Technology makes life a little easier. It is a growing pain to see people some dependant on technology. However, I think it is crucial for both students and teachers to use tech. For teachers, using tech allows them to quickly and successfully communicate with the necessary people, easily create their lesson plans and provide their students with the appropriate materials, organize their files and having easy access to them online, and engaging their students of all ages. For students, technology allows them to keep in touch with their teachers, quickly submit their work, keeps them engaged, and can allow many students to add on to their learning by doing additional research in class.
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards are put in place to help students and teachers productively use technology in the classroom. These standards help keep this large group of people up to date to make their lives easier. I appreciate the first standard that states to "facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity". I believe it is absolutely important for teachers to promote creativity. We need students who develop their own way of learning and processing information. Society needs people who have a mind of their own and who have new ideas. It is the only way we have been able to advance forward.
A digital native is one that has grown up surrounded by technology. They are familiar with tech and can easily navigate. For today's youth, I would not classify everyone as a digital native. Many children live in locations where they cannot receive the latest tech and therefore are not expose or kept up to date. Another large portion of today's youth is growing up in poor households. They cannot get their hands on the latest tech. I have yet to have a teacher who is considered a digital immigrant. All of my teachers in the past were all familiar with the technology they used in class and there were no problems. Personally, I keep up with the latest tech so I believe I would not have any major difference between my future students.
I agree with your favorite ISTE standard. Creativity is an incredibly important skill, in every facet of life. I feel like as I went on in school we were encouraged less and less to be creative and instead were pushed towards rubrics and templates. Technology should most definitely be utilized to foster imagination and encourage students towards creative endeavors.
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