Hello there, now Prensky says that it’s time for educators to raise their heads above the daily grind and observe the new landscape of technology that’s emerging. This is what I intend to do now, along with planning how I can work towards enhancing and increasing my technology use in education.
I’m going to use the analogy of Harry Potter. Harry is an ordinary muggle until he receives an invitation in the mail. After this point, his world changes dramatically. He meets many extraordinary people, and discovers talents that he never knew existed. There can be no doubt that our world too, is changing rapidly. How does this affect our teaching? It makes it an exciting time of exploration and discovery. Students have had ready access to information written by the wizards of the world. They’ve had a chance to play and experiment with technology during lessons. This has been an exciting learning experience, however, I wonder what will come next! It is my hope that all the time spent fixing errors that were not supposed to happen will disappear, although with the number of new technologies that continually appear, I doubt this will happen. But I’ve heard about the lap top schools, the tablet notebooks and even globally connected learning communities that are emerging somewhere in the www. How will my students learn in my classroom once these new things arrive? I could then take my students anywhere in the world in a much more literal sense. Other classes will be looking to learn the same things, and we could combine what we learn. My students will not only be interacting with each other, but with politicians, sports players, radio presenters, astronauts, and many other children! Clearly, these are just speculations- I can’t even imagine how my teaching will change! I think Prensky understands this- he says that our young people generally have a much better idea of what the future is bringing than we do. So I sense that my classroom will become more student centred. Additionally, Ohler (2005/2006) explains that the digitally literate student will BE the wizard- constructing and participating in, rather than just receiving information.
How will I begin teaching in this new way? Of course I have to start from where I am now, then embark on the journey to my future classroom. Currently at my school, we have new SMART boards, and we communicate with students and parents through our school website. I used a SMART board at uni, so I’m very comfortable using it, and trying to make lessons as interactive as possible. My students have emailed, podcasted, vodcasted, and have done a variety of internet based assignments. I intend to continue these practices, while adding a reflective blogging component to my class, and utilising edu20.org for homework and more effective communication. My students will be increasingly creating online, by using online resources. I may also ask permission from the head for students to use their phones in some of my lessons. This way, they could take photos of our mould growing experiment, among other things. These short term goals will get me part of the way to Hogwarts.
How can I go ALL the way to teaching my students to be digitally literate and prepared for the 21st century? First of all, I can harness and build on the skills my students already have, and I can collaborate more closely with the school’s ICT integration specialist. Secondly, I must do what all teachers know best: use standards. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has developed standards to aim for. I have chosen some realistic ones to aim for. I hope to achieve each one at least once a year, up until the year 2012. My goals at the moment extend until the year 2012 in alignment with my school’s Technology plan. This states that by 2012, all students will have access to a laptop in class. In addition to these, I must also remember the wealth of ideas and resources that I have access to via Twitter, Classroom20 and the rest of the internet! How fortunate that I have all these resources to ensure that I implement this technology in a way that will enhance student learning! With all this, I can help my students collaborate with each other, and across the world, in order to construct their own learning experiences. They will evaluate which information sources are best for their purpose, while using safe, legal and ethical technology etiquette. Finally, I hope to see my students growing into reflective, life long learners equipped with the skills required for their future.
And I mustn’t forget: professional development plans are continual. I must return to this and evaluate my progress, thereby continuing the spiral of reflection, planning and development.
