EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Future is Now Sr. Kelly Schuster Seton Hall University Graduate School
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Educational Technology What is it and what is it not? With the rise of technology, many are wondering if it will take the place of teachers and the teaching profession. As good as any AI chatbot is, there is nothing that can replace the student to teacher relationship. The 2020 Educause Horizon Report: Teaching and Learning Edition looks at the differences between adaptive technology, personalized learning, and adaptive learning, stating, “The first consists of digital platforms and applications that one can buy or build. Personalized learning is a general teaching and learning practice that seeks to more finely tune the course experience to the individual needs of the learners. Finally, adaptive learning is one form of personalized learning in which adaptive technology plays a major role.” This helps to remind us that the learning occurs within the student with the support of the teacher and that technology can help to make this a more personal and individualized experience. The teacher is still an essential component to education as they are the ones that can also assist students in the social emotional learning, as essential skill in today’s world. DIGITAL LITERACY
Listed as one of the essential elements of 21 st Century Skills, digital literacy is an evolving definition, notes Education Week’s reporter, Liana Loewus. She states that it now encompasses finding and consuming information, creating content, sharing and communicating which is supported by The American Library Association’s definition: “Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.” What this means for teachers and students is that using technology cannot just be a way to have engaging lessons but it must go deeper so that students know how to evaluate what they are reading and where these sources might be coming from.
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Benefits to Students and Teachers Gen - Z Gen Z students are digital natives and can adapt to the use of technology in the classroom. The graph from the PEW Research Center is from a 2018. I would wager that even more teens would say they are “online constantly” in 2023. If education and technology are already parts of their daily life, it would make sense to pair the two together in a way that helps students to learn and grow in an environment that they already find themselves in. Dave Doucette in Making the Educational Demands of Generation Z states, “Educators should focus on creating environments and curricula that are student centered, playing to the interests and preferences of Gen Z learners and engaging them as active participants. Collaboration technologies (including digital projectors, interactive whiteboards and associated mobile device apps) are making it easier to create engaging, interactive experiences.” Students benefit from these types of technologies because they enable teachers to create more personalized lessons that can meet students at their level and therefor deliver differentiated instruction.
Time is of the Essence- for Teachers What teachers don’t know… can’t help them. Learning tricks of the trade for grading and lesson planning help teachers to become more effective because they can be more efficient with their time and energy. While different apps for teachers may take time to learn, once they are mastered teachers can easily save time and energy in grading and distributing class materials. Our next page has some examples for teachers and students.
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How can it be used in the classroom? Showbie Teachers all have a digital class on our Learning Management System – Showbie. Here teachers organize their lessons and any information they want to distribute to students. Students can upload assignments to be assessed by the teacher. This allows for a streamlined system where students check one place for assignments, notes, classwork, and can communicate with their teacher in and our of the classroom. For those who have worksheets, they can easily scan and upload them as a PDF and students can edit them digitally.
FACTS From the moment class begins, teachers upload attendance and grades to our FACTS portal, a system that is also used to generate schedules, reports, financial aid, and collect tuition and fees.
Notability This is a program that allows students to take notes digitally during class. On their iPads, they can choose to write with their Apple Pencil for those who are more tactile learners but with the organizational benefits of color coding and organizing. Of course they can type as well and insert charts, pictures, or diagrams to help them remember concepts and objectives.
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A Necessary Investment
Google for Education: Future of the Classroom – Emerging Trends in K-12 Education, United States Edition
Our students need to be prepared for the future which means we need to begin to prepare them in the present. Jenna Buckle, in the article College and Career Readiness: A Comprehensive Guide to 21st Century Skills , states that “21st century skills refer to the knowledge, life skills, career skills, habits, and traits that are critically important to student success in today’s world, particularly as students more on to college, the workforce, and adult life.” Within these skills she lists three different types of literacy, informational, media, and technology. These are skills that teachers can help students to develop now so that as they move on to higher education and careers, they are ready to meet the challenges ahead. SOURCES Doucette, Dave. Meeting the Educational Demands of Generation Z . https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2018/10/meeting-educational-demands-generation-z Google for Education: Future of the Classroom – Emerging Trends in K-12 Education , United States Edition https://edu.google.com/future-of-the-classroom/emerging-technologies/?modal_active=none Anderson, Monica and Jiang, Jingjing. Teens, Social Media and Technology 2018 https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-media-technology-2018/ 2020 Educause Horizon Report: Teaching and Learning Edition chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/ 2020/3/2020_horizon_report_pdf.pdf?la=en&hash=08A92C17998E8113BCB15DCA7BA1F467F303BA80 Buckle, Jenna. College and Career Readiness: A Comprehensive Guide to 21st Century Skills. Panorama Education https://www.panoramaed.com/blog/comprehensive-guide-21st-century-skills Loewus, Liana. What is Digital Literacy? Education Week https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-digital-literacy/2016/11