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Response to question: What is the place of technologies in 21st century schools? LinkedIn Group – 21st Century Schools Hi, Will, Like Jerry, I believe that technology is important and should be a vital component of education in the 21st century. Unfortunately, it is my experience that the majority of teachers (not all of them) do not really need these tools when we observe how they are being used in many classrooms. In many classrooms computers are nothing more than very expensive “pencil and paper”. A textbook is still a textbook, and a worksheet is still a worksheet, even if they are in a digital format and not on paper. I've seen that in far too many schools, even in expensive, private "college prep" schools where parents are paying $30,000 tuition per year (not including uniforms, tablet and notebook computers which are required), and class size averages 5-7 students! Read more . . . Another common problem I have seen is that many teachers view the use of these technologies as an “add-on”. Technologies are not integrated seamlessly into the curriculum and instruction. The main reason for this is that teachers just do not know how to properly integrate the technologies. Also, many teachers are unfamiliar with how to use the technologies themselves, and are therefore hesitant to incorporate them into the classroom. And, when this is the case, technology is often relegated to the “do it later” or “do it someday” or some discrete, stand-alone activity. Students are missing out on some incredible learning experiences. And teachers are missing out on the freedom to become more of a facilitator than a lecturer; they also are missing out on the joy of designing and implementing truly exciting, high level, 21st century curriculum and instruction. Teachers should begin planning the integration of technologies by considering the purpose of education and what that means in the world of the 21st century. Before planning any curricular experience, teachers should ask themselves two simple questions: “Why should I have students use this technology? How does this technology support the purpose of education?” Our education systems, in the USA and abroad, remain firmly entrenched in tradition. In modern, industrialized nations the factory model of the 19th and 20th centuries is predominant. In our work overseas in developing nations we have witnessed an even older, traditional model which is not designed to produce factory workers but to maintain the status quo of their society. For example, girls either do not attend school because their purpose in life is to take care of the home and children – and nothing else, or girls attend school for a few years, but do not continue beyond the first few years of elementary level schooling with the boys. But, the 21st century is creeping into all nations whether the educators acknowledge and address it or not. Some developing nations are actively pursuing integration of the 21st century into their schools, at least in terms of technologies even though they do not adopt the remainder of the 21st century education paradigm – yet! Major efforts are underway to place tablet computers into the hands of all students, even those living in remote regions. Similarly, access to the Internet is rapidly expanding in these same areas. Even in schools that have no electricity, running water or bathrooms – students are receiving tablets and access to the Internet! How? Generators are being brought in and satellite connections are being utilized. Some of these efforts are spearheaded by big corporations whose main goal is monetary. Others are spearheaded by altruistic individuals or organizations, for example, Sugata Mitra’s “School in the Cloud”, an icon of personalized, 21st century learning.  .  An example of 21st century technologies in developing countries: I had traveled to Vietnam to do a presentation at an international conference. One evening I was shopping in an area of Hanoi known as Old Hanoi. Hanoi is a 1,000-year-old city. The only thing you may see in Old Hanoi that lets you know that you are still in the 21st century are the motorbikes, cars and electric lighting. Other than that, you would think that you had traveled far back in time. Most people are traveling on foot or on bicycle. Hundreds of tiny shops are packed into this area; it is extremely crowded and chaotic. As I was walking down the street past all these shops I discovered three children, aged from about 4 to 12 years old, perched on various crates. Immersed in this ancient environment these children were absorbed in activities on various digital devices – one had a tablet computer and the other two had a cell phone and some kind of smaller tablet or game console! They did not let me take their picture :-( What are teachers to do? As teachers consider how to design their curriculum and instruction they must consider why and how life in the 21st century informs educational goals. These goals, or purposes, are illustrated and condensed into two compass roses I developed a few years ago; I developed them to serve as a quick glance guide when I was developing a unit of curriculum. I wanted a tool to use in addition to my curriculum design rubric; I could take one glance at these two compass roses and immediately see what I still needed to include in the curriculum. For example, as I am designing a unit of curriculum, I might look at the compass roses and realize that I had not yet included, or integrated, ways to support the development of Financial Literacy. Then, I would think about how that could be done, and integrate it – ONLY if it was a good fit for the particular unit I was designing. If it was not a good fit I would not worry about it, and I would be sure to include Financial Literacy components in another unit. Force fitting thing into a unit does not work. Here is a partial list of goals for the purposes of this post: · Students becoming self-directed, independent and interdependent learners · Development of “21st century skills” · Becoming global citizens · Skilled in the multiple literacies required for success in the 21st century · Working, learning and creating using multiple technologies in a seamless, integrated fashion Follow this link to both Compass roses: Critical Attributes of 21st Century Education, and Multiple Literacies for the 21st Century as well as the 7 Survival Skills for the 21st Century by Tony Wagner. If education is to meet these goals, then we must begin with a new paradigm for education. This paradigm will then require the design and implementation of entirely new forms of “education”. The technologies available to us today can lend great support to the achievement of these goals and ultimately, to the design and implementation of stronger, more relevant educational experiences. Technologies I recommend to support 21st century education: Hardware · Access to the Internet - from cell phones to tablets to notebook computers. · Digital video and still cameras (see note below) · Media production equipment (in addition to cameras) – microphones, lighting. · Radio production equipment · Amateur radio equipment (and being licensed to do it) Software · Movie editing · Game design · Concept Mapping · Graphics production/editing · And more – see this site Online tools: · Search engines · Dictionaries · Thesaurus · Web 2.0 tools · “Apps” Here is a fantastic web site which lists excellent Web 2.0 tools for a multitude of educational purposes! http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Finding+the+Right+Tool Here is my web page on Web 2.0 tools – not as many as the page listed above, but good stuff! If you are a beginner with integrating technology into your curriculum/classroom this page is a bit easier to deal with! Just pick a few to start. It makes no difference if you know how to use the tools; students can and will figure it out! Let them teach you! http://21stcenturyschools.weebly.com/web-20.html  DSLR Filmmaking See this link for excellent information about videography and filmmaking in the classroom! We are ready to create some videos for our web site and needed information on how to have better quality, especially audio. We found this page, and we see that we will be able to improve the audio without an enormous financial investment. Thank you, DSLR Rilmmaking! Check out their Audio page on equipment and prices.
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