Journal Post 1: Speak Up Report by Project Tomorrow

My Reaction to the Report

     It is often said that technology is revolutionizing our world, promoting globalization and making what seemed impossible decades ago a complete reality. We can now connect and interact with people hundreds of miles away on a real-time basis. We can find information almost instantly, only a few seconds away on our smartphones. The internet, cell phones, digital video and photography, to name a few, all form part of the new technologies that have taken hold of our society. Reading the Speak Up Report by Project Tomorrow was something that I assumed would simply confirm this through showcasing education's relationship with technology. I thought educators were constantly updating school curriculum with new and appropriate lessons when it comes to technology. I was wrong. 

     I learned that students feel they are not learning and utilizing technology in the ways they wish they were while in school. The lesson I took away from this report is the idea that students are "Free Agent Learners." Whether or not they are taught about technology in school, they will take it upon themselves to employ the latest technology that is relevant to them and use it for their own purposes, including school and learning. The reading outlined that three important elements comprise the way students use technology for educational purposes: social-based learning, un-tethered learning, and digitally-rich learning. 

     To read that students are not receiving the education they feel they deserve when it comes to utilizing and learning about technology is interesting, as we rarely seem to think about the connection between the outside world and the classroom. Even parents recognize this connection in ways educators sometimes haven't, as they seem to realize that they themselves use technology in diverse ways. Teachers, however, legitimately worry about their children being distracted by the technology they use instead of using it productively (Table 2, page 12). Although we are weary of letting kids use technology in ways that we feel are unrestricted, as there is no way to really know 100% of the time if a student is typing for homework help on their cell phone or simply gossiping with a fellow student, I think educators need to really take into consideration how important technology is in the lives of their students. Instead of resisting the popular new forms of technology, I feel that we should prepare for them and embrace them as a way to really teach kids how to use it for learning purposes, whether they are in class or outside of class. 


 As I Prepare to Teach...Important Information to Learn From

1)  Figure 3 (page 7 of Speak Up Report)

    What struck me about this figure is that the age range of the students that were surveyed were middle school and high school, yet they used technology for what they felt they needed, including homework help. The top two percentages are 26% for seeking help via a social network and 24% for tutoring students.  I think this table serves to re-imagine what some social networking sites are usually regarded as. Rather than seeing social networking sites as a nuisance, I think teachers (and me as a future teacher) should realize that students are much more resourceful than they seem. The simple change in they way we see social networking can open up more possibilities for a teacher, such as establishing a site or forum that functions like social networking that allows students to focus on homework specifically or receive tutoring and help, as is recognizing that sites that already exist (such as Facebook) are not always the enemy and may actually prove beneficial when students are allowed to access it at school. 

2)  Figure 17 (page 27 of Speak Up Report)

    Gone are the days when a textbook is all one had available when it came to learning more information. When asked to design the perfect online textbook, students all responded with wanting a variety of tools when it came to the presentation of learning material.  With an emphasis on textbooks that would be interactive and up to date, it is important to remember that students of the 21st century are used to different sources and potentially, different modes of learning. To remain engaginf and educational is what the students seek from their online textbooks, as well as an opportunity to receive personalized help, which can prove invaluable when it comes to nailing down difficult concepts. When the time to teach a group of students that is willing to try new things in regards to technology comes, I will try to vary the methods and styles of presentation of material. This new generation of students are more than ready and willing to be hands-on when it comes to using technology for education. 

A lot can be learned from a comprehensive survey. Students, their parents, and teachers, hold the power to really use technology in beneficial ways. As a future educator, I must learn from these kinds of surveys in order to best prepare myself for teaching in the 21st century.