Teachers and students who use technology in the classroom, especially cutting-edge technology, are usually encouraged to do so by outside forces before they become fully receptive to the technology. An excellent example of this has been cell phone use in the classroom; some teachers allow students to use them for specific instructional purposes, while some maintain outright bans and some allow recreational use. The bottom line is that whether or not cell phones are used during instructional time, the choice to use them still rests with the educator.
I found the ISTE standards to be fascinating, and I certainly agree with the ISTE's encouragement of the use of technology in the classroom because I feel certain kinds of technology can enhance education. Of the seven standards set out for students, I found myself most closely aligned with #6, Creative Communicator. I have lots of school-related experience with digital media technology (like PhotoShop), and I feel very comfortable using different kinds of media tech to produce mixed media projects for school. The standard I felt farthest from achieving is #5, Computational Thinker, because I do not have a very orderly thinking/creative process and I do not find that I am very good at understanding why technology works the way it does.
To some extent, I do agree with the label of "digital native" because the level of exposure and familiarity my generation and the ones after us have with digital technology is so much higher than that of previous generations out of sheer happenstance. The fact that kids today are essentially being born into such a high-paced world has to provide some sort of learning advantage in terms of technology, although it clearly has its detrimental effects as well. I can attest to some level of natural aptitude in regards to my own personal experience although I believe that most of my technological advantage is due to the fact that I know how to change settings in a computer or use YouTube properly. I don't believe I've ever had an instructor who was so technologically illiterate that it affected my learning in a real measurable way. In the future, I imagine technology will advance more rapidly and I can only hope that educators keep pace with their students in learning how to use new systems and products.
Being a computational thinker definitely comes with practice. We'll use a lot of tools this semester to help you build these skills!
ReplyDeleteThat's really great that you feel so comfortable with digital media technology. I'm sure that will be very useful if you decide to become a teacher one day! I also agree that we were born into a high paced world where knowledge of technology is almost essential. This can put us at an advantage over some "digital immigrants".
ReplyDeleteThanks! I don't know how comfortable I would really qualify myself as though since again, most of my "expertise" is very basic.
DeleteWell organized thoughts. I don't think the digital native question is quite as fair to the younger people, especially this generation simply because they literally have no conception of a time without all the tech around. It's one of the problems with history, that there are concepts you simply cannot understand from the past because you have no frame of reference. Except the process that used to take centuries is now happening in a generation or two. Keeping up with that kind of exponential progress, and establishing a rapport with students are going to be the main issues for educators in the future I believe.
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