As I was at a restaurant the other day, I could not help but notice something. At three different tables, preschool age children were handling technology that did not even exist a generation ago. At one table, the parents had loaned their I-Phone to the child to watch cartoons. At another table, a young girl was utilizing a tablet device to play a color matching game. The third child was in the waiting area with...
As I was at a restaurant the other day, I could not help but notice something. At three different tables, preschool age children were handling technology that did not even exist a generation ago. At one table, the parents had loaned their I-Phone to the child to watch cartoons. At another table, a young girl was utilizing a tablet device to play a color matching game. The third child was in the waiting area with a tablet that had a math game on it. The point is, before these children ever stepped into a public school, they have learned a great deal about how to access technology. This has far-reaching implications for teaching and learning.
The twenty-first–century workplace is much different than it was when our parents went to work. Collaboration, critical thinking, and information acquisition are all important skills that workers are expected to possess. More and more, classroom teachers are expected to enable students to develop these skills for the workplace. Technology integration is key to that process. A teacher that integrates technology in the classroom is better suited to cultivate these skills in their students.
Many applications are available to teachers that foster collaboration. Platforms like Google Classroom, Moodle, and Edmodo allow teachers to foster discussion and collaboration. Students can respond to a question and other students can discuss and debate their answers. Today's students are accustomed to discussing things through social media, so teachers should tap that familiarity in their classrooms. Blogs are also a great way to discuss issues and collaborate as a group of learners. With Google Drive, students can open a document, slideshow, or spreadsheet and work on it together from remote locations. This is the type of collaboration that is expected of students and workers alike.
Many teachers are "flipping" their classrooms. This is possible with a number of tech applications. A flipped classroom is one in which students view lectures or videos as homework. This allows the student to complete enrichment activities that were traditionally done at home but are now completed in the classroom. The obvious advantage is that the teacher is present while students complete challenging activities in the classroom. This also lends itself to group work in the classroom to foster collaboration. Nearpod, Versal, and Voicethread are three applications that can be utilized by the teacher that wants to flip their classroom.
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