While reading through the resources in this module, many common themes were expressed in a majority of the documents. The idea of a 21st century learner was a topic that appeared in almost all of the material. As technology evolves, students evolve, and then teachers must evolve too. It’s all one big circle with technology interwoven through it but how do we know what to evolve into as educators? The ISTE student standards focus on skills that will serve our students well in the future such as collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving, but the issue lies in teachers implementing technology according to these standards and if they even know about these standards in the first place. I personally was never aware of these standards until my Ed.S. degree in technology and I remember doing a quick survey of some of my fellow teachers and none of them knew about it either! This is so sad to me, because there are many great aspects to these standards that need to be incorporated into the general curriculum. Were you aware of the ISTE student standards prior to your degree at KSU?
I again felt inadequate and uninformed as a teacher after reading through the P21 framework for the 21st century learner. This was the first time ever reading about these 21st century student skills and once again I wish teachers were exposed to documents like these on a regular basis. I think our students would be so much better off because of it. Fortunately, I was relieved to discover that I do currently incorporate some of these skills into my STEM class curriculum, but I definitely need to reevaluate how I incorporate these skills into my general education curriculum. Based on the reading of this document, all of these concepts are extremely important to today’s 21st century learners and their future success in the “real world”. I also noticed that the Learning and Innovation skills in particular coincided well with the ISTE student standards. I personally could do a better job incorporating global awareness and economic literacy into my science curriculum but I was pleased to see that I do already incorporate health and environmental literacy separately through two different project-based learning culminating unit assignments. What about you, do you feel as if you already do a great job incorporating one of these particular 21st century skills?
The textbook chapters began by confirming what I already knew to be true in that the government demands from policyholders drive what is being done in schools in an attempt to “keep up with the Jones’”, specifically against the countries that outperform American students, yet teachers already have so many different demands that they are often pressured by these unrealistic expectations. Even more overwhelming from an educator perspective is that the world of technology and corresponding learner theories are also ever-changing, so I’m sure many teachers are left feeling as if there is no point in even attempting to keep up. Sadly, our students are suffering as a result. Many teachers tend to simply throw new technology at students and expect them to figure it out without any scaffolding from the teacher or a clear connection to the ISTE student standards and the purpose of the technology-based assignment from a learning theory perspective. What especially resonated with me was a phrase at the end of chapter one that stated, “Learning theories and technology become disconnected if instructional design does not consider evolutions in learning theory” (Spector, 2014, p. 16). Of course this is absolutely true, but what concerns me is thinking of how many teachers do not consider learning theories and technology whatsoever in their instructional design, resulting in the students suffering in their future endeavors as a direct result of this disconnect. After continuing to read through the text, it was interesting to read about the many different research paradigms and each’s argument for the most important factor that influences learning. I believe each paradigm has merit to what influences learning, but it was somewhat overwhelming to sort through these conflicting interests. How would a teacher even begin to sort through these theories and determine how to direct learning in regards to technology use? Did any of these paradigms particularly appeal to you and your opinion of how learning is influenced?
ISTE Standards Students. (2007). International Society for Technology in Education.
P21 Framework Definitions. (2015). P21 Partnership for 21st-Century Learning.
Spector, J. M. (2014). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (4th Ed.). New York: Springer Science Business Media. Doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5_
I again felt inadequate and uninformed as a teacher after reading through the P21 framework for the 21st century learner. This was the first time ever reading about these 21st century student skills and once again I wish teachers were exposed to documents like these on a regular basis. I think our students would be so much better off because of it. Fortunately, I was relieved to discover that I do currently incorporate some of these skills into my STEM class curriculum, but I definitely need to reevaluate how I incorporate these skills into my general education curriculum. Based on the reading of this document, all of these concepts are extremely important to today’s 21st century learners and their future success in the “real world”. I also noticed that the Learning and Innovation skills in particular coincided well with the ISTE student standards. I personally could do a better job incorporating global awareness and economic literacy into my science curriculum but I was pleased to see that I do already incorporate health and environmental literacy separately through two different project-based learning culminating unit assignments. What about you, do you feel as if you already do a great job incorporating one of these particular 21st century skills?
The textbook chapters began by confirming what I already knew to be true in that the government demands from policyholders drive what is being done in schools in an attempt to “keep up with the Jones’”, specifically against the countries that outperform American students, yet teachers already have so many different demands that they are often pressured by these unrealistic expectations. Even more overwhelming from an educator perspective is that the world of technology and corresponding learner theories are also ever-changing, so I’m sure many teachers are left feeling as if there is no point in even attempting to keep up. Sadly, our students are suffering as a result. Many teachers tend to simply throw new technology at students and expect them to figure it out without any scaffolding from the teacher or a clear connection to the ISTE student standards and the purpose of the technology-based assignment from a learning theory perspective. What especially resonated with me was a phrase at the end of chapter one that stated, “Learning theories and technology become disconnected if instructional design does not consider evolutions in learning theory” (Spector, 2014, p. 16). Of course this is absolutely true, but what concerns me is thinking of how many teachers do not consider learning theories and technology whatsoever in their instructional design, resulting in the students suffering in their future endeavors as a direct result of this disconnect. After continuing to read through the text, it was interesting to read about the many different research paradigms and each’s argument for the most important factor that influences learning. I believe each paradigm has merit to what influences learning, but it was somewhat overwhelming to sort through these conflicting interests. How would a teacher even begin to sort through these theories and determine how to direct learning in regards to technology use? Did any of these paradigms particularly appeal to you and your opinion of how learning is influenced?
ISTE Standards Students. (2007). International Society for Technology in Education.
P21 Framework Definitions. (2015). P21 Partnership for 21st-Century Learning.
Spector, J. M. (2014). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (4th Ed.). New York: Springer Science Business Media. Doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5_