Today I am doing a workshop for principals about integrating technology. This is the third workshop with this group: they’ve had the big picture (globalization, 21st century skills), been introduced to some Web 2.0 tools, and now the job is to put all that together and figure out what it looks like in the classroom. If you want a peek at what I’m doing, here’s the link to the wikispaces page.
The page includes a quote from Education Week, January 30, 2008:
“Technologically literate students not only know how to operate hardware and software, they can also analyze the information flowing through it, evaluate that digital content’s relative merit and relevance, and use it creatively and ethically in communicating with others.”
Boy, that’s got to be one of the best summaries of the skills our students need as they move into their lives. And, according to the article, we are not assessing these skills at all. Oh, there are tests out there, but because NCLB does not require testing, most schools and states are not interested. Plus, as someone who was involved in Virginia’s SOL technology test, I would argue that a paper/pencil test is not the way to do that assessment. These kinds of skills must be integrated into everything kids do in school and assessed formatively rather than summatively.
Wichyrichy – I just got done speaking to some government officials about this very subject. The integration of technology into the life of every student should be among our top 5 priorities as educators. If you look at media-based learning styles, technology can allow us to do things we’ve never been able to do before. We can create richer curriculum, actually assess standards quicker and more effectively, and begin to treat each student as an individual instead of a mass collective. Good luck to you as you train these principals…I do this weekly for higher education groups and it can be a challenge – but the work is important!