Journal #6

ED 422   Arlynn Cook   November 11, 2010

Journal #6 “Change Agent” NETS-T  3, 4 & 5

Rebora, A. (2010, October 11). Change agent. Education Week Teacher pd Sourcebook, 4(1), Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01richardson.h04.html?cmp=clp-edweek&intc=bs&sms_ss=delicious&at_xt=4cb7dc75d0303b73

Educational Weekly conducted on interview with Will Richardson, who is a high school teacher and has written a book “Integrating Web 2.0 technology in classrooms K-12” and advocates integrating Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.  He believes students need to learn how to navigate the web and share information using current technologies, moving away from a “what not to do” attitude toward a “what to do”.  He says the environment of education and learning is changing and teachers must embrace the new culture and learn to utilize web 2.0 tools to build a network of other educators to share and gather ideas.  The second component is to teach the students how to use the web and build their own network for accessing and learning.  Learning and education needs to be moved from the traditional platform to a technology based one.  He agrees that children today are considered tech savvy, however, in more of a social and interest based arena than a learning one.

Q1.  Who is responsible for implementing a technology based learning program in the schools?

A1.  According to Richardson he believes the responsibility lies with the teachers who should model, provide technology understanding and implement a technology based structure into the curriculum.  That would be totally unrealistic, the only way the platform of education could change would be for a complete overhaul of the education system, starting with the legislators at the top who have already implemented a system of high stakes testing.  In addition, some schools are provided more technology resources than others, it is already a proven fact the resources are not evenly distributed across school districts.

Q1.  Would teaching technology to students limit their attention span or learning ability ?

A1.  Teaching students how to research and gather information effectively enhances literacy and comprehension and exercises analytical thinking and problem solving.  In addition it would provide the opportunity for students to participate and network with other students in an appropriate learning community.