When we think about it, we realize that signs of 21st Century technology use are all around us, so interwoven into our daily activities that it is routine, and therefore invisible. Occasionally, though, something happens that brings it into focus. The other day, in a restaurant where we were having lunch, a lively little girl about three years old found a pose she thought to be cute and demanded, “Take a picture, Mommy!”
Her mother said she did not have her camera, and the little girl instantly said, “Take it with your Blackberry!”
Three years from now, that little girl will be in first grade, and she will already have had more familiarity with technology than any of her teachers. She was born into the technology culture, meaning that she is intimate with it, has no realization of having learned it, and finds it as natural as seeing colors or tasting food.
How do we educators deal with that? We struggle to learn technology, use it awkwardly, and more or less constantly feel like we are playing technological catch-up.
It seems to us that we have to find a way for the 21st Century students to teach us and each other, devise a “we are all learning together” model.
10 comments:
Look, 21st Century education, at least the technology use of it, has to have the same theoretical basis as open source software or the Web 2.0 concept. Instead of input and control by "owners" of information, which limits knowledge to what the experts know, we need input by any interested party, a kind of colossal, continuous brainstorming session.
I think we are scared of this idea because we fear losing control, fear losing our position as knowledge experts, fear an unrelenting flow of input that defies interpretation, verification, or utilization. But folks, Linux is alive and well. Wikis are flourishing. The fact is that diversity of perspective and openness of communication can be a powerful and stable force. Let us come out from our caves, where the limitation of perspective gives an illusion of safety, and join the hive of humanity, where possibilities are virtually infinite and guarantee our continued progress.
Until the next generation of teachers, those who grew up with the technologies and the advancements we haven't even imagined yet, are in place in the classrooms, today's teachers must understand the differences in learning styles and learning attitudes of this "media generation" of students they must reach today. Being unable to incorporate new technologies, or refusing to, are seen by today's students as signs that our education is outdated or even irrelevant. Students who go home and do homework while on the cell phone in front of the computer doing IM, email, and watching YouTube videos can not be expected to be engaged in classrooms where they sit in rows, silently, listening to lecture based on a single (often outdated) textbook, by a teacher who struggles to use an overhead projector effectively.
For now the keys to seamless integration of a variety of technologies with the core curriculum depends on effective professional development, adequate budget to support the technology resources, motivation, incentive, and then monitoring and enforcement of professional growth by administrators.
Teachers must also be given "permission" to incorporate new teaching strategies, and the time to develop those skills- from administrators and school boards and PDE. Teachers who are swamped by the demands of curriculum, larger class sizes, cutbacks in professional development opportunities and funds, and the pressure on standardized test scores as the only measure of student learning and growth are not empowered to take risks.
Dale Roades
Education Consultant
Point Click Learn
MIT started a project in 2003 called the OpenCourseWare project. By the end of this year, they will offer 1,800 online courses for free. OpenOffice.org now offers a version that is very difficult to tell apart from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access. Edubuntu is an amazing OS that comes packaged with many tools for educators without the Microsoft price tag. Moodle is an LMS that has every bit as many of the functions Blackboard has, but it is free. The point that I make isn't that technology is replacing teachers, but instead that it is replacing teaching tools. The problem is that teachers are not being taught this 21st century digital language. Imagine if every teacher was told that they now needed to teach Spanish. Some educators would rejoice and embrace their inner polyglot. Others, would kowtow to their own phobias of languages. And others would just try to run out the clock until they retire. Does this sound like...
We fear two things: what we don't know and what we know can hurt us. When the first fear kicks in, we assume the second is also true. Model examples of technology integration need to be shared with the masses. We don't need to see the superstars. We need to see average teachers utlizing technology in average ways.
It is time for teachers to practice what they preach. We expect students to become self-directed learners and we should be the same!
If this is what we want from teachers then we'd better be ready to put some muscle behind it. We have to say, "We want you to be using technology with your students or there's no room for you here." Make it part of the observation.
And I agree with the other comment that we should EXPECT it of our teachers that they are lifelong learners.
Finally, I disagree with the comment that "until the new batch of teachers arrives...", implying that they are somehow better able to intgrate technology into a lesson just because they've got an ipod stuck to one ear and a cell phone in the other. They're not being TAUGHT how to TEACH using technology.
When our top Universities have as their technology requirement for graduating teachers that they must know word, then we're in trouble. In fact, when we have people graduating with Master's In Instructional Technology who don't see a single class dedicated to integrating technology, then the system further up the line is also broken.
Jacquie Smith said...
About a week ago I saw Brian Williams on the NBC Nightly News showing the iconic Apple Computer 1984 commercial. He had a couple of media experts discussing the brilliant way that some clever person had altered the commerical to have Hilliary Clinton appear as Big Brother, and the Apple logo had been transformed into a striped "O" for Barack Obama for president.
Well all these media gurus were commenting on how difficult it was to change this commricial, and how much money must have been behind this effort. -- Well, I thought -- a couple of middle school kids could have easily done this with
i-Movie in about 15 minutes. if our NBC media geniuses don't have clue about how today's students can transform data, video, and images, then we are in pretty big trouble.
All of our outdated concerns as to copyright, citations, and identity do not mean the same thing (or anything) to today's students.
The big media are trying to hold on to a totally outdated method of ownership, distribution, and sale of music and video. If our top industry leaders can't see what our students are capapble of doing, I am afraid the US will be left in the dust by far more innovative and competitive countries.
She was born into the technology culture, meaning that she is intimate with it, has no realization of having learned it, and finds it as natural as seeing colors or tasting food.
I say all the time that my kids will never know a world where things aren't "on demand". Their food is hot in 30 seconds and they can watch Barney 24/7. When my son got his Nintendo...his natural inclination was to try it, ours was to read the directions.
As natural as it is for them, it is not so natural for the adults around them--therefore no one is teaching them to use these tools ethically or responsibly. Jim is SO RIGHT that the newest crop of teachers are not being taught to teach with technology--nor do they understand the permanent fingerprint their myspace account has on their future as professionals. I am hearing through all of these comments that ongoing, relevant, professional development is necessary in order to create change. After seeing Daggett present today, the conversations we need to start to have are not about technology but about systemic change...21st Century schools and learning is not just about technology, but fundamental changes in the system. I think people who are uncomfortable using technology often use this as an excuse to avoid change. It is not just about technology--and these are going to be difficult conversations to have.
The best technology tool for teachers is still the chalkboard at the front of the classroom!
Ask any teacher who has taught thousands of students.
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