“The good news is that teachers do not need to jump off the technology train; they just need to change cars. They need to uncover methods of using technology to help students develop old-world skills that are also 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, perseverance, and creativity.”
There are several individual parts of that statement that jump out at me:
- technology train
- methods of using technology
- old-world skills
- 21st Century Skills
- critical thinking
- problem solving
- perseverance
- creativity
To me, the technology train is not the one that teachers need be on ... even if they are in the correct car. I know that may sound strange coming from a person who works for a technology department, but as I am quick to point out, I work in instructional technology .... and I feel I am way more on the instructional side than the technology side. As educators, our job is to develop, encourage, and support student learning in anyway possible ... whether that means using technology or not. I feel teachers should be on the student learning train.
The student learning train may have cars for differentiated learning, direct instruction, indirect instruction, experiential learning, independent study, interactive instruction, as well as many other ways teachers use to meet the learning needs of students. If visual art is needed as part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there. If hands-on learning is needed as part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there. If problem-based, product-based, or inquiry learning needs to be a part of one of those train cars, then it needs to be there. If technology needs to be a part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there too.
We need to be choosing the best ways to meet the needs of students ... and not just using a certain teaching style or tool just because that equipment is in the classroom.
We need to be choosing the best ways to meet the needs of students ... and not just using a certain teaching style or tool just because that equipment is in the classroom.
Does a doctor use every tool that is in the office to treat every single patient every single day? He or she uses the most appropriate tool for the needs of the job at hand. If I have a room full of technology equipment, but cutting an apple or folding a piece of paper is the best way to meet student needs for learning that day, then I should do what best meets the needs of students.
I also noticed how the statement at the beginning of this blog post mentions methods of using technology to help students. For an educator, just knowing how to create animations in a powerpoint presentation, how to create a path for a wiki, or how to make a pivot table in excel is not enough ... we need to know the methods of how to use that technology knowledge to help students. The "knowing how to help" knowledge does not start with technology but starts with knowing the students and knowing the content or curriculum that students are expected to know. You have to know your curriculum and how to effectively teach that curriculum to students to be able to integrate technology with it. The focus of lessons should be on the content and not on the technology being used.
Another part of the statement that really caught my attention and made me smile was the idea of using technology to help students develop old-world skills that are also 21st century skills. Over the years, I have read, heard, and even written about 21st century skills, but never really thought of them as old world skills until now. The skills involved in critical thinking, problem solving, perseverance, and creativity are not "new" skills that we are just now promoting in education. We may be looking at them in somewhat new ways or approaching them in ways different from before, but they all involve ways of thinking .... and thinking is not a new thing in education.
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