21st century learners are here. Are we as educators reaching them and teaching them in a way they learn best? As we teach are we allowing our students to use technology to show us what they have learned? Students today are growing up in a whole new world than we did. I didn’t get a cell phone until after I was married in 1993 and then it really was only for emergencies. Today’s kids have smartphones with access to the internet and technology 24/7. As adults we are playing “catch up” with all the new apps and technology that continue to spew forth, whereas our students are ahead of us in what is new, being used and on the cutting edge. They move from media to media and learn new ways to express themselves before we as adults have even heard of it. They learn from technology constantly. They may not always be up to date on the latest news, but when they are interested in a subject they can become an expert quickly with all the availability to information on the web. It is our job to facilitate learning and encourage them to go beyond their individual interests to broaden their learning.
In Bloom’s Taxonomy we know there are many levels of leaning from the lower order thinking to the higher order thinking. Knowledge is the lowest level, however once you have the knowledge you can pretty much jump into any of the other levels. The key to using technology is thinking skills and collaboration. Our young people today need to know how to think, evaluate, create and process information. They need to know these skills to be productive in life. I have heard said that there are jobs not even created yet that will need to be filled. We are preparing students to fill these jobs that have not even been created yet! We have to teach them these critical skills. Technology is not going away, in fact it will become more and more used as we progress as a society. We need to engage them in learning at school and one of the ways to do this is to use technology to engage them and get them collaborating and thinking critically.
The library is a perfect place for this thinking and collaborating to happen. As a teacher I am tied to making sure my content is covered and I don’t always have access to technology through the school or BYOD. In the library I think students could be challenged to use the media there to create and collaborate, to really go above and beyond what might be created in a classroom. The librarian as a media specialist could bring in new technology that has been evaluated for quality and teach teachers how to use it when they may not have time or ability to figure it out on their own.
As Prenksy says we are in a world of “digital natives” and we had better figure out how to reach them.
Bloomin' Apps. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2016, from http://www.schrockguide.net/bloomin-apps.html
Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2016, from http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Bloom's Digital Taxonomy
L. (2013). Marc Prensky - Digital Natives. Retrieved June 07, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRR76Mz9NII
The Mindset List: 2019 List. (n.d.). Retrieved June 07, 2016, from https://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2019/
You made an excellent point saying that technology is not going away. Just in the last few years, technology has advanced immensely. As educators, we need to be willing to continue to learn and build our classrooms with those foundations. I am excited to see with what other ways technology will advance with in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct...technology is here to stay! And your use of Bloom's digital taxonomy youtube video is proof that technology increases our understanding. Great post!
ReplyDeleteAs technology continues to advance and improve in areas then it is important that educators continue to learn and embrace this fact. It's important that students are allowed to use technology in their learning since it will definitely continue to be around!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the addition on your blog of the Bloom's Digital Taxonomy video. Colleagues can share that with teachers in their schools!
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