Journal 10: Are Schools Inhibiting 21st Century learning?

Are Schools Inhibiting 21st Century Learning?
By Dave Nagel
T-H-E Journal
April 2008
This article explores the disparities and the similarities between students and teachers, parents and administrators in their opinions about technology use in schools. The general idea was that although most teachers, parents and administrators believe that they are doing a good job of incorporating technology into learning, students have a different opinion. 40 percent of students feel like their technology use is limited and 45 percent feel like the filters on their schools’ Internet is stifling their learning.
There are, however, a few things that these groups can agree on. Both teachers and students think that gaming would be an effective tool for learning, but only 11 percent of teachers actually use it in the classroom. Mobile technologies seem to be very enticing to both teachers and students, but most students aren’t allowed to use their cell phone, lap tops or digital media players in school.
It’s interesting that parents and educators think that they are preparing their students for the real world and a career without allowing them to use mobile technologies as needed. Many schools only have a specified technology time when students can use the computers. Is that really similar to the ‘real world’ where technology is a part of everything? Not really. Students understand how important technology is and are being given a watered down version of it in school.
How can schools keep their students safe and on task while allowing them to use technology as needed? I think by having a filtering system that denies access to adult material and using a log in system where the students know all of their activity will be traced by a teacher at the end of the day could do the trick. The students will be held accountable for the material that they view and be given access to a huge potion of the Internet at the same time.
The article points out that higher education and businesses are now using social networking as a tool. Should we be letting our students use social networking sites in schools? This is a tough question, but I think that we should be. It should be introduced as a tool for learning and connecting for more reasons than just displaying yourself on the Internet. Even if students are using it too often, I think that’s okay. They are growing up in such a fast-paced, media-rich environment, if they don’t know how to multi-task they’re going to be lost.
I think that schools could do a better job at preparing their students for life after high school, but they’re making a good start. Through this survey 1.2 million people have already expressed their opinions about technology use in schools and more are sure to come. As we learn more and more about what students want and find important and what educators are interested in trying we will move our schools into a much more digital age with mobile media at the forefront.