Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Technology and 21st Century Skills
Much is made these days of "21st century learners", "21st century skills", and "21st century classrooms". Invariably, technology -- and the use of technology in classrooms by students and teachers -- is an assumed component of these 21st century phenomena. But does technology really make a difference in teaching and learning? Has the use of technology in classrooms led to improved teaching and learning? Is a 21st century education that different from a 20th century education?
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I do think that a 21st century education is different than a 20th century education. When you think about the types of jobs that someone could get in the mid 20th century with an average high school education, very little technical skill was needed. However, as our society has lost a lot of these jobs (i.e. the textile industry in NC) I think its more important than ever that students graduate high school with information about technology and how it is used in the workplace. Skills like webdesign, computer programming, and basic computer skills are essential for students. However, I have serious concerns that our schools don't really understand what these means. In our school the farthest we've gotten into 21st century learning is having internet access in every classroom - pathetic! That is hardly enough to ensure that students have the technical skill to be competitive in the job market.
ReplyDeleteThat depends on who you talk to. If you're in an interview, it darned well makes a difference! We need to be creating "21st century products with 21st century tools!" And without them, our children are at a competitive disadvantage compared to the rest of the world. After all, they're digital natives and they NEED this because that's who they are.
ReplyDeleteBut if you're talking to teachers, you know these kids aren't digital natives. In fact, I find the term to be abhorrently nativist by implying negativity to imagined digital 'aliens.' Kids can text; that's a fact. But they often cannot conduct a decent google search or distinguish academic sites from alternative history sites. So in reality, there's a lot of good old fashioned 20th century learning going on.
Then again, thank goodness it's the 21st century because no one was a critical thinker before 2001. You know what I need right now? One more demeaning staff development on the latest Bloom's taxonomy. That might finally convince me. - Phillip Little
Technology can make a difference in teaching and learning if it is utilized appropriately. Technology in itself, however, is not the difference-maker. First, the teachers and the students must know how to use the technology if it is to be effective. However, there has to be more than knowing how to use technology. Students have to be able to apply what they learn and think critically and creatively. There needs to exist of an understanding of the content taught using the technology. Using a calculator is fine if you know how to add already. Learning to use to calculator first would not ensure someone knows how to add. Sturgeon mentions in the EdTech article that 21st century skills are not something that can be crammed into a lesson and that’s that. These skills must be embedded into the content areas. Having a smartboard and clickers and computers in every classroom would be useless if the teacher did not know how to use them to teach. Training on the tools must be provided. I am a techno-phobe, so I would be hard-pressed to learn how to use certain technologies on my own. The equipment would sit in a classroom and be a waste of money. My teaching would not improve. However, if I have been trained and shown some cool things I can do with my students, I will use the technology and my teaching methods will become more diverse. Having lots of hardware and software and even knowing how to use the equipment are not enough; critical thinking needs to be accessed when using the technology. To me, that is really what is takes to have the skills to be competitive in the global economy: Being able to think. Merely having computers is not going to ‘solve’ this problem. The reality students will face does include technology, so we must prepare students for that reality by enhancing their critical thinking skills and inspiring innovative thinkers.
ReplyDelete-Jamie
Jamie, like you, I am not a teacher who searches out for new technology to use in my classroom. I know many great teachers in my building who will do that for me and share with the rest of the staff. I will be one of the first to jump on board if I think it will benefit my students and I know that someone will teach me how to use the technology appropriately. I also agree with you about using the technology in an appropriate manner to enhance skills that have already been taught and modeled. The example of the calculator was a great one to support your argument. Technology should be used as a support to help students build upon those "Revised Bloom's Taxonomy" levels to lead to more critical thinking. Technology is a great way to differentiate lessons as well so that student engagement increases in the classroom. Now, student engagement does not always equate to student achievement but the students are learning how to use the technology which will give them some kind of basis for the workforce of the real-world. I have seen no evidence that incorporating the use of some of these technologies making a huge impact on student learning.
DeleteLearning the technology is great but I think students really need to learn how to be more collaborative, learn how to gain information literacy, and being flexible and adaptable. I think those "21st century skills" would be most valuable for all students to learn how to master with the changing technology. Once again, technology should just be used as a support in helping to build the foundation for those others skills.
I agree as well. The common thought is that introducing new technology into a school is sure to bring about positive change. If the school is in trouble academically, certainly an Ipad will turn it around, right? Certainly not! This is another expensive way that we try to treat the symptoms of a condition rather than its cause. I must echo Lauren in saying that students need to learn skills that will help them to be more creative thinkers (and then give them an Ipad)...
DeleteI will be honest, in many respects the students in middle schools and high schools are more technologically savvy than I am. They are digital natives and I am a "wanna be". And let's face it, I am married to one of the most technologically savvy and skilled teachers I know, so I have a readily available resource. But as a professional in the field of education, I do acknowledge the value and importance of technology in the classroom. While I believe that teacher quality and the instructional decisions that teachers make ultimately dictate student success, I recognize that quality teachers will utilize technology in order to teach 21st century skills. However, let's not forget that 21st century learning is about thinking skills: how we engage students in collaborating, communicating, critical thinking and being creative. Technology does not have to be a key factor in teaching students these real-life, career and college skills. But technology does engage, inspire and excite students and I believe can only positively enrich their learning experiences.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreat question! I agree with you Katie, our students are so technologically advanced, we are at the point where I jokingly tell my students that is because they have no life. When I get home, like most of us in our cohort, I have a family and school work to deal with. When my students get home they lock themselves in a room and play with and on technology for about four hours a day.
ReplyDeleteJust because they are tech savvy does not mean they are equipped to enter the workforce and be successful there. The bottom line is the human experience will still reign supreme. They will still need to be taught how to interact with other human beings, they still need to be taught the basics, like how to love, care for and be compassionate beings and I truly believe that technology is pulling them away from this. They no longer speak to each other, they text. They do not sit down and write letters, they email. They have absolutely no idea how to read a book and cite it properly or address an envelope. So they are helped in one area but lacking in another.
sadly many teachers create a power point and expect that replaces the notion of teaching. I think students still need to have some of the old school values instilled in them and no computer on earth is going to teach you how to be a better human being.
Nicole,
DeleteI agree with you 100%! Sometimes I feel that my students know more about technology than I do, and sometimes they even help me complete a technological task during class. However, just because they seem to have advance skills in this area does not mean they are ready for the journey into adult life. Technology does keep students engaged within the classroom, and if you're creative with your lesson plans, the students thrive in the classroom; but some would rather play games, or surf a social media website, or watch videos on youtube. So, is this improving learning; I would say no. It's improving ways for students to be distracted, but I will say that technology does provide teachers with new tools to increase student engagement if they are able to keep students on task during class. When I tell students what I did not have when I was in their shoes in my high school days, they are amazed that I was able to survive. I tell them I'm amazed that there are students in school who think that writing and turning in papers in text short-hand is acceptable. I do feel that technology can enhance teaching, but nothing can replace those real life experiences and/or discussions from that old school teacher.
So, my first concern with this topic is that we're equating 21st century skills, learners, and classrooms with the use of technology. Technology is one of seven of the standards suggested for implementation among 21st century skills. As a techie, I appreciate the appropriate use of technology when it is accessible to all students from all backgrounds in the school. However, I believe it is even more important, as is stated in the standards, to create classrooms where the expectations promote critical and analytical thinking, problem solving, speaking with accountability to peers, a sense of awareness of our impact on society, financial literacy, civic literacy, and realistic real world connections. Within these, the standards state we should incorporate technology and deliberately use it when necessary. For instance, the use of this blog is an advancement in technology to some, as is the access to our blackboard course documents. Similarly, voice thread is an incredibly useful tool in the right circumstances. However, appropriate use of technology as an educator and as a student is determining the right tool for the situation. Sometimes that is a voice thread or a blog. Sometimes it's a piece of paper and a pencil, and sometimes it's simply your voice.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if these things are 20th or 21st century, but I think it's smart to teach a child when to use what tool in life, and I believe the classroom should be a simulation of life experiences as much as possible. If that makes me too techie, then so be it. I'll keep on teaching my students the value of opening a book and smelling the pages AS WELL AS the wonder of seeing their favorite books appear on a digital screen. The measure of my success will be whether or not they understand the value of each.
No, a 21st Century school does not need technology to improve teaching and learning. Quality teaching and learning are the product of the interaction between the humans in the classroom…the teacher and the students. It is the learning experiences, questions asked, and intentional probes that create the level of critical thinking required to be an active participate in modern United States. Technology can assist with providing students rich learning experiences but it is what the teacher does with it that generates learning…the disruption if you will. Christenson and Horn accurately describe the current state of education with technology – it has not been a disruptive innovation; therefore, it has only sustained our current education levels.
ReplyDeleteA 21st century school does not follow the agrarian and industrial calendar. It operates year-round and has extending hours. It connects students to each other, the teacher, and the content. They provide rich experiences for students that promote the use of the skills they have required.
I agree with Philip that students are not digital natives just because they have had a smartphone in their hands since birth. Yes, they can text…but who really can’t learn to do that? They are not discerning in their use of technology to make their work easier, assist in the creation of their arguments, or communicate with others. Students must be taught to do these things.
Philip is also correct; there have been critical thinkers before 2001. But, I do not support his premise. The number of critical thinkers our schools needed to produce prior to 2001 was not as great. In Sarah’s post, she mentions the declined of factory work in NC. Most of the students our schools produced were qualified to work in the agrarian and industrial world. With the change in our economy and the demands of modern economy, more of our students must be critical thinkers. We cannot merely produce one or two critical thinkers per graduating class; we need all of them to be critical thinkers to maintain our economic and political standing in the world and our quality of living.
Wow! Great question...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicole in that a computer will NEVER take the place of a great teacher. Or should I say, a computer SHOULD never take the place of a great teacher. I do believe that the increase in use of technology is inversely proportional to the "appropriate" social skills my students are able to demonstrate. There are some things to be learned that require the human touch.
I also agree with Katie C. in that our students are surrounded by technology... it is everywhere in their world. It is what motivates them, keeps them engaged, and even entertains them. Because it is so readily available it seems it would be irresponsible of us to minimize the impact. Instead, we should be addressing the ethics of using this technology, i.e. social networking, plagiarism, credibility of websites, etc. What better way to teach the ethics than through the use of these technologies in our classrooms. If we don't... who will?
For both of these reasons, I think it is important to create a balance.
Technology does make a difference in the classroom. It does help teachers access information for students and it helps students to access information for themselves. It can also bring experiences to them that they may otherwise not have exposure to. They can also learn specific technology based skills. However, technology, itself, does not create critical, analytical thinkers. Teachers must creatively craft lessons that engage students and enable them to utilize their minds to solve problems. This may or may not use technology in the process.
ReplyDeleteI think that there are as many differences in our classrooms today, as there are similarities to the 20th century classrooms. There will always be some things that change. Technology is one of those things and as it has changed, it has allowed the classroom to grow and expand in various ways (using microscopes in labs, growing your own bacteria, researching an answer to something in the middle of class, learning how to display information in various formats, engaging students in entirely new ways, etc...) Yet, students will always be students. They will always have needs based on who they are and where they come from. They will always go through similar developmental stages as the generation before them did. They will always need to learn skills like how to be responsible, how to be kind, how to work with others, as well as how to think critically and be able to analyze information.
Ellen Hadley
I recently read an interesting article in the New York Times: (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html?pagewanted=all)
ReplyDeleteThe article is about a private school (Waldorf School of the Peninsula) in Los Altos, California where some of the technology giants of eBay, Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard send their kids. This school is just 1 of 160 Waldorf schools in the country where the "teaching philosophy focuses on physical activity and learning through creative, hands-on tasks. Those who endorse this approach say computers inhibit creative thinking, movement, human interaction and attention spans."
I tend to agree with this notion. I definitely believe educators have jumped aboard the notion of moving towards what they deem to be "21st Century Learning," without giving it some really serious thought, as educators do with many ideas. When I think about how students have changed over the course of even the last 30-40 years. I see students who rarely go outside for physical activity (playing basketball, riding bikes, etc.) like many of us did. Students are becoming isolated when they can just plug their iPods in their ears and block out the rest of the world. They also are on the computer for hours on in when they get home. Students now want everything instantly without any delayed gratification, because they are able to go on a website and find out an answer in an instant. I find this very troubling because this does lessen their attention span and also their creative thinking. I think of myself to be a creative thinker and a problem solver, and I will say that I have rarely come across any students that I would say the same about that I have taught over the years.
The human interaction piece I feel will be the definite downfall of 21st Century Learning, because we learned in our last class, Education 732, “Group Dynamics,” that in order for a group, or an entire school to be both effective and efficient, the relationship-building piece is paramount. Too often I see members of a group, school, or organization with the same people walking around for years who barely know each other. I would dare say that this is a major contributing factor to why schools do not succeed. So to answer the questions:
Does technology really make a difference in teaching and learning?
No, because I agree with the notion that “computers inhibit creative thinking, movement, human interaction and attention spans."
Has the use of technology in classrooms led to improved teaching and learning? No.
And is a 21st century education that different from a 20th century education? Yes, for the reasons I have described above.
-Christopher Kelly
I do think technology has helped to make education better. My dad and I had a conversation a few months ago that clearly reflected this notion.
ReplyDeleteI'm a social studies teacher. I mostly use primary sources in my classroom. These are all accessed digitally. My students consistently Skype and blog as a means to sharing their own learning experiences as well as a means for connecting with other learners globally. For my upcoming China unit, my students will have a series of Skype's and digital interviews with students in mainland China. Together, my students and a group of Chinese seventh graders will create a website documenting their combined research. The knowledge and skill my students get from these experiences are invaluable. This type of education....my dad could never have received. He regrets never having had this type of interactive experience.
So yes, technology can add tremendously to today's education.
Being in a school that lacks much of today's technology that is common in many classrooms, I don't believe that having the best technology in a classroom helps students learn better, but I do believe that technology is important to this generation of students. A student's attention span is shorter than ever today because of the things that they are exposed to. I believe that technology can enhance the classroom and with so much information at our fingertips, I think it is important that as educators we tap into that as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteI've taught my entire teaching career at a school with 1 Smart Board (that may or may not work), 2 class sets of "clickers", and until this year only a handful of LCD projectors/document cameras. You wouldn't be wrong in saying that we were not using technology to support teaching and learning - you can't use something that you don't have. Does this mean that I think we've been doing a poor job teaching "21st Century Learning Skills" over the past several years? Absolutely not.
ReplyDeleteI teach algebra. I'm a mental math guy. I'm analytical and I enjoy problem solving. I try to show kids how to do everything by hand. I teach them that there is just as much (and usually more) value in understanding why we are doing something (why it is mathematically possible) than there is to understand how to do it. I tell them that no matter what they end up doing in life they need to have basic math skills and analytic, problem solving skills. Therein lies the beauty of algebra, because it is one of the greatest ways to build analytical thinkers.
Having said all this, I don't think that using technology is necessary to make "21st Centruy Learners" in an algebra classroom. We do use graphing calculators to do some cool invetigations with data and graphing, but other than that I don't believe that it is necessary to use technology in an algebra classroom for students to be engaged learners.
I am also a 1st year science teacher this year, and I would have a complete opposite answer for my approach to teaching this subject. We deliberately use technology to make my kids think about what we are learning about and connect it to the real-world, which is an example of how I think technology can definitely enhance teaching, student learning, and build critical thinking skills.
In general, I do believe that technology is definitely a tool that can enhance teaching and increase student engagement within a lesson. But, having students use "technology" in the classroom needs to be well-planned and purposeful. In the end, a great teacher is much more valuable than technology in teaching 21st Century learning skills.
Technology has changed the way that I teach. Even if this is not the intent, we have technology present in our school and are expected to use it. We have laptops (6), a data projector, and a document camera in each of our classrooms. I do think that we rely a lot on technology but keeping up with the way the world is progressing causes us to have to make adjustments in our teaching. I still love my paper/pencil but I also love the technology that I have available in my classroom now.
ReplyDeleteJanika Davis