Week+8+(March+8,+2010)

What If? Technology of the 21st Century

This week we talked about **Media literacy** and how teachers can implement software that will interest the new generation of tech-savy students. The article we read, that was put together by school boards across Ontario, asked the question, **"How can schools continue to be connected and relevant in the world of the 21st century?"** The article states that **intellectual engagement is at an all time low**, due mainly to lack of interest in how material is being taught, which is leading to **a growing number of drop out rates and difficulties in transition to post-secondary education**. So... How can we combat this problem?

First, we need to find learning materials that are **relevant to our students' experiences**. Teachers need to be aware of the role that technology plays in the every day lives of students and use it in their classrooms. Also, students say that they don't want to take just online courses; they **want to learn in school!** They know that they can't always rely on the internet for information that is sound and factual. They want to learn how to critically evaluate the validity of what they're reading. However, we as teachers need to be aware that traditional teaching strategies aren't what is going to keep students interested. We need to work with students who are used to **multi-tasking, grabbing information in bites, sharing and building their knowledge, all while customizing information for themselves.** The answer, therefore, is not just about using technology in the classroom, but rather engaging students and guiding them to be critical in their use of technology.



This article relates nicely to what we learned in class this week. With Barbara McLaughlin we talked about the value of reading and creating comics in class. She outlined several positive factors that comics have in terms of promoting learning:
 * With Comic Life or BitStrips, the pre-writing stages (planning, etc) are more engaging than with traditional writing because the students can easily visualize what they are going to write about
 * students can be extremely creative with the new software, which engages them and allows them to use technology that they find useful and relevant
 * comics allow for differentiated learning, because they encompass visual and spatial learning types, and can also be useful for mathematical-logistic thinkers

I really enjoyed using the comic software and look forward to implementing it in my FSL classes next year.