Kasey Klein September 20, 2013 Educational Technology 802 Electronic Collage

Link: http://akronklein.edu.glogster.com/collage-for-the-21st-century

Reflection: The first item I found for my collage was a video made by School House Rock entitled Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips. This particular video, I pulled from the YouTube user MsOmppu, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKf1I759PPQ . The computer series from School House Rock was made in the 1980s and its relevance has only grown today. We have today a collection of smart technology. We even have computers that can beat out champion Jeopardy! players. But this song is a reminder that a computer is only as smart as the person behind the keys, as well as some information about some basic vocabulary. Also in my collage, Ive included the words Digital Literacy, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Problem Solving. According to an article by Richard Allington in Education Weekly entitled How Do You Define 21st-Century Learning? I found at http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01panel.h04.html, these are core competencies that describe the skills expected of this generation. While some of the phrases, such as problemsolving and critical thinking, Id like to think were always valued in schools, things like digital literacy and collaboration are new concepts that are unique to this flux of incoming students. From the websites of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Ive included in my collage the app symbols of these social networking sites. It is sites like these that are both blamed for inhibiting personal communication on deeper levels and given credit for keeping the world connected and informed. Whether they become popular overnight and disappear by morning like MySpace, or have the longevity of Facebook, social networking is clearly here to stay and it has a big impact on students as a news-source, bullying playground, or just a place to express ones creativity. Their importance on our culture has earned them a place on my collage. I also have a picture of three children around a computer at school. It comes from an article entitled Study: Free computers dont close the gap between rich and poor kids by Loic Cobbina I found at http://www.sitetrail.com/2013/05/20/study-free-computers-dont-close-thegap-between-rich-and-poor-kids/. The picture, not the article was what interested me. These kids all appear really young, and they all seem confident on the computer. I think it speaks to those of

us who didnt grow up with such a ready access to technology; we will always be a step behind and need to work harder in being skilled in working with all the advances. I also have a quote from Carl Sagan, who is a popular American scientist which I found on http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/318165-we-ve-arranged-a-global-civilization-in-whichmost-crucial-elements. He points out that our culture is dependent on science and technology in a way that it never has been in the past. In order to maintain our standards, it is important that we teach our students how to work with these technologies and develop them. Under these, I have a cartoon entitled The Evolution of Cell Phone, which accompanied the article Paying a Price when Everything Changes by Bettina Johnson, which I found at http://bettinajohnson.com/blog/paying_a_price_when_everything_changes/. As the technology becomes more advanced, the person using it becomes more and more absorbed, to the point of not noticing their surroundings. I think it is important for educators to make their students aware of the world around them, using technology as a tool, not allowing it to be the sole focus of their brainpower. This attitude of becoming wrapped up in technology has affected a number of children and adults alike, but as a teacher, it is important to provide the opportunity to the students to explore the world around them. Another image I found, from The Telegraph accompanied the article, One Laptop per Child by Matt Warman, which I found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6247728/One-laptop-per-child.html. I think the whole movement of providing laptops to these children is very telling. While some students struggle to get adequate food or shelter, they are still provided a computer. I think this illustrates just how important technology is to usmore important than some of our basic needs, for example. These students can use their laptops to work on school-related tings, even when they cant physically make it to the school building. Really, it just emphasizes the importance of technology; those children on the other side of the world, adapting to the laptop, while many adults here, in America, still struggle with it. One of the more technical aspects of my collage is the image of The 21st Century Student Outcomes and Support Systems. The image is a common one, but this one in particular I pulled from http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework. The accompanying article, provided by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, explains the graphic. The colorful arches represent the successful outcomes of students learning in a 21st Century environment: life and career skills, learning and innovation skills, information, media and technology skills, and an understanding of the core subjects. The bottom part of the diagramthe support systemsexplains what is needed to develop the desired outcomes. These supports include standards and assessments, curriculum and instruction, professional development, and learning environments. I think this image is very important to include in the collage as it explains the relationship between the school and student in the 21st Centurywhat the student is expected to master and what the school needs to do in order to support that growth.

There is also an image that highlights some of the differences in how digital natives and digital immigrants process information. The image, taken from a blog entitled The Social Media Trainee I found at http://thesocialmediatrainee.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/digital-natives-vsdigital-immigrants/. The immigrant is shown to be using limited resources, text, sequential thinking, and operating in single tasks, while the digital native multi-task, uses multiple resources, multi-media and parallel thinking. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, but the image really brings to mind the fact that not only are digital natives more comfortable using technology, there is a completely different thought process behind their reasoning. I also included the TPACK image from Carla Surbers website http://surbersclasses.weebly.com/standards.html. TPACK is the combination of skills teachers need to effectively teach in a 21st Century classroom. It includes an overlap of technical knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge. While the Outcomes and Support Systems chart shows a relationship between students and their education, this image is specific to teachers and has the special distinction of including technology in the teachers responsibility of what they should be capable of. Finally, with technology taking over all different aspects of our lives and new advances being made daily, I thought it appropriate to include an image of Frankensteins monster. Prior to the movies, the Mary Shelleys book had a very clear message of being wary of technology and warned against losing ones morals when making advancements. The warning is one that I think retains meaning today, all these years later, and deserves mention when we seem to get swept up on the digital wave. The image was one I pulled from http://finnishfoodgirl.com/2013/10/frankensteins-skin-halloween-soup-recipe/, which really has nothing to do with Frankenstein or technology, but really, the image is a classic one.