Blog Post #1

As our society continues to shift to a more technology-oriented kind, our younger generation must be educated accordingly. Teachers are now being prompted more often than not to assure they are technologically literate. According to Teaching and Learning with Technology, several programs, such as the ISTE who founded NETS, have been implemented to influence teachers to go back to school or go to workshops to keep up with technology and pass down their knowledge to their students. One of the main influences of technology in the classroom is the fact that each individual student has his or her own style of learning. Technology allows a teacher to harness a student's abilities will in turn make him or her a better teacher and only increase the student's learning ability.

The ISTE's main goal is to assure that our society's future children are up-to-date with all technology and are able to excel in their future career paths. The way the ISTE sees to do that is by implementing standards to guarantee that all educators have more than enough knowledge of technology to be able to teach their students. The ISTE knows how quickly the world is changing and how important it will and may already be to be "tech-savvy." One standard that gladdens my heart is the NETS Empowered Learner, which wants students to show competency by using technology in their learning goals (ISTE). A standard that seems outside of my current skill-set is the Global Collaborator standard, which I read about on the ISTE's website. The Global Collaborator standard wants students to work together to increase their learning abilities. I feel that is outside of my current skill set right now because I have not had the opportunity to work with other students digitally yet and help increase my learning ability.

I do agree with the term digital native for today's youth. To be a digital native means that our generation is one of the first, if not the first, to grow up using the technology we use today. Digital natives grew up and are still growing up with technology seamlessly integrating into their lives. Most digital natives seem to have no issue grasping the ideas and usages of new technology. I have seen a difference between how myself and teachers use technology. I have had a number of teachers struggle with simple tasks such as turning on the projector or uploading a Powerpoint. Teachers having difficulty with technology has not been an issue in my learning as someone is usually able to help the teacher figure out the problem and even show the teacher how to properly work certain technologies. I anticipate the future generation being even more skilled than my generation is now. The future generation will grow up with people who already know the background and basics of technology, which will only make it more simple for them to harness and use.