Reflecting on Technology: Time Well Spent

EDUC 6710 Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society has helped me develop my own technology skills as a professional teacher in a number of ways. First, the things that I have learned about technology from this class have done wonders for my abilities and my knowledge of how to effectively integrate it into my classroom. I feel much more prepared and more efficient as a teacher now that I have a basic understanding of the tools in my teaching toolbox. Because of it, I am better able to use those existing tools like the computer and my Promethean Board. In addition, I have learned to create blogs, wikis, podcasts and to record video and audio files to be used in my classroom. Had I not taken this class, I truly doubt that I would have taken the time to learn these skills on my own. Current practice and standards for ELA do not require more than just the basic understanding of technology. Students are really only required to know where to find information, how to decide whether or not that information is valid, and how to use basic word processing and power point programs and even then, they are never really assessed on that knowledge, just on the end result—the product and therefore, I did not even think it was truly important for me to even learn them at all. What I did not realize was that society has become almost completely technology driven and that unless teachers begin the necessary overhaul of classroom practices, we will not be able to meet the needs of society because we will not be properly preparing our students for the 21st century and like any other service industry, we will become obsolete. Marc Prensky says it best when he states that “if we don’t stop and listen to the kids we serve, value their opinions, and make major changes on the basis of the valid suggestions they offer, we will be left in the 21st century with school buildings to administer—but with students who are physically and mentally somewhere else” (Prensky, 2005).

By learning how to use technology myself, I will be better able to enhance the learning process of my students because I am able to help them access information that is more conducive to their learning style. Gone are the days of lectures and the flat, one dimensional images of the overhead projector. Students no longer learn that way; in fact, they become very bored and either tune out or become behavior problems because they have limited ways of interacting with the content when it is presented in this manner. Students really only need me to point them in the right direction rather than drone on monotonously about something they have no interest in. By using technology, I can make my lessons more student centered and then act as a knowledge guide rather than a knowledge god. And it is extremely important for me to have this deepened knowledge of this “new” teaching and learning process because it is the best way for me to reach the young people that I am teaching. Technology is this thing that they eat, sleep, and breathe. They wear it like a second skin, but they are not using it to its full potential and I need to be the one who helps them do this by designing interactive and engaging lessons that incorporate as much technology as possible so that when they leave school and begin competing in the global job market, they will be successful instead of being discouraged. Otherwise, instead of helping to close the gap between education and business, I am only helping to increase it and the grasp my students have on their individual futures will become even more tenuous. Third world countries are spending as much of their resources as they can to train their workforce to be competitive and as educators, we need to do the same. I need to help make the world as flat as possible for those students that I teach because they no longer are just competing for jobs with their next door neighbor, but also with neighbors oceans away. It is an ever growing challenge considering the failing world economy and the only answer is to make sure that students are able to support themselves and their future families. Otherwise, we are contributing to an even worse economic failure because those few who are succeeding will be required to support those who cannot. “What the changes in the economy make increasingly important is that students learn to use their reading, math, and communication skills to develop and express a deep understanding of the subject matter they are studying” (Levy, 2006). Without the integration of technology into their classrooms, teachers are steadily losing the battle to keep students engaged in the learning process. Students become disconnected.

My students are not the only ones who need to continue on this path of technological enlightenment. I do as well or I lose my ability to “effectively respond to the literacy demands of the workplace and to successfully perform job duties, learn, and apply learning on the job” (Bates, 2002). In any other industry this would be standard practice and educators also spend a good deal of time in professional development workshops or seminars, but often they are simple sessions designed to merely meet state requirements and fail miserably at giving teachers any usable material for their classrooms; so I must continue to expand my own knowledge of learning and of teaching on my own. I will do this is by continuing to pursue my master’s degree in Adolescent Literacy and Technology through Walden University. I have committed myself to this process in both time and money so that I can become a better teacher and use what I am learning to increase student achievement. Not only am I a model to my students who see that I spend my free time in the continuance of my own education, but I am also learning new ways to teach them as well. I am evolving from being just a body that stands in the front of the room talking about knowledge that I have decided they should know to a mentor and facilitator who is sharing ideas and showing them how to obtain that knowledge for themselves. I will be helping my students “build strong literacy skills while using technology to push [them] into higher levels of learning” (Nussbaum-Beach, 2008). I am also sharing what I am learning with my colleagues and trying to get them excited about the changes that are happening in education. I pass on articles that I have read in the hopes that they will read them and understand more about what needs to be done. Alan November stated that “more motivating and rigorous learning environments” help increase student achievement; so by passing on as much information as I can to my fellow teachers, I am helping them build their own tools for their classrooms; moreover, I am helping them to open their minds and become less resistant to change (2007).

One goal that I have for transforming my classroom is to purchase student response gadgets called Activ-Expressions. They are part of the Promethean line of technology tools that interact with their boards. They look a bit like a cell phone and are an amazing way to get students engaged in any lesson. I had budgeted for them this year, but they cost $3500 for 24 and I was told I could only spend $1200. The company does not split their packages because of their outstanding warranties and replacement programs. Besides, Promethean had already donated the board to us through a grant, but the administration seems totally clueless about what it takes to transform a classroom and is unwilling to spend the money. So to overcome this obstacle, I have requested a letter from the company that includes copies of the warranties and video files of the Expressions in use by students and then I will be writing a needs justification letter that includes how the use of such student response systems help engage students and how they can contribute to higher achievement on state tests. What should only take me a few minutes to do—place an order and filling out a purchase order request—will now take me days to accomplish. But I know it will be worth it in the end.


Resources

Bates, R., & Phelan, K. (2002). Characteristics of a globally competitive workforce. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 4(2), 121.

Friedman, T. (2005, April 3). It's a flat world, after all. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Levy, F., & Murnane, R. (2006). Why the changing American economy calls for twenty-first century learning: Answers to educators' questions. New Directions for Youth
Development, 2006(110), 53–62

November, A. (2007). Banning student containers. Technology & Learning. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/7468

Nussbaum-Beach, S. (2008). No limits. Technology & Learning, 28(7), 14–18. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/8466

Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.

Podcasting Link

I chose PodcastMachine to host the cast I created with my students regarding our thoughts and experiences about digital technology.

http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/2253/episodes/9700

Happy listening!

Evaluating The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Website

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ website http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php provides an extraordinary amount of information regarding what, why, and how of bringing schools up to speed on what future high school graduates will need to be successful in today’s global economy. Their mission, to “Serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders,” is both noble and challenging, but without the support of every educational institution and the State and Federal policy makers in the United States, their work will not even begin to make a dent in the “profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces.”

I was equally surprised and perplexed that there were only eleven states officially partnered with The Partnership for 21st Century Skills who were actively working towards raising the level of education in order to help lessen the gaps between the world of school and the world of work. Does this mean that schools who are not partnered with The Partnership for 21st Century Skills are not doing their part to ready their graduates for the 21st century career world? I do not believe that it does and when reviewing the Framework for 21st Century Learning published by The Partnership, I was somewhat disturbed by their statement that “only when a school or district combines the Framework with 21st century professional development, assessments and standard, can the American public be sure that high school graduates are prepared to thrive in today’s global economy.” Although I am sure their intentions are not to offend, the implications that schools who do not follow the Framework are not preparing students properly is quite unfair, especially to those schools which suffer from a low tax base and lack of funding. Many of these schools are doing the best they can and do manage to produce many globally competitive graduates. Nevertheless, I do realize that we as a society could be doing more so that all of our graduates are globally competitive and that is the ultimate goal of The Partnership.

The implications for me as an educator are huge. Not only do my students need to be prepared, but I also need to be able to teach them and all of us will have to be open-minded and willing to make the effort; however, our hands are tied until schools and classrooms are equipped with the necessary technology need to make all this a reality. Until then, I will do as much as I can by continuing to educate myself independently while I wait for school administration to play catch up. And as I become more knowledgeable, I will share that new information with my students so that they can use what I know to educate themselves. At least in that way, they are not falling completely behind and will be encouraged to take some responsibility for their own learning and begin to seek out more knowledge than I can offer them. Perhaps they can even become better advocates and find ways to push legislators, schools, and other teachers to give them what they need to be competitive in the global job market.