Technology in Education: A Balancing Act, with Michael Soskil

Our guest today is Michael Soskil. He is a teacher, an author, an international keynote speaker an education consultant and an inspirational leader.

I think what we should do is start with really incredible experiences that make kids wanna beat down the doors of our classroom to get in - Michael Soskil


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Summary

Our guest today is Michael Soskil. He is a teacher, an author, an international keynote speaker an education consultant and an inspirational leader. Michael is the 2017-2018 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, a recipient of the 2012 Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, and was honored as one of the top ten teachers in the world by the Global Teacher Prize in 2016.

In this episode, Al and Michael discuss the use of technology in the classroom. They point out how technology can create a lot of educational opportunities for students, but - if not used wisely - it can also hinder their emotional and educational growth.

Listen and take note of how you can use technology more effectively in the classroom.

In our discussion, we cover:

01:15 Michael gives us a little background information about himself, mentioning his current and past endeavors and achievements.

03:22 Michael and Al discuss the fact that highly recognized teachers are leaving the profession to become involved in the politics of education losing touch with the classroom and the ultimate goal of helping teachers.

05:41 Michael describes the reasons why he decided to co-author the book “Teaching in the 4th Industrial Revolution”

07:45 Al and Michael touch upon the key issues involving the role technological innovation plays in how we use technology at schools.

11:56 Michael responds to Al’s question about how educators and software designers can work together to make the use of technology in schools more practical and more human.

14:25 At this point, Michael offers an example of how his students used technology to build relationships with foreign students, enhance their learning experience, gain empathy and become problem solvers.

19:06 Here you will hear Michael talking about the podcast “Education For A Better World” and about the trip to Kenya he has planned with 30 teachers to help them learn from their Kenyan counterparts who work in very different and difficult conditions.

23:10 Al and Michael discuss how profit-driven technology is a healthy part of the economy, but should also be a practical tool that educators and students can use to teach others.

30:00 Al asks Michael to identify the key elements a school should look at in order to grow.

35:05 Michael offers some insight on how technology can be used to create global learning experiences and how these experiences can teach educators to become better at what they do.

Quotes:

12:31 “Our children right now are struggling to deal with actual reality and yet we're trying to give them virtual reality

33:05 “I think what we should do is start with really incredible experiences that make kids wanna beat down the doors of our classroom to get in

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

You can find more information about the book “Teaching in the 4th Industrial Revolution” here: https://www.michaelsoskil.com/book.html

You can find the podcast “Education For A Better World” here: https://www.ed4betterworld.com/

Where to learn more about Michael:

Michael on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patoy2017/

Michael on Twitter: https://twitter.com/msoskil

Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/msoskil/

Michael’s website: https://www.michaelsoskil.com/

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/