Personally, I believe the following four themes will have to be addressed in order to better educated students and allow them to be successful contributors to society:
2) Technology-based instruction,
3) Application, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
4) Team Work and Collaboration.
Informed and knowledgeable citizens:
All students need to be able to productive members of our society; meaning they need to be able to understand how our government operates, understand how our economy operates, understand how we our connected to the rest of the world and understand how they fit into the “big picture”.
Technology-based Instruction:
All teachers need to be able to effectively use technology to enhance learning and allow students to be actively engaged in the learning process. The teacher needs to facilitate the learning not be the focal point. Technology, if used appropriately, can be used to achieve this goal.
Application, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving:
Students need to be the ones who read, analyze, discuss, debate and interpret the information being presented to them. Ultimately, they need to be the ones that find viable solutions and find a clear and meaningful way to express them.
Team Work and Collaboration:
Students need to learn how to work together, share ideas, agree to disagree and compromise.
The things I have selected our important because they highlight the skills that are needed in the 21st century. As teachers, we are not preparing our students for one career, we are preparing them for multiple careers and we have to an understanding of the world and times “they” are living in. We need to stress to students that they should be active learners, engrossed in learning new technology and actively seeking solutions from all sources.
I personally enjoyed taking this course because it has reinforced for me that I am on the right track with emphasizing simulations, projects, collaboration and technology in my classroom. I hope that schools learn to embrace technology more for its value and not as an excuse to eliminate teachers. I think there needs to be a balance between teacher instruction and student learning and my fear for the future is that some schools will use technology to replace teachers and if it is not done effectively students will not benefit but will actually be worse off. I hope Governor Christie and President Obama make the right decisions but allowing for more technology to enhance instruction not more technology just to save a buck.
Thank you Mr. Lerman for giving me the opportunity to learn more about 21st Century Learning.
