I have found that there are two components to integrating
technology in the classroom. One
component is teacher’s Digital Literacy, the other is student’s digital
literacy. In the first the teacher must
be able to function in the digital world, the second is teaching the student to
function in the digital world, while maintaining classroom management. These things are based on the teacher’s
comfort level with technology and their desire to explore beyond their comfort
zone. It also relates to the budget, in
that professional development for teachers can be pricey, as well as having the
devices available can be pricey.
My hope is that in the next 5-10 years there will be a
greater reliability on technology in the classroom. Lessons will mirror real-world situations,
and students will be using technology as much at school as they do at
home. I hope there are many more distance
learning classes in K-12 education, and even more degrees available through
online sources. In this way, students
would attend class for core curriculum and come in the a brick and mortar
school for hands on activities and trade schools.
Digital literacy for teachers can be a major barrier to effective instruction. It is time for educators to make a dramatic change and be willing to take calculated technology risks. Allowing students to troubleshoot technology problems in the classroom empowers the students, provides some free professional development, and increases meaningful technology application. Project Based Learning [PBL] lets students direct both the learning and the technology use. Student-direct PBL enables teachers to recognize a variety of non-traditional student strengths (Schwartz, 2014). Creativity in distance learning might be the key to enable teachers and students to more effectively collaborate across disciplines (Schwartz, 2014).
ReplyDeleteReferences
Schwartz, K. (2014, February 28). Beyond Knowing Facts, How Do We Get to a Deeper Level of Learning? Retrieved May 26, 2018, from https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/02/28/how-do-we-create-rich-learning-opportunities-for-all-students/