Entry 1

Imagine a scenario in which you walk into your classroom at 9:00am and say, “Please sit down and turn on all of your devices.”  Long gone are the days of early class bells, banning wireless devices, and isolated overhead projector only classrooms. Schools with just one technology director or lacking Wi-Fi are expiring like bad lunch… Or have you not noticed the recent disappearance of soda and mystery meatloaf from cafeteria menus (Hrannar Ómarsson)?

As educators moving into a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) world, the changes can be a baffling experience. As if combating our iPhone apps daily isn’t hard enough; now we must become tech savvy enough to navigate a Smart Board, incorporate Prezis, and send mobile surveys throughout class. During our ongoing battle with multimedia integration (Gunter, 2015, p. 6), we will face the challenge of vying for student’s attention against Twitter Feeds, Vine Comps, and Tumblr updates. It makes many teachers long for the times when the biggest classroom distractions were fire drills, Walkmen, and the occasional disruptive student.  How can we, as educators, stay relevant when we are in constant competition with weapons of Mass Distraction (Rosen)?

As a digital native, I think the answer is simple; teachers need to make the effort to become digital citizens themselves. We should be diving into technology head first! We can’t be nostalgic for the outdated weekly typing classes and monthly bulletin boards; we must become “media literate” (Gunter, 2015, p. 19), which means learning how to create lesson plans using all forms of communication and information. We have a new responsibility to guide our students into utilizing the true magic of the internet.

Nowadays, most students in our classrooms have had internet access since elementary school; why not use this to our advantage?  Schools can no longer expect to reach the masses with TV and radio alone. If our students and their parents are plugged in, then the best way to reach them is in their daily feeds. If you’re a novice you can start small with sending out a weekly Remind101™ text message or student designed e-newsletter explaining upcoming assignments. If you want to go a step further, consider implementing virtual office hours so students have time to access you outside of class. The truly advanced should find ways to reinforce their curriculum with Sandbox lesson websites for students to play. These will offer great opportunities for any of type learner you may have, at any time of day. Being truly media literate could effectively eliminate the “all even, all the same” (Hrannar Ómarsson) lesson plan mantra.

When exposing ourselves to more technology based teaching it is imperative that we increase our information literacy. This means committing to the concept that teacher and student alike should know how to “find, analyze, use, and communicate information” (Gunter, 2015, p. 5). Teachers now have the capability to share what they are creating, which means collaborating via the internet has made one-size-fits-all workshops obsolete. Unfortunately, this free flow of information can lead to misinformation and poor investigative habits. Before Wikipedia or Ask Jeeves, traditional libraries, card catalogs, and hard covered encyclopedias were necessities for conducting thorough research. We must become truly engaged educators and use reputable search engines (e.g. Google Scholar) to teach our students how to find reliable digital resources.

      In the wake of these new e-learners, effective education means preparing our students to enter the work force and be competitive in the global marketplace. Recently many states, including my home state of Florida, have implemented laws which require high school students to complete at least one online course to earn a diploma (Sheehy). These progressive states know that universities, tech schools, and community colleges are reaching students where they are. Using technology to reinforce our face-to-face communication is just the start (Gunter, 2015, p. 6), we must be committed to life-long learning and be prepared to “focus all of [our] energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” (Millman, 1984, p. 113). This is the only way to be equipped educators, therefore shaping the future of education.

Resources

Friedman, T. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Gunter, G., & Gunter, R. (2015). Integrating Educational Technology into the Curriculum. In Teachers discovering computers: Integrating technology in a connected world. (Eighth ed.). Thompson Publishing.

Millman, D. (1984). The Sword Is Sharpened. In Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book that Changes Lives (pp. 1- 226). Tiburon,, California: Publisher’s Group Wes.

Rosen, D. (2012, December 18). Weapons of Mass Distraction. Retrieved September 2, 2015, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/rewired-the-psychology-technology/201212/weapons-mass-distraction

Sheehy, K. (2012, October 24). States, Districts Require Online Ed for High School Graduation: Requiring online classes may not benefit all students. Retrieved September 2, 2015.