Week 13:Getting America's Students Ready for the 21st Century

In order to successfully prepare students for adult life, schools must continue to teach reading, writing, and mathematics, but must also infuse the curriculum with technology rich devices so that students get a first hand experience with them. Students should get as much experience as they can use devices such as handheld computers, desktop computers, GPS systems, calculators, electronic microscopes, Smart boards, cell phones, iPods, overhead peripherals, and a number of other devices. Unfortunately, there are literally thousands of school districts’ that simply do not have the funding to purchase such devices, let alone provide training for teachers. Fortunately, the government has recognized this and created the technology literacy challenge. At its heart are four concrete goals that help to define the task at hand:
All teachers in the nation will have the training and support they need to help students learn using computers and the information superhighway.
All teachers and students will have modern multimedia computers in their classrooms.
Every classroom will be connected to the information superhighway.
Effective software and on-line learning resources will be an integral part of every school's curriculum. Such goals can be attained by salvaging and recycling computer electronics, private (tax deductible) donations, and from outside sources like federal and state governments and universities.

Week 12-Kansas rolls out a 1:1 Mac Program

The one on one laptop program in Kansas City, KS is a great start for students who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and who otherwise may not have access to such devices at home. An interesting aspect to the one on one MacBook program is that students can take the computers home to complete homework and prepare for classroom lessons. This is a great beginning to successfully integrating technology into the classrooms and beyond.Additionally, I thought that the school district made a wise decision to chose Apple computers because they come fully loaded with a lot of creative software.

Week 11- Critical Issue

The article Using Technology to Enhance Engaged Learning for At-Risk Students makes a strong case for the use of technology in classrooms. Classrooms rich in the use of technology provide meaningfu learning experiences y incorporating many different learning modalities. For exmape, such classrooms often promote the use of higher order thinking skills or promote cooperative learnig strategies in the classroom. Such activities help at-risk students develop relationships with other students and have tremendous power to help students obtain, organize, manipulate, and display information.
Unfortunetly, one of the problems for teachers is that in many casesthey do no have access to this type of technology in their classrooms. I know from experience that we are often lucky to have a personal computer to work with. Hopefully this will change in the cominig years with the price of computers and computer peripherals coming down.

Week 10-Authentic Learning for the 21st Century

Authentic learning or learning by doing instead of learning by listening is a much more effective way to get students to meet lesson objectives. Additionally, students would much rather spend time doing things than listening to the teacher lecture. Unfortunately, many of the lessons that are presented in classrooms would be extremely expensive if we chose to conduct them instead of listen or read about them. However, recent advances in technology have made it possible for students to actually to have a more authentic learning experience based on experimentation and action. With the help of the Internet and a variety of communication, visualization, and simulation technologies, large numbers of undergraduates can begin to reconstruct the past, observe phenomena using remote instruments, and make valuable connections with mentors around the world. This real world experience provides students with a number of important tools that can be used to access online research communities. Students are able to gain a deeper sense of a discipline as a special “culture” shaped by specific ways of seeing and interpreting the world.

Week 9-New Times Demand New Ways of Learning

Recent research on technology and learning is revealing a great deal on the effectiveness of the traditional learning model. For example, traditional learning models are, for the most part no longer effective in meeting the needs of today's students. Furthermore, the traditional mechanisms for evaluating the effectiveness of technology in the classroom do not work. Effective learning takes place when children are engaged in authentic and multidisciplinary tasks, participate in interactive modes of instruction, collaborate with one another and are grouped heterogeneously with the teacher as the facilitator of learning.
Unfortunately, this is a difficult task to accomplish. Many school districts maintain teacher centered classrooms that focus on rote memorization and often leave little room for cooperative learning through technology. However, as new research reveals the benefits of collaboration and the successful use of technology as a tool for learning, more and more school district will be compelled to use such teaching methods. As a new teacher, I have found it relatively easy to focus my instruction on student centered activities that promotes collaboration instead of the “Sage on the stage” lecturer. At the beginning of this school year I found that many of my students were very hesitant to work together because they were so used to working by themselves in al of their previous years of schooling. So it’s not only the teachers and administrators that must decentralize themselves from individualized instruction and learning, but students must learn to work together to critically analyze and solve problems.

Week 8- Transforming Learning Through Technology

As technology merges into the classroom it is important that we integrate student standards so that we can measure learning and fine tune our instruction accordingly. However, successful technology integration in the classroom does not happen without certain challenges and pitfalls.
For example, technology in the classroom can be used to teach lessons in creative, dynamic ways that lead to greater student achievement. Learning and research should be guided by the teacher, but not restricted and constrained. Furthermore, new and experienced teachers need to trained on the use of technology that focuses on teaching and learning. The use of technology in the classroom promotes new methods of teaching in the classroom. Such methods can capture the imagination of students and promote many different learning theories. Additionally, from 1994 through 1998, schools with low numbers of minority students were three times more likely to have Internet access in classroom settings than schools with high numbers of minority students. Similarly, high-income schools were twice as likely to have Internet access in classrooms as low-income schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 1998). It is imperative that all students have access to technology and the internet in the classroom. A vision for the roadmap to successful technology integration in K-12 classrooms can be outlines in the nine state policy actions.

I thought that the state policy action outlines in this article were fantastic. They clearly state the purpose for technology integration and provide a framework from which leaders in technology integration in K-12 schools can use as a guide. This is a great article for anyone involved in schools that want to or need to incorporate technology into their classrooms.

Week 7-Digital Learning

This was a great podcast on digital learning and its impact on students. It was really interesting to hear the statistics on digital media use in the younger generation. This information is especially useful as a teacher. The influential power of digital media has altered and benefited the life of many people, especially social network sites. Such sites promote civic engagement and cooperative learning communities. However, there is still a participation gap in this country. Although the gap is not as big as it once was, in my school district and even at my school, few students have access to digital media on a daily basis.
We need to make sure that every kid in America has the ability to access computers in order to download or upload information or to store school work. Access to computerized technology and all of the skills and experiences these new devices provide students is critical. The new hidden curriculum in many school districts is the use of digital media as a learning tool and social networks influence young people to take an active role in their learning.