I have had a number of very dynamic discussions with educators concerning my last post of The 21st Century Tool Kit. (http://tinyurl.com/koenz7)

Everyone I have spoken to appears to agree with the concept that we should look at increasing our technology aptitude of our students, but that there is little time to do so under the current demands of the system as it stands. I.e. teaching, writing, etc. I think that we must look at several things in response to that argument:

1. The technology change is going on around us and will proceed with or WITHOUT us embracing it.
2. The assumption that all students will pick it up on their own in an efficient and effective manner is false.
3. This type of education subtracts from other meaningful things going on in the classroom.

The technology growth in communication and applications are growing at a rate that is almost beyond comprehension. That explosion in development is occurring because of the embrace of social media and the widening groups of developers that are creating application for needs that traditional company’s are not addressing. The traditional boundaries of communication as we know them are under global revision.

Students will embrace technology because they do not know a life without it. (see the Beloit College Mindset list as a frame of reference, http://tinyurl.com/5r4stp ) However, just because they embrace it does not mean that they understand all the implications and methods of implementation on a larger scale. That educational task can and should fall upon the educational institutions that engage that child.

This type of education does not have to take away from what meaningful education is currently going on in the classroom, it must augment it! Students will produce different types of products and create deeper understandings as a result of being challenged to create information through the use of these new tools.

The factor that I do not think is being considered strongly enough is that today’s students will be EXPECTED to embrace, address and use these mixtures of technology as a single tool and communicate broadly and in an effective manner. If educational institutions do not address this change, they are doing their students a tremendous disservice in being not being able to communicate in this new generation of communication; and in addition, they also do so at their own peril. Students will be able to use this new media format to seek out an educational format and delivery system that will meet their needs and desires. Based upon my discussion with teachers around N.E. Ohio, we are still trying to incorporate concepts into our educational settings that not advancing with the rate of change seen in the technology world. We are making a fatal error in judgment that we are the only game in town and that we cannot be replaced. Educational institutions by design do not embrace change quickly, research must be done and collaborated in order to change trends, colleagues must choose to engage with this new research and change current methods already in use.

That point standing, we as educators must look outside our classrooms and be sensitive to what is changing around us. In the words of Clay Shirk, in his June 2009 TED Talk: “…we are living through the largest increase in expressive capability in human history…” Mr. Shirk goes on to say that ” ..It is not when the shiny new tools show up that their use permeates society, it’s when everyone is able to take them for granted…” Many of the tools suggested in the 21st Century Tool kit have been around for almost 10 years and are no longer “shiny and new”, yet many classrooms treat them as if they are radically new ideas. We need to look at the 21st Century Took Kit as a means of both engaging our students and to prepare them to be effective communicators in the world they face.

Consider the following media in context with this discussion:

E08 Podcast: Social Media and Education: The Conflict Between Technology and Institutional Education, and the Future http://tinyurl.com/kozkcc