EME2040 Blog 2

As someone who is still a student, but wanting to become a teacher, the use of technology in classrooms is something I have had to become more familiar with each and every year. For teachers, technology wasn’t always something mandated, but there are now standards set in place by not the districts, but also by the states. While the use of technology in classrooms has become more popular for students, teachers are now able to become more efficient with work, such as easier access to new lessons and activities and work. It seems as though this new age has become less of a burden, but more of a saving grace for some teachers.

Students, on the other hand, seemed to have taken on this new age easier than teachers have. The ability to use technology has given students a more in depth education. The internet is full of new opportunities to get help, such as tutoring sites, and even blogs, to use when they aren’t able to get help from their teachers or parents. Technology is influencing kids to find the answers faster and easier than they ever could before, instead of giving up and not doing well on assignments. Their drive to achieve will help motivate them to get the help from technology.

The ISTE standards are in place for educators to introduce, and teach with, new technology. The standard 2b, “Advocate for equitable access to educational technology, digital content and learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students,” shows how educators should be reacting to the technological divide. This standard is meaningful to me because all over the world, and even in the United States, some students are less fortunate than others and therefore they are given less opportunities in life, beginning in school. It has been shown that students below the poverty line are more likely to not succeed in school as well as others on the opposite side. Therefore, this standard makes educators accountable for their students and making sure they are given the same chances that other students are, in order to get everyone in their class on the same page. However, a standard I think will be hard for me is 5c, “Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning,” because I feel as though I struggle to be creative with not only technology but all forms of environments and skills.

Growing up, I remember always seeing teachers not being as in touch with the technology we were using, whether it was the DVD player and the TV or the new smart boards that had been installed over the summer. Either way, I felt as though I knew more about the technology than they did. That being said, I think the term “digital native” would be correct interpretation of the generation today. In order for someone to be digitally native, they would have to have grown up in the society where technology is being created everyday, and have the knowledge of how to use it. I suspect that as we grow through time and become more advanced, this idea that students are more adaptive to new technology will only continue, and I will become the teacher that needs her students to help with the computers.