tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24316273.post4325295592769915394..comments2022-01-09T05:16:16.434-05:00Comments on The Connected Classroom: Rebooting the News...What ARE the critical Skills for 21st C literacy?Kristin Hokansonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04644948722592900823noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24316273.post-88932254793859976082008-10-30T14:31:00.000-04:002008-10-30T14:31:00.000-04:00Kristin,I find that new technologies demand a new ...Kristin,<BR/><BR/>I find that new technologies demand a new literacy and that, with its emergence, come old, familiar challenges.<BR/><BR/>In the field of education, schools that are progressive, or perhaps more aptly stated, responsible, seek to meet the demands of a tech-dependent society with an educational environment stimulated and enhanced by meaningful technology use. With this increasingly common shift towards the daily use of new technologies comes some of the old road blocks to academic growth and progress. Herein lies the problem: How do we define the line between those who are technologically illiterate and those who are simply irresponsible? <BR/><BR/>The irony here is that, for many young people, the new literacy required through technology use has already been mastered. Many are more literate in these technologies than their instructors. For each individual within my classroom for whom working with wikis is a new concept, a dozen or more have already created their own elaborate wiki pages or have posted comments and contributions to preexisting sites. Each time a student raises a hand to ask how to import a picture from Flickr to her/his Comic Life project, there are a handful of students in the room who can quickly assist them in ways beyond my own capabilities. And yet, even with this immensely literate student body, the nefarious homework-eating dog lives on.<BR/><BR/>Students crave the use of computers in the classroom and multimedia opportunities but fail to remember their usernames or passwords. Many demand access to interactive blogs and wikis but neglect to complete the assigned reflections or posts. A student is provided a laptop to complete an iMovie only to squander any unsupervised time searching iTunes for personal music selections unrelated to the task. <BR/><BR/>The challenge of introducing new technologies in the classroom is that, as with introducing any new procedures or concepts, the going is slowed for two reasons. The first factor is that, because for some the technology is new, the literacy is not yet mastered. That is really the crux of nurturing and developing technology literacy. The second factor, however, is troubling. As long as learners fail to commit themselves wholly and singularly to the process of learning, the progress will be halted by those same excuses we have grown accustomed to in the good old days of a paper-driven world. As long as learners fail to pay attention to the instructions, fail to ask the necessary questions, and fail to complete the assigned tasks, it will matter not whether the tasks incorporate laptops, white-lined paper, or stone tablets. It doesn't matter what the medium. If I don't contribute to the class blog, it is the equivalent of my grandmother failing to raise her hand to participate in a class discussion. If I do not remember my log-in password, it is tantamount to my father forgetting to bring his notebook to class.D.Taylor-Stormhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04393974686990470539noreply@blogger.com