I truly became inspired to further my educational technology knowledge-base when one of my former gifted endorsement professors showed me the YouTube video “Did You Know?” by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod & Jeff Brenman.
Dr. Scott McLeod of Iowa State University created this later version:
What do we do with those students who do not have access to adequate technology at home? In my personal opinion, schools should have the resources to provide adequate technology that is accessible to all students. Although this is an enormous financial responsibility, schools also have the responsibility to leave no child behind. We are leaving all of our children behind if we are not teaching them how to be successful in our “shifting” society. Our students are changing. Schools and teachers need to change with them. These digital kids are used to hypercommunicating and multi-tasking. They are media-centric and digital native learners, meaning they are digitally motivated more than they are motivated by traditional instructional methods (Shelly, Gunter, Gunter, 2012). We are not doing our jobs acceptably if we are not effectively integrating emerging technologies into the curriculum.
The integration of technology can seem like an overwhelming task. There are so many resources available that I often become stressed when trying to plan technology-based lessons. From personal experience, I have learned to focus on incorporating one new technology at a time and becoming an expert at it before adding new technologies. As teachers, we can just utilize what tools we have as best we can. We can start by integrating technology into a planned unit of study. We can utilize the mobile technologies that students bring with them to school. As teachers, we need to become computer, information and integration literate, meaning we need to know how to use computers, seek and analyze information effectively and integrate appropriate technology into our curriculum. We also need to teach our students how to be computer and information literate. Thomas Friedman, the author of The World is Flat and Hot and Flat and Crowded, communicates that many young people are not equipped to successfully communicate and participate in the growing global economy (Shelly, Gunter, Gunter, 2012).
On his blog, Dr. Scott McLeod posted the question, “Well, What’s your answer? Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?”
I believe that many teachers and schools are doing what is convenient for them and not what is best for their students. Schools are providing the resources that are “financially” convenient for them and not resources that will best meet the needs of students. Teachers are planning lessons that are convenient or comfortable for them to teach. I firmly believe that if we make technology a priority and learn how to effectively integrate it, it can become convenient for technology to be utilized by teachers. Teachers really just need more computer and integration literacy to understand how technology can make our job easier and more rewarding and how it can personally and academically enrich ours students’ lives.
P.S. This blog post will be “dangerously irrelevant” by 2013.
Fisch, K., McLeod, S. & Brenman, J. (2012). Did You Know? [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxRb3Qr9JWA
McLeod, S. (2011, August 4). Iowa, Did You Know? [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1JyLYphevc
McLeod, S. (2007, May 1). Well? What’s Your Answer? [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2007/05/well_whats_your.html
Shelly, G., Gunter, G. & Gunter, R. (2012). Teachers Discovering Computers: Integrating Technology in a Connected World (7th Ed.). Boston, MA: Course Technology.