![]() Chapter 10 Prompt: This chapter suggests your role is to become a technology advocate and change agent within the education profession. Do you agree that this is indeed a responsibility of 21st century educators? Why or why not. I absolutely believe that it is the responsibility of today’s educators to be a technology advocate and agent of change. As stated in chapter 10, “schools are reflections of the society they serve and ultimately represent its values, culture, and technologies” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald 332). Our society is nearly 100% reliant on some form or fashion of technology, and it is not going away, which can be a bit scary. I was recently watching a documentary ‘Naked Science: The Big Freeze’ where the 1998 ice storm that hit Canada was discussed. Survivors talked about how they didn’t have electricity for a week or more and could have been months if they had lost their lone power grid that survived. This means that Canadians went without communication and heating; they couldn’t get supplies, and this was in 1998! Think about if a major city in the US was hit with a similar storm today? It would be an even worse catastrophe given how we are much more reliant on technology. We would lose not just the essentials, such as heat and power, but no more internet, no more cell phones; hospitals would be affected (remember electronic medical records are only good if you can access the technology!). But I digress, we, as educators, need to be technologically literate and advocates because our students need to be successfully today, which means they need to be technologically literate. You can’t even apply for most jobs now a days without being able to transverse electronic searches, electronic filing, digital resumes, etc. And even more importantly, in this pandemic, our students and fellow educators must use technology. Virtual learning is no longer a possibility for a few select students; it is mandatory for a large majority. Teachers are at the forefront of figuring out what pandemic virtual learning is developing into. While administrators can offer their support, it has fallen on teachers to be the agents of change whether we want to or not. So, as it is no longer a question of if a teacher will be an advocate for technology, but how they will utilize it.
1 Comment
Jon
7/27/2020 07:54:12 pm
I whole-heartedly agree Nicole. As I pointed out in my weekly post for Chapter 10, we are lucky to have myriad resources at our disposal at PGSD. That being said, we do still need to act as agents of change and progress, less in introducing new tech, rather more in ensuring that teachers and departments collaborate to settle on the most effective. I can tell you from experience this past year that it was frustrating to have students come in for tutoring, who weren't mine, just to ask for help deciphering what some obscure site was requiring of them. Not even their own teacher was informative and helpful. Assignments were assigned and the program auto-graded.
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AuthorHi! My name is Nicole, and I am a high school science teacher. Blog Roll
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