Angela Elkordy, aelkordy@emich.edu
Doctoral Candidate
Eastern Michigan University, Dept. of
Leadership and Counseling
Although
“technology integration” has been a prominent goal in many educational
environments, significant challenges remain to the consistent implementation and meaningful application of instructional technologies.
Significantly, learner preferences shaped by participation in a
digitally-mediated world are often-overlooked in the process of curriculum
development as well as in planning of instruction delivery and learning
environments. There are substantial ramifications for educational leaders resulting
from the new, rapidly evolving skill sets and competencies necessary for the
knowledge-economy workplace; to be effective in the shifting educational
landscape, leaders must leverage learners’ new strengths to develop effective
learning tools, objectives and environments.
Technology has irrevocably transformed
society:
As a result of Internet and communications
technologies (ICT), the way in which much of the world lives, communicates and
conducts business has been transformed. In the developed world, these changes
are structural and pervasive, transforming practices and paradigms. Internet-mediated
communications, for example, foster interactions across time and distance via texting,
VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) enabled communications, smartphones, email,
social networking sites or messaging, in addition to a myriad of other conduits
such as video, chat and conferencing. The
use of digital media and ICT has altered societies on every level: health care,
business models, knowledge acquisition activities, education and social
interactions – including the meaning and context of global citizenry - which
are now in continuous motion on global platforms.
In fact, because the Internet has become
almost synonymous with societal, economic and even political growth, some
leaders believe access to the Internet is so critical that it is regarded as a
“human right” by the United Nations:
[We]
declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centered, inclusive
and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create,
access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals,
communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their
sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the
purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting
fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (World Summit on the Information Society, 2003)
Technology has irrevocably transformed
the workplace:
One
of the realms most impacted by digital media and ICT is the work place. According
to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs in the manufacturing sector in
1967 accounted for 54% of the U.S. economic output whereas by 1997, this was surpassed,
at 64%, by information products (Partnership, 2008). Davidson, citing research
on the future workplace by the U.S. Department of Labor suggested: “ by one
estimate, 65% of children entering grade school this year will end up working
in careers that haven’t even been invented yet” (Now You See
It: How the Brain Science of Attention will Transform the Way we Live, Work and
Learn, 2011).
An
outcome of this trend has been a parallel shift in the skill sets and
competencies necessary for workers to function in what is now, effectively, a
global marketplace made possible by digital communications and Internet
technologies. Researchers and policy makers are advocating for a diverse new
range of skills and dispositions including the abilities to be creative,
innovative and in the European Union, “entrepreneurial thinking” is advocated
as a necessary new skill. As a result, forward thinking educational
researchers, policy makers and educators have recognized a definitive shift in
necessary basic competencies (often called “literacies”) critical for U.S.
competitiveness. This has obliged educators and others to consider new ways of
teaching to prepare learners to thrive in a largely unpredictable 21st
century workplace.
Technology has irrevocably altered
the environments of youth:
Not
surprisingly, our students have been profoundly impacted growing up in a
digitally-mediated world, in large part due to the amount
of daily media and ICT-related exposures which are increasing. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, 8-18
year olds spend more than 10:45 hours
per day exposed to various types of media
(TV content, computers, music/audio, print, movies, video games). This
amount of exposure has increased in the past decade from 7:29 hours in 1999. In
addition, over 25% of this time is spent “multitasking”, engaging in more than
one media simultaneously.
Students today have definite
preferences in learning as a direct result of this media immersion; according
to the Kaiser study, 81% of teens use media at least “a little” of the time or
more while doing homework. Furthermore, they have definite preferences in
communication modes and styles. A recent
study by the Pew Internet and American Life reported: “Texting is by far the
most popular way for teens to communicate. While 63% of teens say they text
every day, only 39% said they make calls on their phones on a daily basis or
send messages through social networking sites (29%). In addition, 35% said they
socialize face to face outside of school” (Teens, Smartphones and Texting,
2012).
Technology has irrevocably altered
how we learn:
Considering the extent of media and Internet
immersion, it’s not surprising that the preferred learning modes, methods of
transmission, and learning styles of our students, particularly teens and young
adults, differ significantly from previous generations’. Accustomed to being entertained and engaged,
many students carry this expectation into the classroom and at the very least, expect
that to learn in a similarly engaging and interactive manner. As digital devices have
become increasingly mainstreamed and used by young children, users
expect, and are usually rewarded, by intelligent design which is intuitive and
easily discerned. As a result, the
digital generation
has adopted a mindset of rapid-fire-trial-and-error learning. They’re not
afraid of making mistakes because they learn more quickly that way. They
operate under the strategy of useful failure …..while people of our generation
are under the assumption that all failure is bad and help comes from an expert
or a book. (Understanding the Digital Generation, 2011).
Students’ learning and communications styles
and expectations have profound influence on the development of instructional
programs. These changes in the learning landscape are all too often overlooked,
misunderstood, or not taken into account by educators. It is critical that
educators are aware of the existence of digital age learning preferences
regardless of technology use, or not, in the learning space. For
example, digital age learners prefer the flow of information to be
non-sequential and streamed from multiple, linked sources. Exposed to vast
quantities of media and data from an early age, digital learners are often critical
consumers of information and they are comfortable with large quantities of data
in rapid succession. Young adults, in particular, are often active in online
communities where information is crowd-sourced and verified, such as Wikipedia.
Digital age learners have a strong preference
for visual learning, tending to process media before text. They expect learning
to be engaging and interactive, relevant, authentic and motivating. As the
volume of free, increasingly more reliable information is readily available
online, there has been a distinct shift in information seeking behaviors which has rendered the necessity of remembering large quantities of information irrelevant. Instead, just-in-time
learning is now more often appropriate, where information is retrieved as
needed to solve authentic problems. Stylistically, the presentation of the
overall concept or problem first is key to these learners; that is,
information and inquiry in context leading to situational learning
opportunities.
In terms of strategy, digital age learners
tend to prefer extensive integration of digital technologies and tools and for collaborative
work (especially digitally-mediated). Furthermore, there is a strong preference
for peer assisted, problem solving, inquiry-based and discovery kinds of learning
which are embedded in a meaningful context (which is why game-based learning has
become so effective in some environments).
An extremely important trend is the significant
amount of learning which is occurring in informal environments ; this learning is primarily
interest driven and self-motivated, occurring through technology-mediated
environments such as social media and other networks. It is highly social and
participatory in nature.
As the
concept of digital media technologies for learning matures, new models of
learning and assessment are emerging to inform curriculum and instruction. Some
of these ideas support the idea of school reform, and others complement it; for
example, the Connected Learning Model (http://connectedlearning.tv/infographic),
which includes important socio-cultural factors of effective learning environments
such as participatory learning, connectivity
as well as individual factors, such as individual “interest”
or motivation (D. Hickey, personal communication, August 19, 2012).
Emerging in response to the need for
life-long learners to communicate newly acquired proficiencies and skills to
employers and other interested audiences, is the “new” concept of Digital
Badges and micro credentialing. As the quality and amount of free digital media
resources increases, matched with the availability of portable digital devices,
learning can, and does occur anywhere and at any time. Much of this learning
focuses upon skills which are urgently needed in the workplace, but because
they are not taught in formal environments, they are currently neither assessed
nor acknowledged. The concept of digital
badging has the potential to “disrupt” higher education; Arne Duncan, U. S.
Secretary of Education recently described the use of badges as a “game changing
strategy. “ (Duncan, 2012).
Technology and schools… in
transition:
K-20
Educational institutions are changing, slowly, as the ramifications of digital
media and ICT technologies
have become firmly entrenched in other environments. As with most diffusion patterns of
innovation, there are pockets of success and notable failures. Online learning,
once an innovative, emerging method of instructional delivery, has now become
main-streamed with both K-12 and higher education offering classes entirely in
cyberspace.
Despite the significant “integration of technology”
in teaching and learning as well as administration, practicing educators, for
the most part, lag behind in understanding. It is imperative that school
leaders be moderately technically adept, and critical that they
understand the possibilities and limitations of technologies. For example, so
many technology initiatives fail because of the well-meaning vision of
“technology integration” which fails to match learning theory with the
practical application of technologies as pedagogical tools. Without this
understanding, leaders risk failure and irrelevance, wasting resources and
demoralizing colleagues.
Implications
for Educational Leadership Faculty
Technology has the potential to
leverage teaching and instruction:
Innovative technologies which could be
applied in educational contexts are being developed at a rapid pace. In the
past 2-3 years, advances have been made in hardware, personal digital devices,
and digital media and software. Many of these technologies are already in use
in business and industry contexts. The implementation of these technologies
lags behind for a variety of reasons but one of the most pervasive challenges
is the knowledge and skill sets of the educators in the field. The U.S. Department
of Education suggests that more attention should be directed to adequately
preparing pre-service and in-service teachers, providing them with:
professional learning
experiences powered by technology to increase their digital literacy and enable
them to create compelling assignments for students that improve learning,
assessment and instructional practices…… technology should be used ….to engage and
motivate them in what and how they teach. (National Educational Technology Plan, 2010)
.
The New Media Consortium in collaboration
with the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) and the International Society
for Technology in Education (ISTE), reports on emerging technologies in education
and challenges for the educational community. In the annual Horizon Report, the
consortium reports that one of the most significant challenges to effective
technology use is inadequate teacher preparation to use emerging technologies:
….despite the widespread
agreement on the importance of digital media literacy, training in the
supporting skills and techniques is rare in teacher education…..This challenge
is exacerbated by the fact that digital literacy is less about tools and more
about thinking [i.e. approaches and pedagogies] and thus skills and standards
based upon tools and platforms have proven to be somewhat ephemeral. (p. 15).
Characteristic of quality leadership,
modeling and mentoring are powerful strategies, and are critical to successful innovation
diffusion in organizations. A leaders' knowledge and skills can make a tremendous difference in the degree of success in technology-related initiatives. Educational leaders and faculty have the capacity
as well as the responsibility, to confer knowledge of effective technology practices to
teachers and school administrators. We can only teach what we know; this may be
best accomplished, in an ever changing context, by creating communities of
learners with a common vision to really understand not only the capabilities of
technology and how they have changed the learning landscape, but also to be
responsive to students’ needs. When used
appropriately technology tools can facilitate in powerful pedagogies; as our
students lives are enmeshed in internet and communications technologies, we
risk being irrelevant if we do not lead the wave of change.
Considerations for addressing the need for
K-20 teacher and administration preparation programs:
- Knowledge and discourse on technologically-mediated learning and relevant theories, instructional practices and assessment
- Additional technology training and awareness for educational leadership and teacher preparation faculty
- Training specifically for the complex and multifaceted change processes in implementing educational technology initiatives. For example, what kinds of support and leadership actions foster success?
- Additional digital media and learning experiences in preparing pre service educators
- More exploration and research on situated learning in technology-mediated learning in socio-cultural contexts (e.g. classrooms, professional development)
Please share your thoughts and comments. How do you think we can prepare educators for a digitally-mediated future?
Suggested
resources:
21st
Century Principal (blog): http://the21stcenturyprincipal.blogspot.com/
Digital
Media and Learning (web site): http://dmlcentral.net/
ESchoolNews:
Technology for Today’s K-20 Educator (publication): http://www.eschoolnews.com/
Free
Technology for Teachers (blog): http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
References:
Brenner,
J. (2012). Pew internet: Teens. Retrieved May 10, 2012, from http://www.pewinternet.org/Commentary/2012/April/Pew-Internet-Teens.aspx
Carey,
K. (2012). A Future full of badges.
Retrieved August 15, 2012 from: http://chronicle.com/article/A-Future-Full-of-Badges/131455/
Davidson,
C. N. (2011). Now you see it: How the brain science of attention will transform
the way we live, work and learn. New York, NY: Penguin Group
Duncan,
A. (2011). Digital badges for learning: Remarks by Secretary Duncan at 4th annual launch of the MacArthur Foundation
Digital Media and Lifelong Learning Competition. Retrieved April 10,
2012, from http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/digital-badges-learning
Europa,
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Retrieved May 8, 2012 from: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/education_training_youth/lifelong_learning/c11090_en.htm
Jukes,
I., McCain, T. D. E., Crockett, L., 21st Century Fluency Project, &
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Lenhart,
A. (2012). Teens, smartphones and texting. Retrieved April 30, 2012,
from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Teens-and-smartphones.aspx
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Prensky,
M. (2003). Digital game-based learning. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 1(1),
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Partnership for 21st
Century Skills, (2008). 21st
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by technology. National Education Technology Plan. Retrieved May 15, 2012 ,
from http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010
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