Educating the millenniums means teachers and schools better get on board – the key board that is. If you are not up to date with computer technology a teacher is not in compliance with meeting technology expectations and standards set forth by the Michigan Educational Technology standards. These standards set people scrambling to play catch up with modern technology.
The challenges technology creates are many. One of all the biggest challenge is - can schools afford the technology? I am sure the affluent communities have no problem funding technology and the poor under-served school districts will fall behind. Somehow it has to be done. Grant are available through the Michigan Department of Education to help struggling schools pay for technology improvements. Each child should have their own lap top that is networked to the whole class and to a projector unit. Actually it might be kind of fun and make learning a little bit easier. I can see it now as the teacher says, “the first student who finds a page on the tree frog will get 5 points.” Talk about engaging. Students will hurry to see if they can be the first one to find a resource about tree frogs.
Another challenge using technology with students is the teacher and the students being aware of all the laws and acceptable use policies that abound in connection to technology. Safety, security and privacy is the number one belief in the criteria for developing Oscoda Area School technology plan. So if a child violates the acceptable use policy and they can't use computers anymore at school....where does this get them – behind of course.
With the use of computers I think children could work at their own rate and move ahead and not have to wait for the whole class to catch up. The brightest students could move forward and also study other things that might interest them.
Is there a generation gap with students and technology? Why do some move way ahead and others lag behind in technology? These are more of the challenges that we face today with the increasing speed of technology. The opportunities are out there. It is just a matter of time to make global learning come to life through technology.
Bibliography
Oscoda Area Schools Technology Plan. Web. 22 January 2011. http://www.oscodaschools.org/pdf/Oscoda%20Area%20Schools%20Tech%20Plan%202008-2011.pdf
Cartoon Image from educational technology search at images at Google.com
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