In my own educational endeavors, I take some bits from many different philosophies. But, Constructivism is my main guiding philosophy in developing lessons and curricula. I like the Constructivist idea of students developing their own knowledge by use of real-world problems because it gives the students the understanding that they are always seeking about “How am I ever going to use this in ‘real life’?” In developing their own understanding, students make learning their own.
Technology should be a transforming tool instead of an additive tool. Technology should allow us new ways to work, rather than simply being a new type of hammer to use for the same old way of doing things. As for myself, I believe we should meet the students where they are as much as we possibly can. We should make use of the technologies that they use wherever it is possible to do so without losing sight of our purpose in education. We should not ban any tool that could be useful in the classroom, but we should learn about those tools and their proper and appropriate use in different settings and environments.
I expect my students to leave my classroom/school as lifelong learners who have determined that education is not a chore, but an exceptional avenue to a better life. It is also imperative that those same students understand that education and entertainment are not mutually exclusive. In a world where everything is becoming more and more integrated, it is essential that students understand that change is coming and that we must learn about that change in order to better direct it to the best outcome. In order to do that, we must make as thorough and effective use of new technologies as we possibly can, and to learn about those that we cannot make use of in the classroom. Only in this way can we provide the best possible outcome for our students.