Week 9: 'Stretching a Person'

In my opinion the concept of education 'stretching' a person relates to the notion of pushing or challenging the particular person to enable them to get the best out of their skills and ability. I feel 'stretching' is almost like challenging/testing you to limit so that you can gain the best our of your skills and qualities to get decent qualifications which will be used in future careers and life. Education is a very effectuve way of enabling a persons skills/ability to indeed 'stretch' as there are various ways of education appealing to an individual, whether it be through old academic methods of learning, newer methods of learning or a combination of the two. As education is so diverse it can easily affect a larger group of people. I feel that in a way education and social-determinism go hand in hand as you need an element of social interaction to educate yourself not only at schools and colleges but also at home and in everyday life.

I also feel that when you accomplish a specific goal or learn a particular skill, it provides you with an element of pride and confidence as youy have managed to succeed in pushing yourself to get the best out of what you can do. You also have a skill or 'knowledge' for life which can help in future opportunities.

I guess in a way you could suggest that 'E-learning' is a new way of stretching an individual as it is a new type of education which hasn't been encountered before. It allow students to come across and get to grips with a new aspect of learning. Traditional learning methods appeal to all ages and I personally feel that you continue to learn about new things every day. However unlike traditional learning there is the idea of 'digital learning' being seen as more limited towards older generations (digital immigrants) as they sturggle to get to grips with this new method. This is backed up by the idea of Prensky. I do however feel that there was a need for this new type of technology, it's almost like a 'brain traning' game, it's a new idea to try and interest an array of people into continuing to learn. I can only wonder what kind of education there may be in 5 years time as this 'new' type of learning might not be the current modern style of learning. There is no doubt that education is going to continue to chage and develop just like our own society is developing everyday.