JOURNAL #9: Are Schools Inhibiting 21st Century Learning?

Dave Nagel

This article looks at the idea that teachers and schools may be limiting education instead of enhancing it. The fifth-annual Speak Up survey polled more than 367,000 parents, students, administrators, and teachers. While 66 percent of administrators, 43 percent of parents, and 47 percent of teachers said that they felt schools were doing a good job preparing students for jobs and careers, students did not. 40 percent indicated that teachers are limiting their use of technology in schools, and 45 percent said that school "security" practices, such as Web filtering, were limiting their ability to take advantage of technology for learning. The students are far ahead of their teachers and parents not only in their technology use, but in the adoption of new technologies for learning purposes. In a separate research project released by the National School Boards Association safety and security issues require policy from school boards. Parents feel that schools should take advantage of new technology such as social networking. Social networking is becoming popular in business avenues and it would benefit the students in preparing them in transition to adult life. Also in the survey the majority of middle and high school students indicated that "games make it easier to understand difficult concepts.” Among teachers, parents, and school administrators, 52 percent said they think mobile technologies can help students in learning. Students said they would "use technology more easily at school if they could use their own laptop, cell phone or mobile device to work on projects.” Mobile technologies ranked high among teachers and administrators when asked what equipment they would choose for a hypothetical "ultimate 21st century school." The Speak Up survey is conducted annually to assess views on current issues in education, and results are shared with state and federal policy leaders.

QUESTIONS:

1. How important is it to realize that technology is an important part of adult life and that we must educate our students to succeed in that life? This article shows how important technology is becoming in societies workplace. Students must be aware of this future requirement and they must be given the knowledge needed to compete in this workplace.

2. This survey shows that parent see the importance of technology in the classroom. What do we need to do to get parents involved in making this happen? Parents need to become more involved in their children’s school lives. Unfortunately they are also trying to keep up with the fast moving technological society that we all live in. Hopefully in time, they will stop and see their need to help make education better for their children.

JOURNAL #8: Disabled Bodies, Able Minds: Giving Voice, Movement, and Independence to the Physically Challenged

Diane Curtis

This article is about assistive technology and how it makes it possible for students without full mobility to participate in class and school activities. A student names Adrian, who can’t walk or speak, but can move his eyebrow, can now speak using a computer that has rows of pictures on it. Adrian uses a headband that allows him to move a cursor on the computer screen to communicate. Adrian is a part of a program called TACLE (Technology and Augmentative Communication for Learning Enhancement. Another student Niara uses a speech generation technology equipped computer. She moves her cheek and out comes spoken words. These kinds of programs are happening all across the country. There in an ongoing effort to make sure that disabled people are included in all activities and these types of technology is helping this come true. A group called DO-IT which is the Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology group says they have little patience for districts that so not think they have a responsibility to include those with disabilities. They do not see how schools can justify not investing in tools for disabled students even with the high cost of assistive technology. The hope is that students can use their brainpower instead of their physical capabilities to go to college and on to careers so that “They can have the American dream.”

QUESTIONS:

1. Will the educational system see the value of this technology for the smaller group of students that will benefit from it? Unfortunately I do not see many districts making this a policy. It would be wonderful if we all had access to everything we needed to make students learning a priority. In today’s times unfortunately education is not a priority.

2. Would this technology make these students better members of society? The abilities that this technology allows these students to gain are immeasurable. It allows them to learn and communicate in ways that they otherwise would not be able too. This allows them to become better functioning members of society.

JOURNAL #7: Envisioning the Future of Education: Learning the mobile way

Mark van't Hooft

This article discusses how society has become effected throughout by digital tools that allow us access to so many things. We live with the internet and our media access comes to our homes in so many ways. When we are on the go we take these technologies with us through cell phones, media players, and wireless computers. We must look at how this will change education in the near future. Mobile learning is usually defines by learning with a mobile device such as a handheld computer or a mobile phone. These allow the learner to have more control in their hands. MyArtSpace is a service for children to spread their learning between schools and museums. It runs in three United Kingdom museums. The aim is for students to collect information on a field trip to the museum and then bring that information back to the classroom via mobile phones or personal web space. Ongoing lessons and discussions can then happen. Frequency 1550 is a project that allows students to roam the city using GPS-equipped cell phones and complete challenges that are downloaded and then follow that discover the city’s history. Teams of players are supported by a group of students at a central location who can see the overall picture. The National Museum of Natural Science has a website that allows one to download an itinerary that is prepared by the viewer. The viewer than arrives at the museum and is given a hand held device that allows them to follow the itinerary, join a recommended learning tour, or freely explore exhibits.

QUESTIONS:

1. What are some good reasons to look at programs like these? Students today are already exposed to so many technology devices and I see programs like this as a way to broaden those interests in the equipment and use this interest to develop a knowledge base. Some students may become more excited about the learning because they are using a technology device.

2. What is the strain on teachers when using this technology? Teachers will need to stay abreast of the new used of technology and make sure they stay ahead in their education so that they are able to use technology devices and are able to teach the students how to use them in the educational setting.