Technology and the Future of Public Education

On Wednesday, I attended a seminar on technology leadership in education. I was fascinated at all of the learning opportunities ranging from the power of Twitter to the communication possibilities of Skype and Ustream. I am still trudging my way through all of this technology, but as I continue to grow in the area of technology, what still intrigues me the most is trying to figure out what all this means for the future of public education.

I think all of us realize that our students are usually light years ahead of us in their use of technology. I recently heard from a "techie" that if you are still using email to communicate, you are in the dark ages. Now the communication tools of choice are text messaging, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, etc. For those of us who recently learned how to attach video files to an email, this can be a sobering thought. However, the challenge for we educators is to figure out how we can allow students to use their technology tools and still teach the necessary content required by the State of Illinois. My personal opinion is that the two ends can coexist. It is just a matter of our willingness to break out of our comfort zones and be creative enough to discover the necessary pedagogies to make this convergence happen.

One way to begin this process is for we educators to put ourselves in the position of a student in our classrooms. My ten year old daughter is constantly using my phone to text message. When she gets home, she can't wait to get online so she can communicate with her friends on Webkinz World. She emails her aunts in Connecticut and Kansas City. She conducts Google searches to complete many of her homework assignments. She loves to interact with her Nintendo DS (which Santa finally broke down and got her this year!) and her Wii. In short, these things are her preferred tools for communication and interaction. However, in school, how many opportunities do we give our students to use their preferred tools? And then we wonder why our students become bored and disengaged?

The world has changed to a global economy where competition exists in every corner of the earth. Our public schools are preparing our youngest students for jobs that don't even exist yet. Therefore, we must begin the conversation of what skills our students will need to compete in the global economy, and how do we provide those skills in a manner which is engaging to our students.