Lead Follow

or Get Out of the Way!

Laura Deiss

Lamar University

EDLD 5362

Educators Prepare Students for an Ever Changing Future

Global communication

Global collaboration

Careers that haven’t been invented yet

To be problem solvers

To be critical thinkers

To face new challenges

Embrace limitless possibilities

Today’s students- K-12 through college- represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. (Prensky, 2001)

The Effective Teacher of the 21st Century must be:

• Willing to try new methods of teaching

• Willing to change

• Meet students needs through differentiation

• Be a facilitator of learning

• Embrace technology or at least not hinder it

Most teachers are eager to embrace new technologies, as theyhave seen their students’ excitement and motivation increase when theydo so. With technology standards becoming an integral part of students’ education, teachers are more enthusiastic than ever to learn new technologies and methods. Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007)

• Learn to use new technology

• Podcasts, wikis, power point, photo editing, search engines

• Attend professional development face to face or online

• Research and use new Web 2.0 tools

• Participate in web conferencing

• RSS

Lead

Follow• Social network with fellow educators

• Blog

• Use smart phones

• Facebook

• Skype

• Create/collaborate

We no longer just find and use information; the Web is now a participatory, interactive place where we create information collaboratively and share the results. Everyone can participate thanks to social networking collaborative tools and the abundance of web sites that allow us to post journals, photos, movies, and more. Solomon, G. & Schrum, L. (2007)

Get out of the wayAs an educator if you do not know how to use Web 2.0 tools

you should allow the students who do know, to teach other

students, as well as yourself, how to use the technology.

Teachers would no longer be the providers of information but instead would be the explainers, the context providers, the meaning makers, and the evaluators of information kids find on their own. Prensky, M (2008)

Resources Abound

There are many resources for educators. Everyone can find one that is

a good fit for them. I would like to introduce you to Project Share and

it’s many resources. http://www.projectsharetexas.org/

• ePortfolio creation

• Professional development online modules

• Work groups for collaboration

• Peer review- submit papers and ideas for review

• A+ Rise- grade level lessons

• Educational news

• Blogs

• iTune U- for Texas teachers

• Educational news

Course Cracker is another educational network that I found beneficial. http://coursecracker.com/index.html This network not only provides collaboration for teachers but has a wonderful resource for teacher’s classroom and communication.

• Teacher classroom connection

Classroom information- schedule

External links

Online office hours

Chat room

Discussion board

Photo , video, & documents

• Educator Group

• Teacher chat room

• Teacher forums

Our World is Changing

Why use educational networks?• We need to stay on top of new research and technology tools. They are

changing faster than face to face professional development can keep up with.

• Online professional development is more convenient and flexible.

• We can learn from educational colleagues- who have first hand real time experience.

• Experience with technology collaboration tools will help us to communicate with students in their use of the same type of resources.

• Expand our horizons, gain knowledge from a global educational community.

Dynamics of the Classroom is Changing

I suggest that Digital Natives’ brains are likely to be physically different as a result of digital input they received when growing up. Based on the latest research in neuro-biology, there is no longer any question that stimulation of various kinds actually changes brain structures and affects the way people think, and these transformations go on throughout life. Prensky, M. (2001)

Children raised with the computer “think differently from the rest of us. They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It’s as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential.” Prensky, M. (2001)

Teachers must practice putting engagement before content when teaching. They need to laugh at their own digital immigrant accents, pay attention to how their students learn, and value and honor what their students know. Prensky, M. (2005)

As 21st century educators, we can no longer decide for our students; we must decide with them, as strange as that may feel to many of us. Prensky, M. (2005)

Our schools should be teaching kids how to program, filter knowledge, and maximize the features and connectivity of their tools. If we don’t stop and listen to the kids we serve, value their opinions and make major changes on the basis of valid suggestions they offer, we will be left in the 21st century with school buildings to administer- but with students who are physically or mentally somewhere else. Prensky, M. (2005)

References

• Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with

classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development.

• Prensky, M. (2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5),

1-6. MCB University Press. Retrieved from

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/10748120110424816

• Prensky, M. (2001) "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 2: Do They Really Think

Differently?", On the Horizon, Vol. 9 Iss: 6, pp.1 - 6

• Prensky, M. (2008) Turning on the lights, Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40-45

• Prensky, M. (2006) Listen to the Natives, Educational Leadership, Vol.

63, No. 4. (0 2006), pp. 8-13

• Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools.

Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education