This week's blog post question is deceptively complex, "How can teachers and schools ensure that their students are learning what they need when it comes to Technology and Information Literacy?" I believe the answer however can be as simple as opening our eyes and ears and mind to the current and future uses (the educational potential) of the digital world around us and discussing these uses and potentials among ourselves (community of educators and technology experts) and with our students. At its core, ensuring that an individual has what they need is best done by asking and talking to them.
"Only children know what they are looking for." (quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery)
Old models of integrating technology tools into our schools such as technology checklists, basic computer skills instruction, or more advanced computer programming and application classes have overall failed to prepare students for the dynamic, creative, collaborative, digital world we live in. What we can learn from this is that its not the more tangible and discrete skills and tools but the more intangible and integrated understandings, habits, and attitudes that will best prepare our students for success in the 21st Century.
"Here is my secret. It is very simple: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." (quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery)
Most teachers today have not grown up digital natives as have the students we teach. While the ins and outs of many of today's digital tools, media and environments are familiar to students, teachers still often feel like foreigners when handling and surrounded by such technology—lacking essential knowledge, skills, and understandings and too often (unfortunately) interest. This divide is so great that for many teachers there has been a role reversal wherein the role of students have been taken on by the teachers themselves who too often rely on today's current generation of teenagers and young adults for help navigating our increasingly digital world.
"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them." (quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery)
However, as teachers and schools we have an educational perspective on today's digital tools, media and environments that our students often lack. We can take back our role of teachers. Having become digital natives mostly outside of school, on their own and with peers, and in predominately social contexts, students often discount or underutilize the full educational (learning) potential of today's technology. Without integrated technology and information standards in many schools, many students focus on the more socio-cultural aspects of the technology available to them and develop skills, knowledge, and understandings that match these social interests and needs only. So, despite being born digital natives, among today's youth there is a limited and varied range of levels of skills, knowledge, understandings, and interest in technology among students and young adults with few being fluent in the use of these digital tools, media and environments in ways that would support life-long learning.
What can schools and teachers do? They can embed technology and information literacy standards within their core course curricula and pedagogy in collaboration with experts in the field of technology and information literacy with appropriate allocation of resources and funds as needed. They can provide professional development so that teachers and all members of their school community can become competent, confident, contributing digital citizens. They can tailor classroom instruction based on regular assessment of students' needs, skills, understandings, and interests in order to differentiate instruction (content, process and/or product) based on the changing needs of the students that populate their schools and classrooms. Throughout the process, schools, teachers, and students need time to review, reflect, modify and adapt. For as I started today's blog post by saying, we can best ask, answer, and reflect on this complex yet simple question together. Students, teachers and schools together can best prepare students with the 21 Century technology and information literacy skills they need for current and future social, educational, and professional success.
"As for the future, your (our) task is not to foresee it, but to enable it." (quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery)
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