Reflection of Ed Tech Standards

Simply put, the big picture or the goal of what the technological standards can be summed up in this phrase: the positive use and integration of technology into the education of America's youth.  Without technology and its integration into education, American students will inevitably fall behind other industrial nations.  As technology becomes a larger and more important part of how the world functions, it remains the utmost priority to educate students to effectively use all the tools at their disposal.  One of the points is "promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility".  This is an especially important point.  Without understanding the responsibilities and safe practices of digital citizenship, our youth becomes at risk for the pitfalls that come with the digital age.  Knowing to use "strong" passwords will keep personal information safe and out of the hands of people who might use it to take advantage of others.  Knowing how to use multiple email accounts will allow people to better organize themselves.  The other points like "model digital age working and learning" do little good if students cannot be safe.  This doesn't change the fact that the productivity is going to increase by allowing students to collaborate with others and allowing students to be more creative in a world that is becoming more digitized by the day.

There are many strategies that could be implemented at the high school level that we have already been using in this class.  The effective use of a blog to post assignments has made things very easy to turn in assignments.  It will only become easier as more and more students become wired at home (however we are finding that school resources will be able to meet children's technological needs more as time goes on.)  Teaching students about keeping their information on the internet safe is also important because it is an age where Facebook and Myspace use can only be described as prolific.  Being able to coordinate projects and papers between students using Google Documents would have saved me a lot of heartache as a high schooler and as a college student.  As a teacher I would be able to *communicate* and coordinate my grading efforts with my students, resulting in a stronger relationship with the students and a better hope for motivating them.  Being able to, say, write notes on a students paper while chatting with them on Skype at the same time would be tremendously beneficial for the student.  The electronic submission of papers, assignments, etc would mean I wouldn't have to try and read a student's terrible handwriting either.  It's a total pet peeve of mine...