What is Effective Technology Integration for 21st Century Learners?

            Communication is a crucial means of learning and gaining knowledge for children in today’s world, and communicating through technological means is growing at an alarming rate. Although the cell phones and laptops in grade school classrooms may seem bothersome to many teachers, we have to consider that this is commonplace in the world these children have known since birth. Teachers should embrace the children’s thirst to understand and use new technologies and incorporate them into the educational setting (where appropriate).

            Technology opens so many doors for the students nowadays that can be manipulated to adhere to the curriculum. It allows for student exploration, communication and collaboration with others from a variety of diverse cultures from around the world; while inviting them to discover business, health and environmental issues/roles they play in the world we live. It allows for self expression, such as blogs, and opens an abundant world of information at the students fingertips. Access to all this information encourages learning in itself. A student must become information and media literate in order to be successful at narrowing searches, finding appropriate topics, wile also considering ethics and morality - where did these sources come from? Is the writer biased? Is the source reliable? Etc.

            Technology in the classroom can be stimulating for the students, while also providing many opportunities for differentiation of learning. BUT, to be effective in the classroom, the technology used must comply with the curriculum and benefit the students in both their preparation for government testing, as well as for their life and career development. A 21^st century curriculum should blend many aspects together such as learning to use skills, knowledge, information, media, literacy, ect across all subjects and learning themes. Students should learn to be flexible and adapt constantly and consistently to learning new technologies and challenges. It should stimulate initiative and self directed learning in the discovery and use of various technological methods. Traits such as these, which can be developed in grade schools, will carry through to real life career situations where they will have the ability to navigate the technological aids important in career advancement.

            21^st century learners will find the ability to be creative in many different mediums within the curriculum, for example, developing web pages, documents, presentations, videos, blogs, animations. I feel that it will be my job to continually learn, incorporate and pass on technological knowledge within my classroom. I believe technology should be integrated in creative ways to increase children’s learning by enabling them to be involved as active learners and allow them to discover and communicate knowledge through a number of mediums and methods.