13.1: Web 2.0: New Literacies and the Big Shift

13.1: Web 2.0: New Literacies and the Big Shift

As Bob Dylan once warbled, “The times, they are a changin’,” and nothing could be changing faster than the role of technology in education today.  Students and pedagogy today are far different than when I first started out in education over 30 years ago.  Students have changed; society has changed; governmental attitudes towards education has changed; and, as such, teachers and how we teach mustchange!  

Students today are consumers of technology.  For good or bad, technology is always inches away.  Parents battle to balance “screen time” with “quality screen time” and may not know the difference.  Additionally, in many instances they may not understand what teachers are trying to do with educational technology in schools as “That’s not how I did it when I was in school” rears it ugly head (think new math).

Just as technology has evolved and has permeated every aspect of our lives, so must teaching evolve. The teacher must be more than a lecturer.  The teacher must be a collaborator, facilitator, and consumer of the same technologies that the students have immersed themselves in.  Students have become global collaborators, that use various media to consume and construct knowledge on their own terms. These new tools have changed us and redefined how we communicate to each other.  As such, the teacher must embrace them as well.  Richardson talked about 10 “Big Shifts” in education. These shifts are fundamental in understanding and evolving in to a teacher that is effective in teaching the 21^stCentury skills.  The days of having an 8:30 a.m. class are coming to an end.  Education is becoming a 24/7 process.  Students expect that they can get a hold of their teacher (via text/email/etc.) at almost any time and from any place.  Global collaboration has become the norm.  Students share many parts of their lives and learning now via Instagram, Flickr, Twitter, and a number of ever-changing apps – the world now sees it, not just the class.  

There will be speed bumps along the way.  Like most new initiatives – at least to us old-timers-  just when you think you mastered one aspect of educational technology integration and the New Literacies, it is passé and students, teachers, administrator, and the government are on to something else.  But as educators we must be flexible and meet the students ‘where they are’ and they are technology consumers, learners, researchers, and evaluators.  

We need to use what they use, rethink the role of teacher as a co-collaborator, and even learn FROMthe students.  One such example is something that I will implement soon: “Free App Friday.”  Every Friday one student signs up to give a mini lesson on an app that is free or under 99-cents.  That app must be helpful in their educational process (i.e.: no games).  It could be something as simple as how to set a reminder on your phone to a new app for mental sharpness and recall (e.g.: Elevate, Luminosity).  The student gets a few extra credit points, practices presentations skills, and the class gets a lesson in a new, and hopefully useful, app.

In short, technology is a tool that is best used by those trained to use the tool.  Employed well, we can expect to engage students and develop life long learners that will succeed in the jobs of the future.