Journal+Reflection+1

Week 1 and 2

I think these first two weeks of the course have been incredibly frustrating. To be perfectly honest I have been finding it hard to put the proper effort or attention into this course work. I find it meaningful and useful, but at the same time find it difficult to manage. I find it time consuming and difficult to navigate through the multiple links, that lead to a pdf, which lead to a download, which lead to a movie, which lead to a website, which lead to a blog, etc. etc. etc. The Moodle site seems disjointed with Week 1 readings not in the same place as the assignments and so on. And this tedious journey comes from a person who in August graduated with their Masters degree in classroom technology from Bowling Green State University. I say all of this because it all has lead me to something useful. If I am having confusion and frustration, the transition to 21st Century classrooms will not be easy. Many teachers and students are simply not ready to make this change quickly. It will take incredible amounts of time and patience to find ways to use these technologies in the classroom appropriately. There are many teachers who will love seeing a particular technology and then ask the questions "how will it work in the classroom", "thats great and all but how can I use it", "how can I do this and hit the standards". These are questions that tech people are going to have to be able to answer and believe me that some tech people have a real difficult time answering those questions (not all but some). Technology always comes up with new and better ways to do things, but it is a matter of making it accessible, training people, and getting comfortable with the technology. The biggest lesson I have learned through my time with technology is to find technologies that work for your students and help do what you already do anyway.

Creating a google site, using a moodle site, and creating a wiki are meaningful and useful excercises. However, finding a useful place in the classroom for these technologies is going to be difficult. While I know it is the belief of many that "students are craving 21st century technologies" and "students are ALL using these technologies so we better get on board" I find that many students are not as immersed in technology as we may think. We know teachers are not ready for a full 21st century change. Therefore, I think the more I work on thinking of 21st Century skills the more I think a patient, deliberate, and slow approach to changing over to 21st century skills is needed. Our schools and students need to be changed, but to assume that students are just waiting on us to get there is a problem. Students that I encounter on a daily basis have no idea how to use some technologies, do not know how to use them appropriately, or are uncomfortable with technology. I also think that the students I deal with are lacking in basic 19th and 20th century skills (writing, thinking, reading). I think the more I look over the material and think about technology the more I think that we need to find ways to use the 21st century skill set and technologies to help improve the school environment, but not overhaul the system completely. Social media is great, but what disaster do we set up for students if we push so hard for technology but they do not know how to use it in a way that advances their future society?

I am rambling now, but I guess my main point is that 21st century skills are great and should be incorporated, but should not be thought of as a cure. For example, I find it irritating when schools laud the use of Smartboards in the classroom as if the smartboard itself is going to single handedly revolutionize a classroom. Many high school teachers use the smart board to do what they normally would do on a white board or projector onto a screen. Using a smartboard does not make my kids better alone. It is the use of the smartboard in conjunction with a strong push for 20th century skills like critical thinking, writing, and reading (in traditional or non traditional forms) that helps students learn.

After watching the video on social media I had a few thoughts. Technology is no doubt revolutionizing the economy, business models, and education models. For a long time I have felt that if we do not move toward accepting new forms of technology into the classroom schools could become useless in some ways. If a student can find information at their fingertips via their mobile device than in some ways my role needs to change in order to stay relevant as a profession. However, at the same time, students may be able to find information quickly and efficiently, but do thiey know what to do with it? Can they read it? I think technology is great, but we have to understand that embedding technology for the sake of embedding technology, or so that we can say "hey look at us and how technolgoical we are" is the wrong approach. We must learn to embrace the technologies that will work in our classrooms. We must get to a point where the technology will not be overwhelming to our teachers and students. We must find ways to incorporate technology as a means to the same end as the models of the 20th century and before. Students need to come out of school able to think, produce, and create. Those goals have never changed. The means have changed.

In terms of student boredom. i think students will always be bored with eduation. Even technologically inclined students get bored with their own technology. Boredum happens. Technolgoy will not be the savior of education alone. Technology is a big piece of the puzzle, but it will take more. In some ways I think that the standardization of curriculum and the culture of testing and high stakes accountability has had more of an impact on making students bored and disengaged than a lack of technology. I had many teachers who couldn't even use a VCR, but made me a better person, student, and thinker using 20th century skills.

Finally, I agree with the article by Mark Prensky, that students should be involved. To imporve education it is imperative that all stakeholders be involved. Interestingly, I have found that students will let you know what technologies are good and which are bad to help advance their schooling. For exmaple, I have many students who do not like Senteo student response systems, but like using video and photo tools.media type="file" key="104_0013.MOV" width="330" height="330"