Students in the 21st century are very different than the students even just mere a decade ago. They are all very in tune with the latest
technology either for recreation or in learning. As a 21st century educator, we,
too, need to be in tune with the technology in order to motivate our students
to learn, to explore, and to make their classroom learning relevant to real
life. Recent statistics shown that many
employers are not satisfied with the performance and skills of the young
employees. As educator, we should find ways
to equip our students to be a valuable citizen and employee.
In 2007, International Society for Technology in Education
published the National Education Technology standards for Students for “the
skills and knowledge students need to learn effectively and live productively
in an increasingly global and digital world” (iste, 2007).
These standards are as follows:
1.
Creativity and innovation
2.
Communication and collaboration
3.
Research and Information Fluency
4.
Critical Thinking, Problem solving, and
Decisions making
5.
Digital Citizenship
6.
Technology Operations and Concepts
Implementing project based learning provides students great opportunity
in meeting the standards that was set by the iste . With a project idea in mind, students will
have opportunity to use internet tools such as google doc, wikispaces, google hangout
to learn to communicate and collaborate with each other, regardless of the
personalities and interest differences.
Students also have to find ways to present their finding,
research, and express their opinion. Utilize
various tools such as power point, prezi, iMovie, Voicethread help them to
discover various digital tools, be familiar with the potential and
possibilities of the individual tool and make decision which is the best to
represent them.
Many school districts have written policy for internet usage
and copyright issue. Through working on
the project students will learn how to be a responsible citizen of the digital
world.
The 21st century web 2.0 tools also open doors
for exploring outside our classroom nationally and internationally. Students could use Skype to communicate with
some one on the other states or other countries. There are potential of collaboration in
helping each other in learning languages and culture. Video conferencing introduce authentic
Mexican cuisine to the global cuisine class, Google+hangout make collabration
easier when 2 or more students can meet and chat about how to complete and plan
a project.
There are still lots of benefits of using web 2.0 tools in
education and provide great learning potential for students to explore,
investigate, and excel in order for them to meet the demands of the 21st
century in the workplace. As educators,
we need to be a “co-learner” of our
students, continuously improved and staying informed ourselves in order for us
to be an effective educator, guiding, leading and go alongside our students and
colleague to connect with the global society.
International Society for Technology in Education.
(2007). NETS for Students 2007. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students
International Society for Technology in Education.
(2007). NETS for Student 2007. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007
International Society for Technology in Education.
(2007). NETS for Teachers 2007. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers
