. Even as we are introducing this topic through the usage of a Wiki site, we are displaying our talents and ways of learning. “''Students with disabilities are a large (and growing) population in colleges and universities. These students often require special accommodation in order to be successful; and are the very embodiment of ‘diverse ways of learning’''” [7], stated by George Self.