Unlike most educators, today's students are indeed digital natives.They were born with iPods in their hands. They are engaged by using the tools that have always used in "play". The classroom must mirror the use of these tools in order for them to be successfull.
It used to be the school of the future that would feature electronic devices. However today iPods have replaced cassette listening stations, interactive whiteboards have replaced chalkboards, and document cameras have replaced overhead projectors in many classrooms. Real-time research using digital tools starts in kindergarten. For us, the future must be now if we are to engage our students and prepare them for their own futures.
Web 2.0 tools make it easier to investigate, record and network with others to create a community of learners. Why learn in a vacuum when the whole world awaits.
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We have definitely made some advances in the types of technology equipment that is placed in classrooms today.
ReplyDeleteAnd for those of us that just now got our first ipod, have cell phones that are at least two years old, it is always hard to relate. However, our students can be our best teachers if we let them
ReplyDeleteIt's true! My own children have more expensive cell phones than me. While driving to the mall today, my 17 year old son was on his iphone using GPS and looking at his final semester grades on skyward. Technology is so accessible to them, they don't realize what it was like in the "old days". And some kids think Elmo's and projectors are just standard equipment in the classroom. The overhead projector is a dinosaur!
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