Focus Question: How does technology promote educational change?
By changing the way subjects are taught and learned, technology by its very nature promotes educational change. Since technology is still in its twilight, these new innovations are revamping the entire school system from the ground up. Everything from grading to school lunches to teacher-student communication involves technology. Some schools have even gone so far as to count attendance via an identification card each student caries with them and must swipe at the beginning of each class. Even here at Edison, we're have a debit card system that we can use to purchase things on campus.
Tech Tool: National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T)
The National Education Technology Standards for Teachers is a neat little website run by the National Society for Educational Technology. Despite the long and tedious name, NETS-T is a small but effective website that provides resources for technocentric teachers like case studies and rubrics for evaluating how well you implement technology. There's also a NETS for various other education occupations such as administrators and coaches and even students.
Reaction:
This chapter has a section which covers technology integration issues which I enjoyed thoroughly. I think it was the most pragmatic approach to technology in the classroom I've seen yet from this book. It mentions how teachers need more training and resources when it comes to technology -- a sentiment that couldn't be closer to the truth. It mentions how a study done when calculators were first implemented showed that teachers reacted similarly and wanted more training.
Later in the chapter it is discussed how technology integration can lead to educational change. It goes on to say that the reason technology hasn't been so heavily implemented yet is because teachers have a hard time letting go of tradition. I agree, yet I can see so much change just in my short time in the school system. I think things are changing whether teachers like it or not.
The change is here and definitely not arriving too soon! Many teachers who have been in the system for a long time have resisted the change, but many are finding value now that they have embraced certain tools for their own personal life. It is interesting to me, though, how many young people resist the integration of technology sometimes - I wonder why? I wonder if we have 'pidgeon holed' education/classrooms as a place that is so different from 'real life' for too long? At any rate, I do believe that professional development/training for teachers is a key factor.
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