Digital Status

I found these articles to be incredibly informative. This is a great tool to try and figure out how are students will be learning in the future. I would define myself as a digital native. Although, I haven’t had as much technology as the kids today have. I do remember the times before video games, and computers. I didn’t even have a cell phone until my freshmen year of college and the first computer I owned was a graduation gift from high school. I do understand and speak computer well. I seem to be able to troubleshoot and navigate my way through computers and the software that goes along with them. I loved when the article referred to people that are natives as immigrants and how they learn like all other immigrants; some better than others. The way that the immigrants think about education compared to the natives, I believe needs to change. The natives feel that the immigrants are bringing in outdated systems. A quote from the article says “Digital Immigrant teachers assume that learners are the same as they have always been, and that the same methods that worked for the teachers when they were students will work for their students now. But that assumption is no longer valid.” We as teachers need to be aware of the different ways that our students learn with technology today, and better adapt ourselves to it. Another quote talks about the methodology of teachers today “Methodology, today’s teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students. This doesn’t mean changing the meaning of what is important, or of good thinking skills. But it does mean going faster, less step-by step, more in parallel, with more random access, among other things.” I would like to understand more about implementing these ideas in my own classroom.

When I was in college it seemed that the most technology that we had available was computers. Using Microsoft word, PowerPoint, and Excel to created documents and presentations was about all that we had. Even with this software we did not have the projection system that we have here at Concordia to use with our presentations. Or, maybe I am not remembering it exactly right. At Concordia in most of our rooms we have a computer, and a great projection system. This is so helpful. The ability to connect to the internet right in the classroom and bring curriculum to life has been essential. I only hope that once I begin teaching in my own class that it will have the same capabilities. You can get to the points of your presentation faster, and give the presentations more creativity because of the accessibility with technology in our classrooms.

The articles haven’t necessarily changed my mind about technology in the classroom, but have broadened my horizons. I think that I will take a lot from this class and implement as much of it as I can into my own room. I am very interested in learning about all of the software available out there for both students and teachers to use and enhance learning. I do believe we need to be innovative with the way that we present our curriculum to our students, and technology seems to be a key piece in this idea.