Questão de Língua Inglesa

13 Read the text below and answer questions 21 to 25. Technology in education: if students aren't worried, why are teachers? As a new episode of My Teacher is an App airs on BBC Radio 4, Edward Lawless urges teachers to embrace digital technology in the classroom – however frightening it seems

"As teachers, our role must change to one that embraces digital technology as a fundamental part of student learning," says Edward Lawless. Photograph: Athena 1 The third episode of the BBC Radio 4 series, My Teacher is an App, offered a provocative 2 glimpse into the ways that technology is now being used to meet current educational 3 needs. I attended the debate at The Great Hall of King's College London, where a 4 respected panel and an energetic audience discussed the future of online technology and 5 education. 6 While students in the audience didn't think it was a big deal, not all of the educators saw 7 technology and education flowing together so smoothly. There was some anxiety in the 8 room about what would happen to "authentic teaching", whether online learning could 9 really offer "meaningful activity" and "true engagement", and if social media could provide 10 "real interaction". Then, of course, there was concern about what would become of "the 11 human element" in a virtual classroom. 12 These are all valid concerns, but they represent the dangerous assumption that a 13 "different" learning environment can't preserve cherished educational priorities. I have 14 seen online courses that are committed to promoting authentic teaching and learning, and 15 worked with "virtual" teachers who regularly offer meaningful engagement, bringing the 16 "human element" to their students around the world. 17 On the other hand, I have also seen traditional secondary and university classrooms that 18 disregard these same priorities, with "live" teachers and lecturers capable of automating 19 instruction, objectifying and isolating students, and reducing education to the mere 20 transfer of content. 21 No matter what the conditions may be – online or face-to-face – the quality of the 22 educational experience depends on the integrity of the curriculum, the teacher and the 23 learning community. 24 That said, it's normal that teachers and leaders find the integration of online technology in 25 education frightening. First of all, our generation of "digital immigrant" teachers must shift 26 our comfort zone and the world of our "digital-native" students. Second, it 27 requires bricks-and-mortar schools to take a leap of faith into a medium that's essentially 28 an unknown world. They have to let go the familiar model that we hold dear – not 29 necessarily because it works so well, but because it's what we know so well – to embrace 30 an educational medium that many of us don't use, don't understand and don't trust. Third, 31 and most importantly, it requires us to shift the power of learning from the teacher to the 32 student; to become the facilitator learning rather than the deliverer of knowledge 33 and so doing, to let students lead their own learning. That is a very disturbing 14 34 prospect for many educators – and parents 35 and taking risks. – because it's all about relinquishing control 36 But the internet is a natural part of students' lives and for many of them it has been that 37 way since before they could walk. It's their natural environment for watching movies and 38 TV programmes, accessing music, communicating with friends and organising their daily 39 lives. It's not surprising that these digital natives don't consider online learning as such a 40 risky venture. The internet already empowers our students with unprecedented 41 educational access in ways that we could never have foreseen as teachers in training. The 42 question is – how are we teaching them to use that power? 43 At the close of the Radio 4 debate evening, one audience member remarked to the panel 44 that we need to proceed with caution – our students could suffer if we are too bold in 45 adopting online learning technologies. One panellist quietly responded that our students 46 and our future will more likely suffer because we are too timid rather than too bold. 47 I couldn't agree more. As teachers, our role must change to one that enables, guides, 48 personalises and embraces digital technology as a fundamental part of student learning. 49 The most dangerous thing we can do to our students is to keep doing what our teachers 50 and professors did to us: 51 • Remain centre stage in a face-to-face classroom. 52 • Ensure that every lesson goes according to our educational script. 53 • Focus upon what we want all students to cover during a scheduled lesson rather than 54 what each student needs to learn, when they need to learn it. 55 • Keep overestimating our own importance in the teaching-learning dynamic and 56 underestimating the potential of students to learn independently and collaboratively. 57 • Maintain our roles as mediators of content rather than developing our students' 58 capacities as discriminating, self-regulated learners in an open-source world. 59 It was good enough for us. Right? Edward Lawless is the principal of Pamoja Education, an online provider of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/mar/10/ technology-education-students-teachers-worried Consulted on Mar. 26th, 2014.