Technology Issue Blog Week 2
In the educational world today technology has been considered to be the most important tool that both students and teachers have access to. Students today and young people period are technologically savvy but are not necessarily using it the correct way. You see students daily walking around with al sorts of technology such as Ipads, smart phones, tablets, etc.… The use of this technology comes natural to this generation of students that there is no need to instruct them on how to use it. I have noticed how technology has changed drastically from when I was in high school that is almost 20 years ago when the big thing with technology, which was word processing. Now you have classes where they cover touch-typing plus the entire Microsoft office suite, coding and an industry certification test.
A major issue I see with technology is not getting the actual technology itself but developing the teachers to enable them on how to teach students and use technology successfully. School districts are making good investments with technology but are but are putting them in classrooms with teachers who are ill prepared and not able to understand the technology in which they have access too. Right now at my school there is plenty of unused brand new technological equipment not being used because some teachers do not want to take the time to try learn the equipment or even fit it into their curriculum.
http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/06/04/6-technology-challenges-facing-education.aspx
Christopher,
I found this to be a similar issue. The technology resources that we have at our fingertips is innovative and exciting. However, without proper training and support, teachers will not integrate it into their classrooms. I can speak from experience because I avoided using my SmartBoard due to lack of training. I was self taught, which caused me to miss out on fantastic aspects that I could have utilized in my classroom.
In my blog post I have shared a prezi presentation that includes some slides pertaining to how useful teachnology can be therefore without it, we are not preparing our students to become global learners. In our textbook reading, Chapter 2 (page 22 and surrounding) describe how important is for leaders to support and equip teachers with the necessary tools to enhance student skills and success.
Outside of not being trained, educators must want to grow professionally and stay up to date on new ways to educate our students.