What is educational technology literacy? Why is it important for educators?
Educational technology literacy is learning how to use the technology that is available, to its fullest advantage, for use in the classroom. It is not enough to be able to know how to set up a website, a teacher must be able to set up a website for use in his classroom. He must know exactly what to include in his website; otherwise the website would be pointless. If a teacher includes links to other sites that are helpful to a student that is doing research for class, or links to direct a parent in the right direction then the website has a purpose. A teacher can’t just create a website, put a calendar on it and an autobiography and think it has a real purpose.
Teachers must also continue to update their technology knowledge. The technology world is endlessly changing and teachers need to keep up with the changes. How can a teacher really offer the best education possible to his students if he has not continually educated himself? I use the internet all the time when creating my lessons or lectures. I teach World Geography and my textbooks are about 10 years old, so I have to find information other ways, to make sure that what I am teaching is current. Also what I learned in school may not be true anymore. For example when I was in high school there were 5 kingdoms of organisms in Biology. When I got to my 2nd year of college it had changed, just in four or five years the classification system for organisms had changed. Today there are three domains and five or six kingdoms depending on what source of information you use. The point is everything changes and teachers need to continuously educate themselves including educating themselves in technology.
Students need to learn how to use technology; it is a must in today’s world. Who is going to teach them how to use it and use it properly? We are; Educators like you and I. So in order to help students reach their full potential we need to stay on top of our game. The young people of today are our future, and we as teachers are the ones who have to make sure it is a future worth living for.
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Quite often I feel that technology has passed me by. I am certain the students will be more technologically advanced than I am. I don't have a PDA, and have never used an "app", heck, I have enough trouble figuring out my cell phone. This makes your point that teachers will be teaching how to use tecnology so scary. But I also acknowledge that teachers have an almost endless supply of information available to them throught the internet. Your example of the outdated textbooks, makes a firm knowlede of the technologies available to teachers essential. It has been a pleasure reading your blogs. Best wishes for continued success.
ReplyDeleteGreat job.
ReplyDeleteLinda I agree with you. Teacher must stay abreast of the updates to their content area no matter how old the textbooks in the classroom. Right now my 4th grade daughter is being taught that there are 9 planets. We all know that Pluto is now classified as a star and not a planet, but her teacher justifies her teaching Pluto is planet b/c that's what's in the book. A lot of things are in a book that are no longer true, but it is up to the teachers to get off of their sorry butts and change their lesson plans to reflect the most current facts in their content area. The students of today are our future, and I wish that all teachers could understand this.
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