Website Mission
It is the mission of this website to assist in the development of learning environments that promote Career and Technical Education as well as academic excellence. To provide examples of effective 21st century teaching and learning strategies in order to assist in the development of more engaged and motivated classrooms. To provide multimedia Podcasts and articles to facilitate an understanding of how to implement technology and multimedia in classrooms regardless of content area. To encourage independent and personalized learning by teaching students to enjoy the process of learning. To assist teachers in becoming facilitators of learning.
Technology-Driven Education
With the emergence of new technology and its implementation in the classroom, the move from the traditional model of teaching to a more innovative experience is catching on across the country. A recent article by Colleen O’Dea of NJ Spotlight explores this current trend of leveraging the uses of technology as a way to actively engage students in the learning process, and simultaneously prepare them to thrive in the digital age.
O’Dea writes,This new kind of education is the focus of the U.S. Department of Education’s 2010 Technology Plan, entitled Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. The plan calls for employing technologies that are used everyday at home and at work to improve the way students learn.
The integration of technology into all areas of curriculum across all grade levels seems like a lofty, and expensive, goal. But considering the direction that technology is taking us, not integrating it into our educational system appears to be detrimental to our students. And integration is only the first step. Technology should be implemented properly so that we move from a teacher-centered instructional model to a student-centered one.
Greer Richardson, a professor of education at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, concurs:
The research does suggest that an integrated approach to technology impacts positively on student learning. Specifically, technology tools that foster higher-order thinking, problem solving and the like are considered to be a good practice. Conversely, tools that simply offer drill and practice or sheer entertainment are not considered good practice.
This shift towards a student-centered instructional environment with the use of technology will have quite an impact on both students and instructors alike. Students will become curators of their own learning, engaging in more independent research and spending more time collaborating, thinking critically and applying their knowledge in the classroom. Teachers, on the other hand, will be required to take a step back and instead facilitate the students’ learning so that it is relevant for them, as opposed to delivering the primary instruction in the classroom. Through the use of technology in education, this concept is destined to become the eventual reality in all classrooms around the world.
Source: No More Pencils, No More Books: Technology-Driven Education in NJ Schools
