Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants
I would dare to go even further with both of the two mentioned groups are still being controlled somewhat by those in Education with Digital Stagnation. Please excuse my words but the “powers that be” stop true digitalization on its binary track. The author cites from Adapted from Project Tomorrow, 2006,p.7 that the majority of technology use in school is done by the desktop computer; 82% from 6-12 and 93% by teachers. Those figures reflect my school's use of technology as the desktop computer leading the way. We are still using power points and have integrated promethean software into the classroom. I wish I could say we have a lot more technology than the traditional computer but it's not the case. This was true 20 years ago so I think something is wrong here. In my opinion students have the opportunity and access to learn more with technology out of school than they do at school. The students of today are mobile and socially interactive. If my students had a choice they would definitely use their mobile devices (ipods, cell phones, ipads) to communicate with each other. We need to use that to education’s benefit. At the exponential pace that technology grows, our schools will become more outdated than ever if we keep the same old philosophy. The author says, "students know that they are tech-savvy and report that their school are not." I would hope that students would like their school to be a learning environment where their education and acquisition of knowledge takes place at a higher rate than at home. I think this philosophy is the same as previous generations but in some instances I do think that balance has shifted. Those classrooms of yesterday were centered around the school and the teacher. The students were spectators to learning and the after-hours connections to learning were more character based. Hard work and life lessons were connected through the family in a non digital way. Today, school should be a node of the student’s network of learning. I do believe students are multi-modal and they learn in very different ways. The teacher becoming a facilitator is becoming the need, not an option, therefore that facilitator must have necessary skills to change and “give up the power”. We must support our teachers with professional development strategies the same way we want to support our students. Then we can target our students with how they learn to maximize their learning experience. Constructivism is rooted in how my students learn. The author suggests that using web tools helps the process of students learning based on their previous knowledge. I would agree with that statement. Many of our students use email, tweet, use social sites as well as "comment" and "collaborate" with friends on the web. Building upon that knowledge that the students already possess is essential to learning. Using constructivism, project based learning strategies infused with web 2.0 tools is an excellent approach to education. Learning takes place formally and informally with knowledge management as an important aspect to its success. In this 21st century the audience will be the measurement of assessment and the production value of the process will be the steps to success. The curriculum should be designed with the student or teacher in the center; depends on who is being "taught". At my school we use skype, twitter, blackboard, and email to communicate. The desired tool is used according to who is the learner and what is to be communicated. With skype for example, the administration has modeled the use of it and we issued a small assignment to our teachers using it. Now it is an important video conferencing and instant messaging tool used to communicate with teachers for those times when we don't want to interrupt instruction yet still send an important message. Web-based tools add the ability to communicate and collaborate with the world outside the classroom and at no cost beyond the technology (WEB 2.0, 856). In this curriculum we modeled and implemented a project based assignment using a web 2.0 tool for communication. Now the task is to continue this approach with other curriculums throughout the school.
~Citations WEB 2.0:New Tools, New Schools
I would dare to go even further with both of the two mentioned groups are still being controlled somewhat by those in Education with Digital Stagnation. Please excuse my words but the “powers that be” stop true digitalization on its binary track. The author cites from Adapted from Project Tomorrow, 2006,p.7 that the majority of technology use in school is done by the desktop computer; 82% from 6-12 and 93% by teachers. Those figures reflect my school's use of technology as the desktop computer leading the way. We are still using power points and have integrated promethean software into the classroom. I wish I could say we have a lot more technology than the traditional computer but it's not the case. This was true 20 years ago so I think something is wrong here. In my opinion students have the opportunity and access to learn more with technology out of school than they do at school. The students of today are mobile and socially interactive. If my students had a choice they would definitely use their mobile devices (ipods, cell phones, ipads) to communicate with each other. We need to use that to education’s benefit. At the exponential pace that technology grows, our schools will become more outdated than ever if we keep the same old philosophy. The author says, "students know that they are tech-savvy and report that their school are not." I would hope that students would like their school to be a learning environment where their education and acquisition of knowledge takes place at a higher rate than at home. I think this philosophy is the same as previous generations but in some instances I do think that balance has shifted. Those classrooms of yesterday were centered around the school and the teacher. The students were spectators to learning and the after-hours connections to learning were more character based. Hard work and life lessons were connected through the family in a non digital way. Today, school should be a node of the student’s network of learning. I do believe students are multi-modal and they learn in very different ways. The teacher becoming a facilitator is becoming the need, not an option, therefore that facilitator must have necessary skills to change and “give up the power”. We must support our teachers with professional development strategies the same way we want to support our students. Then we can target our students with how they learn to maximize their learning experience. Constructivism is rooted in how my students learn. The author suggests that using web tools helps the process of students learning based on their previous knowledge. I would agree with that statement. Many of our students use email, tweet, use social sites as well as "comment" and "collaborate" with friends on the web. Building upon that knowledge that the students already possess is essential to learning. Using constructivism, project based learning strategies infused with web 2.0 tools is an excellent approach to education. Learning takes place formally and informally with knowledge management as an important aspect to its success. In this 21st century the audience will be the measurement of assessment and the production value of the process will be the steps to success. The curriculum should be designed with the student or teacher in the center; depends on who is being "taught". At my school we use skype, twitter, blackboard, and email to communicate. The desired tool is used according to who is the learner and what is to be communicated. With skype for example, the administration has modeled the use of it and we issued a small assignment to our teachers using it. Now it is an important video conferencing and instant messaging tool used to communicate with teachers for those times when we don't want to interrupt instruction yet still send an important message. Web-based tools add the ability to communicate and collaborate with the world outside the classroom and at no cost beyond the technology (WEB 2.0, 856). In this curriculum we modeled and implemented a project based assignment using a web 2.0 tool for communication. Now the task is to continue this approach with other curriculums throughout the school.
~Citations WEB 2.0:New Tools, New Schools
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