21st century education

I just came across an article about education and the technology culture divide.  This is one more reason why we need technology in schools.  Most of today's students and teachers come from different generations and we must bridge the gap between the two cultures.  Today's youth for the most part have been immersed in technology their whole lives.  It is a part of their culture and who they are.  Why can't we make their education relevant to them and their lives and their "culture"?  Besides, how else are we going to prepare them for the future? 

OTOH, It is apparent that there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle when it comes to incorporating technology in the classroom - teachers who are or are not willing and able to implement technology, administrators, district personnel, technology personnel, students, parents, community, resources, support, time, money, training, etc. You can't just unexpectedly throw every teacher into a cold, choppy sea of technology without a boat or lifevest and expect them all to be able to make it to the shore, especially if there are sharks in the water. There are so many factors and circumstances to take into consideration. It is what it is. It seems to me that implementing technology requires extensive resources, money, training, support, more training, and most of all we need a plan that we will all follow. It is up to us, leaders in instructional technology/design field, to help bring this about. It does no good to point fingers at the teachers, administrators, students, whomever...but rather identify the problems, come up with viable solutions, and work to overcome the problem. It is great that some schools make it a priority to utilize technology and some teachers in other schools find a way/make a way to use technology. However, it seems piecemeal. Tackling this problem head on will not be an easy task but it will be well worth it and it is up to us to take charge if we want to make a change.  WE MUST make a change.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/03/31/a-look-at-the-technology-culture-divide/


If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow. ~John Dewey