Keyboard photo by Lynn Hand
For the first additional assignments, we are to read up on teaching and learning in the Digital age. I was really excited that this was one of the additional assignments, as I want to learn more about how to be a teacher in the ever changing digital world. The assignment’s requirements were to read several articles, listen to a podcast and watch a slide share and video all on teaching and learning in the Digital age. These sources were all filled to the brim with suggestions and where we are currently in schools.
One article in particular stood out to me, School Leaders: Guiding Teachers into the Digital Age by Anne O’Brien. In this article, she points out that leadership and creating a digital culture is key in schools and if not, it’s the students who are the ones that suffer. She continued to say that she attended a conference where the guest speaker, Scott Klosoky, pointed out school leaders need to become “technology masters” and offered suggestions to get their schools to that position. I found these six points to be so interesting as we all are learning more about digital literacy and technology in the classrooms. These were the points that stood out to me the most: develop a good technology team, create an adaptive culture, develop three to five technology guideposts for your school and differentiate between digital learning and digital plumbing. The point on create an adaptive culture was explained as the school must remember that things are constantly changing and teachers need to get new technologies to students quickly, all the while remembering that there will be positives and negatives and not to fear mistakes.
Another article that stood out to me was 6 Recommendations for Learning in the Digital Age by Tanya Roscorla. I found this to be another fascinating article as it describes technology, digital literacy and school safety principles for our students. Roscorla stated that there was a task force that was created and they created these six recommendations for schools and government leaders. These were some of the recommendations that the committee made. The first one was to redesign learning environments so that all students can learn anywhere, any time and at any place and pace. It was further explained that students should be allow to visit museums, travel and see real-world opportunities to learn both online and offline at their own schedule. The other recommendation that was made that they should enhance the ability of educators to support guide learners in a network learning environment. It basically stated that there should be an increase in funding for educators for professional development and match funding with teacher quality. It was the goal that teachers would have the necessary tools and knowledge to lead students into the digital age of learning. The last recommendation that I want to share and discussion was that schools need to create a trusted learning environment. This point touched on student safety that included data privacy and regulatory revisions to open up learning for the younger students. It was further explained that sometimes schools block sites like YouTube, however, students are missing out some great educational resources, like Khah Academy videos. It was recommendation that laws should be created so the younger students can access these sites like the older students.
All in all, I found these articles and assignment so beneficial in furthering my understanding of digital learning and it has helped me feel more prepared as I look forward to teaching in the coming years.
JaimeBurkink 