Journal 1

Technology has long been a part of education. Although everyone has a different idea about what constitutes technology (eg. a calculator vs. a VR headset), it's presence is always intentional.  It is inevitable that students and teachers will interact with many different types of technology in many different environmental contexts. There are a variety of reasons why teachers and students use technology in the classroom, with some being a choice and others being out of necessity. Within the classroom, technology can be used either as an integral part or an enhancement of a lesson. For example, if a state standard in math is that all students must learn how to plot points and graph on a calculator, then the use of technology is essential. On the other hand, a science lesson on the structure of a cell could be enhanced using a virtual reality program that takes students inside a cell to identify different organelle. In this case, technology is used to compliment the lesson. Technology is also used in the classroom because it's such a natural part of our societal landscape. Most students in the United States have phones laptops or tablets, and teachers use the presence of this technology to make connections with their students. For example, to liven up a lesson I have had a professor that had us take out our phones and do a Kahoot review game at the end of each class to take attendance.


The ISTE standards were interesting because although I have participated in classwork and lessons that utilize these standards, these standards were rarely identified and discussed. My high school Citizens in Action class extensively used technology (specifically iPads) to teach us about the many uses of technology in disseminating information. One standard that is particularly meaningful is that  of the Global Collaborator. Our final project for the aforementioned class was made up of research that we had done both on our own and collaboratively with experts in a particular field that we were interested in. We were tasked with tracking down and interviewing someone in our field of choice, and using the knowledge that was shared with us to teach our classmates. I contacted an author in Texas that wrote a book about using iPads with children with special needs, and through that interview as well as his book I learned more about the subject. This was an important skill to learn and one that has shaped my academic experience. One thing that seems outside my current skill set is the concept of the innovative designer. I feel that throughout my academic career we've always been given a specific end goal whenever we used technology, and were not encouraged to think outside the box and come up with our own solutions for things. This is changing as educational philosophies evolve, but it's something I don't have a lot of practice with.

I think that the term digital native is broadly applicable for today's youth. Much of our social interaction, gaming, and other entertainment is based in social media and technology; We tend to pick up technological skills very quickly and intuitively. This is a generalization and is not to say that adults don't have these skills, but our generation is one that has never existed in a world without cell phones, computers, and the internet. A clear example of this is young children's ability to play games on phones and iPads and navigate them in a way that they get what they want out of the technology fairly quickly; although this is learned, they won't know any differently and won't have to learn the basics as they get older. A digital native is someone who has been immersed in the world of technology since a young age and can navigate and troubleshoot with relative ease. There are differences between digital natives and our teachers. The most obvious one happens when we sit in lecture watching a professor struggle to open links, videos, and PowerPoints while several students are mumbling the solution. Professors often ask for help in solving technical problems from students, and this has created a learning environment that makes it obvious that teacher's don't know everything, and students have the capability of teaching their teachers. Although I won't be a teacher in the future, I definitely foresee young people teaching us about the new technology as we get older.