YES!
When I hear a student say, “I wish our teachers would start using PowerPoint instead of overheads,” it leaves no doubt in my mind that Indiana’s students are technology literate. Many of our students have grown up using technology and it has become so much a part of their lives that unless it is a new-fangled gadget, technology isn’t a novelty anymore.
Some students are even leaving college early and finding lucrative careers in technology related fields without a college degree. I am in no way advocating forgoing a college education, but skill and education requirements are changing and students know it. Students know technology skills equal marketability.
Not all students are as technology savvy as the above, but they are far more technology oriented than most think. Teachers who use technology daily in their classrooms are first to admit it is a challenge to stay ahead of students where technology is concerned. Ask other teachers and they will tell you students are teaching them about technology.
The primary reason I would argue any day that Indiana’s students are technology literate is because if students don’t know it, they will learn it and they aren’t afraid to try. It’s not that students know more than they used to, but they process and use information differently, and we as teachers are going to have to rise to the challenge. At present, a huge techno-generation gap exists, and I am so convinced that our students are technology literate that I think we should start including them in some of our curriculum planning.
Yes, Indiana’s students are technology literate, but maybe we should really be asking “Are Indiana’s teachers technology literate?”
This position
was written by Beth Bohnert, Pike County School Corporation, District Technology Assistant,
Mini-philosophy - Integrating technology into the classroom isn’t about adding something extra to be taught. Integrating technology is about looking at what is already taught and presenting it in a more modern way that engages and motivates students.
NO!
There’s no doubt that today’s students are proficient with their cell phones, My Space and Face Book without a problem, but that’s the problem. They are proficient ONLY with the technology they want to use. They aren’t willing to learn anything past the minimum they need. I can’t count the times I’ve had an amazed student after I showed the “help” box in the upper right-hand corner. Every semester I face students who can’t set a one-inch margin or use headers. I have to go over how to upload or copy a file more times than I can count. In the past month alone I’ve received five CDs with absolutely nothing on them.
I use Moodle in my classes. It seems to work best with Firefox. Students that don’t have it loaded, tell me it’s too complicated to do. Even Firefox users can’t look beyond the surface -- I suggest plug-ins that I know will be helpful, but I’m told “I don’t know how”. No matter how many times I tell them not to use Safari, there’s always someone who does it anyway.
This year marked my first attempt to use a database in class. All the student had to do was enter information in one field and tab to the next. The last step was to click on “enter”. Care to take a guess at how many students skipped that last step?
Our students are able to send text messages without looking at their keypads (normally under their desks during class), but they don’t know how to properly eject a USB drive.
Their Power Point files look more like the video games they love to play; if the designs and layout options don’t “pop up” when they start the program, they have no idea of where to find them.
Am I describing all students? Of course not. There are, however, more students than I like to count who don’t know how to do more than the very basics to get what they want. They don’t see the possibilities that technology offers. And it appears a lot of them don’t want to learn.
OBTW – LOL
This was written by
Mr. Mark C. Miller, a 25-year Air Force veteran, that teaches at Noblesville High School. He's been using technology in the workplace and schools since the days of the Defense Data Network and on-site host files.
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