Technology & Learning - April 2008 - (Page 52)

What Technology & Learning insiders are writing online. For their full scoop, go to www.techlearning.com. THINKING SKILLS “They may be ‘digital natives,’ but their knowledge is surface level” content—now we have to teach them to create appropriate content. They may be “digital natives,” but their knowledge is surface level, and they desperately need training in real thinking skills. They live lives that are largely separated from the adults around them, talking and texting on cell phones and connecting online. We may be afraid to enter that world, but enter it we must, for they often swim in uncharted waters without the benefit of adult guidance. To do so we may need to change our conceptions of teaching, and better now than later. Steve Hargadon is the director of the K12 Open Technologies Initiative at the Consortium for School Networking. Teaching Digital Natives Steve Hargadon You may think you don’t have anything to teach the generation of students that seems so techsavvy, but it really, really needs you. For centuries we have had to teach students how to seek out information—now we have to teach them how to sort through an overabundance of information. We’ve spent the past 10 years teaching students how to protect themselves from inappropriate tions that they can answer without knowing a lot about technology and by just observing its use within a lesson. Here is one simple checklist: Is the technology being used “Just because it’s there”? This would be the use of edutainment software, the use of a particular piece of technology because it happens to be in the room. The teacher dabbles with technology, not having a real focus on its use within the lesson, but uses it as an add-on or at a very basic level (no real impact on the learning process). Is the technology allowing the teacher/students to do Old things in Old ways? Publishing a piece of writing in Word rather than handwriting it would be an example of this. Also, using an LCD projector instead of a white/blackboard for a lesson. Another example would be researching on the Internet rather than in an encyclopedia. These are all great things, and great ways to use technology, but they are only replacing the way we have always done things with something that might be faster, easier, and more accurate. In the end, however, they are still the same old things we have been doing for years in education. Is the technology allowing the teacher/students to do Old things in New ways? Examples would be: watching Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech or ASSESSMENT Evaluating Classroom Tech in the Classroom Jeff Utecht Evaluating the use of technology in a classroom environment is not something most administrators are trained to do. It is easy to walk into a classroom and see that every student is using a computer, but how do you really assess if and what type of learning is taking place? In the past, I have had adminis- trators tell me, “I walked into the teacher’s room and all the students were on laptops.” As though just the sight of students working on laptops meant they were engaged in the learning process. I have been trying to wrap my mind around a simple way for administrators to evaluate the use of technology in the classroom. When most administrators evaluate teachers during the evaluation process, they have some sort of check sheet they are working from. I wanted to come up with an easy way for administrators to add to that list some ques- 52 | www.techlearning.com http://www.techlearning.com http://www.techlearning.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - April 2008

Technology & Learning - April 2008 Contents New @ techlearning.com Editor's Desk News and Trends Digital Age Assessment: Part 2 Anytime, Anywhere Learning Caught on Video Cover Story: Plan and Deliver Cutting Edge in Carolina Product Guide Reviews Best of the Blogs What's New LOY Profile Series

Technology & Learning - April 2008

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