Augmenting the Classroom Experience Through Tech

What is the best way for students to learn? Become teachers themselves, said Harri Katamo.

Through his company eedu Ltd., the Finnish CTO crafted a game where students break down complex subjects ranging from Chinese to math to avatars. They do so to test the knowledge that they have acquired in the classroom.

“When you can teach the characters, you learn how to teach yourself,” said Katamo through a “Teaching and Technology” panel at Stanford University last week.

A speaker at CICERO’s “Empowerment through Learning in a Global World” conference, Katamo echoed other panelists’ views that technology cannot replace or duplicate the classroom experience, but augment it when used as a careful addition. The two-day event brought together educational experts from the U.S. and Finland, a Nordic country which has gained international recognition for topping PISA tests of performance in reading, math and science.

“I don’t see technology replacing teachers,” said Renee Patton, the U.S. Manager of Education at Cisco Systems.  “It’s about finding technologies that they can use to assist students. A lot of teachers purchase tech for tech’s sake without a clear plan of how to use it.”

A former English teacher and Los Gatos-Saratoga JUHS Board of Trustees, Patton oversees Cisco’s educational programs, such as the Cisco Networking Academy. One of the earliest E-learning programs, it offers 18 career-oriented courses to build on skills they have acquired in their course of study.

Other panelists such as Cynthia Dion-Schwarz of the National Science Foundation were in favor of bringing the classroom -- or an entire virtual campus for that matter -- to students. Through the Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) department at the NSF, Dion-Schwarz is working on an online project for busy English as Second Language Learners (ESL) students.

These students may not have access to an English-speaking environment at home or in the workplace, said Dion-Schwarz, but on “campus” they can step into a setting where they interact with English-speaking avatars: be they professors or other students.

“It’s a virtual campus so that students can jump into an immersive, Second Life like environment,” said Dion-Schwarz.

Panelist Eleanor Rieffel advocated hands-on technological experience for students, becoming directly involved with the Silicon Valley research that surrounds them.

As a senior research scientist at FX Palo Alto, many student interns trickle into her office daily.

“People learn best when learning is integrated with their social life,” said Rieffel. “This day and age learning takes place everywhere.”