Mar 24 2008
Why the race is on to get teachers to use more technology.
Emerging Technologies This is a podcast for your enjoyment. You will be able to note its application to the topic of technology and education in our schools.
1. Our American society is saturated with it.
2. More reading is taking place on the internet than that via books as evidenced by the decrease of written publications in the western hemisphere.
3. The Chinese are now the greatest number of English speakers in the world. Go figure - their total population eclipses all other nations. It is the Chinese who are driving our need to compete in the global education race. They as a people, are reading via the internet. Talk about a literary explosion.
4. Our children need to be exposed to this new learning tool because they are no longer as a group entranced by our teaching methodologies of yesteryear. They are the new “nano byte” learners.
5. The work place incorporated these technological skills seven years ago; schools are just beginning to catch up.
6. Technology unleashes the creative animal is all of us. Intermarrying technology and learning is a natural continuum. Did you know that creativity is now being listed as one the leading school related skills that need to be emphasized just like numeracy, literacy etc.
5 responses so far
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Technology and education is such a HUGE area.
However, in order for technology to be effective in today’s education system, it needs to be intelligently integrated into a rich, meaning-centered curriculum.
When coupled with the demands of NCLB there is only minimal overlap between the potential use of technology and the rigid guidelines of State testing which measures “student progress”.
Inappropriately used in the classroom, technology can be used to perpetuate old models of teaching and learning. Students can be “plugged into computers” to do drill and practice that is not so different from workbooks. Teachers can also use multimedia technology to give more colorful, stimulating lectures. Both of these have their place, but such use does not begin to tap the power of these new tools.
Technology is often something in the past I fought because frankly I was as confused as the rest of us when we were forced to join the “Tech World”!
Through the struggles I made a huge discovery about how much technology could help the students that I worked with! I was amazed and confused at the same time but the more I learned the more I wanted to explore! We all struggle with change and techology but imagine just for a moment how our students struggle without technology!
Why is the rush on? I believe that we as educators need to stay abreast of the tools that help our students remain challenged and interested in the world of learning.
I, too, have had a bit of a phobia when it comes to technology. As a person who has been immersed in staff development, and hopefully, a future administrator, I realize that technology really needs to be infused into instruction and learning. We continue to push towards student-centered classrooms, therefore, we need to understand that technology is very much a part of our students’ lives. I believe that this is an area where we, as adults, sometimes have to be comfortable stepping out of our instructor role and letting the students teach us a thing or two!
I think one of the areas that we often struggle with is how to promote technology and still keep our children safe. This begs the question of whether or not to use filters or to leave the world-wide web open and teach children to safely navigate themselves. Interestingly enough, I think I lean one way as a parent and another as an educator!
It is so true that we are a society that is “saturated” with technology. I have seen five and six year-old with iPods. Students in elementary school through high school are doing things on the computer and with technology that their parents have never even seen or knew existed.
As an educator of special education students, I feel it is crucial to incorporate technology into my curriculum. All students, not just students with special needs, need to have their individual learning styles met. Using technology makes learning fun and pushes both students and educators to be creative. I agree with Andrew in that we cannot just use technology to “drill” students with inundated tasks and concepts. It needs to be included in a way that meets NYS Learning Standards and that is exciting.
Many people are reluctant to use technology because they do not know how to use it and do not have the time to learn. Educators are so busy and it is difficult to find time to learn something completely new. I feel that school districts need to provide all of the necessary training so that educators are comfortable enough to at least give it a try. There are so mnay things I want to learn and explore!
The possibilites are endless with technology. iPods, laptops, podcasts, Smartboards, Wikis, etc. The list is endless and there is so much to learn. Our students will only benefit from our knowledge of technology and using it in our curriculum. We are so lucky to have the technology we do have here. Some schools and districts have never even had computers in their classrooms, let alone iPods and Smartboards.
The race is on to use technology because that is simply what it is — a race. What school is better? What district is better? What state? What country? We all need to be on board and keep up with what is becoming a society that relies heavily on technology in every aspect of our lives. Our children and students are our future and the jobs they will need to occupy to survive in the world will require them to be proficient and knowledgable in the world of technology. It’s up to us to make sure that happens.
I absolutely agree with Jamie on this. It IS crucial for us all to progress in our use and knowledge of technology, and to support and encourage each other in this. We can not afford to limit our efforts to provide a world-class education or to show by example that learning and adapting to new things is a lifelong process.