In reflecting on the article, Safe Schools in a Web 2.0 World, I began thinking about whether or not the district I work in is moving towards a Web 2.0 world. I think my district still has a long way to go. I think we are failing our students when we do not utilize the tools available to us with our students. In this day and age, ALL students should have access to computers in the school. Whether or not they have access at home is another story and nothing we can control. But we can control their electronic usage at school. We talk about the need to prepare our students for the next level, beyond k-12 education, but when we don’t expose them to technology that is available, we are not preparing them. At some point, the “higher ups” need to look at the budget and find a way to get these students access to a variety of electronic media. I work in a fairly large district, what can be considered large in NW IL. I always find myself wondering how a district this large can be so far behind other districts, which are much smaller. I hear of other districts where each student has a laptop or iPad. These 1:1 classrooms can be a powerful learning environment for our students so why are we not looking into this?
Teachers are the key to driving the technology in the classroom. We are the catalyst for change. Education is constantly evolving and it is up to us as teachers to jump on board. After all, isn't education about the students, not us? It isn't about our fears and anxieties about technology. It isn't about our trepidation and lack of knowledge regarding apps and gadgets available to us. The students are not afraid of using more and more technology, we are. The students are not afraid of not knowing how to operate something, we are. The students just jump right in and navigate all on their own. Isn’t that what we want? Don’t we want them to take charge of their learning and become accountable?
Schools need to establish an environment for learning. May need to look at allowing students to bring there own devices and the school provides wireless access.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joe. Many schools are going to wireless access as it is. It is important, however, to keep the students who cannot afford the technology in the loop too. If a school is going to allow their students to bring their own devices then they will also have to have a few to lend to the students who don't have them.
ReplyDeleteI think we should use what we see is working, this generation is not scared of technology instead they loves it, enjoys every moment of it...They don't give up on any vedio games they play, they make every effort to get through the next level. We need to use these toys in a desired and effective way to teach our kiddos....
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