Tuesday, March 24, 2009
21st Century Education
As I viewed the website http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php several things grabbed my attention. The first was the way the information was presented. It was all easy to read and in terms that even those not in education could understand. Information was easy to locate and informative. Another was the corporations that are involved in putting this site together and working on bringing education into the 21st century. I was surprised at how there are so few states that are working on this. I would like to believe that there are more states out there working on standards that would address the 21st century. I found the mission statement to be very enlightening, to know that there are those out there who know what our students need and are working to get them this. I found the tools and resource section to be very helpful. The link for Route 21 was very interesting. I enjoyed the videos that were presented. This was another site that was easy to navigate and gather information on. The framework that the designers presented was also very informative. It gave a good description of what our students should be learning. After taking time to navigate through this site and several of their links I truly believe that as a teacher I must do more to make sure that my students are learning how to survive in the 21st century. I must include more technology based learning and give the students more opportunities to use these technologies. It is our responsibility as educators to ensure that our students are getting everything they need to be successful citizens in the 21st century society.
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Rachael,
ReplyDeleteMy state (Wisconsin) was listed as one of the states that is involved in the Route 21 Project. However, I don't see any sort of support or funding coming into our schools to help in this matter. Our school actually relies mostly on private funds and referendum money to pay for our new technology devices. Just because states are listed under that initiative, I don't think it necessarily means that they are any closer to meeting the 21st century skills than any other state. And vice versa, I don't feel that just because a state didn't make the list, they aren't trying to integrate these skills into their curriculum.
Do you feel that your state (South Carolina?) does a good job at training teachers in technology skills during their undergrad work? Do you have much state money for technology at your school? I used to teach in North Carolina, and of all the places I've taught, it seemed to have the least amount of resources in terms of technology.
I'm not sure what SC is doing for undergrads, I didn't go to school here. I'm not sure about the money issue but I do know that we do not have enough technology in the classroom or in the schools. We have over 1200 students in my school and we have only three computer labs that are booked all the time. It is really hard to get my students into the lab to do any kind of work.
ReplyDeleteRachael,
ReplyDeleteWhile working in Charlotte, NC, I was appalled at how little technology there was. My elementary school didn't even have a computer lab - there were about 6 computers in the library and 2-3 outdated Macs in the classrooms.
My current school (in Wisconsin) only has one computer lab with 26 computers, and close to 400 students - so it's always busy. Our district just purchased a laptop cart that teachers can check out for a week at a time. It is wonderful! The cart has wireless internet, so the students can log into our school server, do research, type papers, etc. To save money, we didn't install any software that cost money. Instead, we put Open Office on it (instead of Microsoft Office) and use a lot of internet based programs, like Google Docs. There has been so much praise for them, that our school board is now looking at possibly purchasing another one.
Has your school looked into anything like this?