Week Thirteen Reflection Question

What is educational technology literacy?

According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald, educational technology literacy is an essential skill that must be acquired and updated regularly. This skill includes being literate in regards to technology, but also being able to use technology. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires that students be technologically literate by the time they leave 8th grade. This forces school districts to put plans in place to teach their students, but it also forces districts to develop plans for their teachers also.

Why is it important for educators?

With the new requirements of NCLB, teachers must increase their technology skills also. Many states have included technology standards for teachers and some are included in their licensing requirements. According to Lever-Duffy and McDonald, National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) released suggested standards for teachers in June 2000. 49 out of 50 states make reference to at least one set of standards in state documents. Many school districts use NETS as a guide to achieve technology literacy. Even NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) has changed their teacher preparation guidelines to support NETS standards.

In today’s society it is no longer appropriate to just teach the textbook. There is so much more out there. There are web quests, podcasts, presentations, movie makers, YouTube, Facebook, designing a website, blogging, etc. Every one of these can be used to teach any subject you can think of. How much more fun would it be for students to learn about The Gulf War than to watch video of it instead of reading about it? How about having students blog five minutes a day 3-5 days a week in English. This would be the fun way to journal (and cheaper – no book to buy each year – everyone could share with family and friends). Teachers must be up-to-date on many technological tools to keep students interested and engage them. There is so much information available on the Internet for students to research. There are also many dangers and teachers must be award of them in order to keep their students safe. School districts often have safeguards in place to keep students from accessing information on the Internet that is inappropriate, but I have been in a school that had nothing, but the teacher to make sure they were accessing the right websites. If a teacher is not savvy enough to know what is available – students can be getting away with a lot and getting themselves and the teacher is some major trouble.