The growing impact that technology holds in our society influences both teachers and students to use technology in the classroom. As educators, we are charged with ensuring that our students are prepared for their place in society, thus making technology literacy a critical aspect of education. Every educator needs to master essential technology skills to accomplish their own tasks, but also to prepare their students for contemporary life. In communicating efficiently with their students, every educator should understand the factors that can interfere with the communication cycle - environmental, psychological, and personal - and should recognize the different learning styles that many students may adhere to.
After researching the ISTE standards for both teachers and students, the "creative communicator" standard stood out to me the most because, in my opinion, many creative ideas are shot down before they can be implemented and it would be nice to see these ideas take action in the physical world. The "global collaborator" standard may be outside of my current skill set because, although connecting with the world is a unique and wonderful task, my experience in that area is minimal and I would be hesitant to pursue it on my own.
A digital native refers to a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and is familiar with said technology from an early age. The differences between digital natives and digital immigrants are rather apparent, whether it be watching an older teacher struggle to use PowerPoint in the classroom or seeing a seven-year-old work with an iPad. So, yes, I agree with the label "digital native". No, I do not think that using technology at a young age is detrimental. I do, however, think that there should be limitations to the kind of technology available to children and how much time children are allotted to spend with that technology. I anticipate that, when and if I become a teacher, I will be comfortable with the technology presented in the classroom and my students may even have to teach me a thing or to about said technology.
What I remember is, 18 years ago, about 1999, when I was a 5th grader, the schools started to use a PC in the classroom. I had my first PC in 5th grade so I learned to use MS Office (1997's version). At that time, older teachers were not able use "computers" at all. They couldn't type the keyboard at all.
ReplyDeleteThings still happen in 2017. Sometimes young kids know about computers better than me. Sigh.