One of the key things that teachers in the 21st century have to do in order to give their pupils a good education that will help them in today’s world is to ensure that they have “no child left behind” when it comes to digital technology. All your students should be able to bridge the digital divide and know how to use the tools of communication, doing business and finding information of today. And the way you use your classroom technology will have a lot to do with this.

Thankfully, grants of all shapes and sizes have made sure that even schools that might seem disadvantaged do have plenty of classroom technology on tap. The schools that might seem most at-risk of being on the wrong side of the digital divide, such as poorer inner-city schools or remote rural schools, often end up with the classroom technology they need. In many cases, the school setting may be the only place that students in these areas get to use such a wide range of technological tools.

But the presence, absence or type of classroom technology you have available isn’t the only thing that determines the width of the technological divide. On the contrary – you have to use your classroom technology to bridge the digital divide that already exists.

You have to know the other factors that contribute to the digital divide in order to know how to use the tools you have and to bridge that divide: Read the rest of this entry »

Related posts

• Do You Have What It Takes to Succeed As a Mechanical Engineer?
• The Technological Education
• What Is Bioengineering
• Technology – Education Power Tool
• Developing Our Greatest Resource – Our Children

Many teachers, and parents, realize that in the 21st Century teaching and learning has changed. The principles of content will no doubt be enduring however the mediums in which we teach them are changing.

Technology is more apparent in our everyday lives both in and outside the classrooms. Technology in the classroom has been argued by some as being ineffective and distracting. I wonder if they have talked to a child who has used technology to learn to read, or improved their math skills playing with educational software. Have they seen the quality and variety of data a child has been able to source for a project by using the internet? Have they witnessed the dedication that children will put in to mastering a game online or on a games console? Harnessing that passion to educate our children must surely be the way to developing their skills and knowledge. But we must ensure we are providing them with the right content not just mindless games.

We also need to make the distinction between teaching using the technology that is available to engage our young learners but also about teaching them how to use the technology. It is not just about using the internet to research a project in isolation but the wider application of the skills used such as collaboration, developing problem solving skills, working on real world problems and working as a group. For teachers to move forward we need to embrace the 21st Century by teaching using technology and teaching about how to use technology. Read the rest of this entry »

Related posts

• 5 Easy Steps to Retaining Women to Trades, Science and Technology Classrooms
• Education Technology
• The Technology Generation
• Educational Technology – What Does a Classroom Look Like Today?
• The Technological Education

Educators compete for kid’s minds every day. What does it mean to compete for kid’s minds? Well, kids have many things they can think about throughout the day. Students constantly make choices about the thoughts they prioritize. Just like the old days when we were in school, students can spend the day thinking about basketball practice, cheerleading practice, paper football, the big game this Friday, the new skateboard that just came out, or perhaps even academics.

As mentioned above, there are similarities between the choices we made during the old days and the choices kids make today. However, times have definitely changed. Students have many more things competing for their minds each day. Many of the new things educators compete with in order to capture the minds of children are directly related to today’s technologies.

Kids embrace technology products. They use them. They think about them. They love them. Sometimes, they even obsess over them. If you have ever seen a student walking around with a cell phone, an MP3 music player, a backup MP3 music player, a set of bluetooth wireless headphones, a couple USB flash drives, a laptop computer, and a portable handheld game system then you know what I mean. Some kids these days look like walking talking electronics stores.

It may sound like I am suggesting that this is a bad thing. Perhaps it seems that I am pointing out how distractive these electronic devices are as they keep students from focusing on academics. That is not what I am saying. I am really just pointing out the realities of the times in which we live. Kid’s love of technology can actually be a very good thing if we use it to our advantage as we strive to educate them. Read the rest of this entry »

Related posts

• What Is Bioengineering
• Classroom Technology For All Your Students
• Do You Have What It Takes to Succeed As a Mechanical Engineer?
• Technology – Education Power Tool
• Science and Technology For a Better Future