EDIM502 (u05a1) Blog - Students Meeting the NET-S
Wake up Departments of Education in America!Today is July 29, 2012. We are in the 21st century! What students are learning now should reflect on their futures after their schooling. But, will they? That might depend on the aggressiveness of our national, state, and local education departments' mindsets.
Let's see what other professional leaders are saying that the workforce needs.:
*The CEO of UPS described in 2005, "We look for [employees] who can learn how to learn" (Jerald, 2009).
*Howard Elias, President of EMC, an American multinational corporation, stated in an article in Forbes online that there is a shortage of people with critical skills in science, technology, engineering, and math - mostly in cloud computing and big data" (Elias, 2011). Later he stated, "As adoption of these transformative technologies continues there is an increasing demand for highly specialized skills that didn't exist or were well outside the mainstream" (Elias, 2011). Then in the article he stated that companies are relying on innovators to generate products and services to advance economic growth (Elias, 2011). "If the US companies are to sate their thirst for qualified talent, fill that growing void and compete in the 21st century, we must recognize the challenge, seize the initiative, and accelerate viable solutions to address this pressing need. The problem starts early" (Elias, 2011). He goes on to discuss how our education system currently is not preparing enough students with needed proficiencies.
*Craig Jerald from the Center for Public Education has written the following, " In our global knowledge economy these (American) companies realize human capital is their most important resource. As a result, jobs - especially those in globally competitive firms - are changing in 4 key ways:
1. Less hierarchy and supervision
2. More autonomy and responsibility
3. More collaboration
4. Less predictability and stability" (Jerald, 2009)
ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) has developed the NET-S (National Educational Technology Standards) to prepare students globally for the 21st century global market. Web 2.0 digital tools enable students to communicate, collaborate, and publish utilizing various platforms to meet the needs of the future job market nationally and internationally using the NET-S. We may not know all of the types of jobs the future might hold, but students of educators using the NET-S will have the cutting edge. The following are the NET-S along with the verbs to reflect the actions to be completed digitally:
1. Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology - apply, create, use models, forecast.
2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others - interact, collaborate, publish, develop, contribute, communicate.
3. Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information - plan, organize, evaluate, synthesize, process, report.
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate tools and resources - plan, manage, collect, analyze, explore.
5. Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior - advocate, practice, exhibit, demonstrate.
6. Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations - use, select, troubleshoot, transfer
(ISTE, 2011).
Bloom's Taxonomy of the learning hierarchy names Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation as the goals which educators should aim. On Bloom's Taxonomy - Learning in Action wheel, each learning objective list verbs that fit the action of the objectives. Here are some of the verbs listed for each of the three higher objectives:
Analysis: compare, analyze, classify, distinguish, categorize, differentiate, infer, survey, graph, report
Synthesize: compose, hypothesize, develop, design, combine, construct, produce, plan, create
Evaluate: judge, relate, criticize, support, evaluate, summarize, compare, recommend, critique
("Bloom's taxonomy," 2012)
In my mind, both the NET-S and Bloom's objectives have verbs that are the same, if not similar. ISTE, professional business leaders, and the Center for Public Education are ready to challenge our students for their future. If only those making the decisions for what is currently existing in our school system would see what is truly needed, more technology, training, and better standards that will allow our students to communicate, collaborate, and publish using digital technology, progress in the right direction would be made for our future global communities. Web 2.0 tools would permit students to be creative and innovative, communicate, collaborate, research and process the information, think critically, problem solve, make decisions, show understanding of the importance of digital citizenship, and demonstrate understanding of technological operations and concepts using the various platforms available worldwide appropriately. The vast tools available now are at our fingertips. Let's advocate for their use in our education systems with the hopes that positive change will be soon!
Below are just a few of the tools that can be utilized educationally for different functional platforms:
To communicate (NET-S #1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6): Skype, Edmodo, Twitter, Kid Blog, Blogger, Google+ Hangout, Chatterous, Voicethread, Podcasting, RSS feeds, Voki, Gabcast
To colloborate (NET-S #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6): Glogster, Wikispaces, Google Tools (Calendar, Docs), Prezi, Diigo, Desire2Learn, Moodle, Second Life, GoToMeeting, WizIQ
To publish (NET-S # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6): Google Tools (Presentations, SketchUp), Prezi, Glogster, Slideshare, Wix, Zooburst, Animoto, Fakebook, Bookemon, Voicethread
Many tools can fit several platforms.
References
Bloom's taxonomy. (2012, July 27).Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
Elias, H. (2011, December 12). Do Americans have 21st century job skills?. Forbes, Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/12/12/do-americans-have-21st-century-job-skills/
ISTE. (2011). Net-s for students 2007. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx
Jerald, C. D. (2009). Defining a 21st century education. The Center for Public Education, Retrieved from
http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Learn-About/21st-Century/Defining-a-21st-Century-Education-Full-Report-PDF.pdf#page=14
