Empowering Students with Technology - Ch. 1-3

Alan November's book, Empowering Students with Technology, provides educators with the fact that technology motivates students! I think we have all heard it and maybe even defended the point ourselves, but Alan November books begins to show us how. November also puts students in control. He believes students should be in charge of their own learning. Another point he makes, which I am very drawn to, is that introducing the use of technology can not be just something else to add to pile. Technology needs to be integrated and thinking about teaching and learning need to change to make that possible.

November discussing the important of teaching students how to be critical and evaluate the material they find on the Internet. We need to teach students how to MAP.

• M - Meta-web information: evaluate the structure of the information on the web. This begins with being able to understand the information within the web address itself. (I never knew could get so much information from the web address!)
• A - Author: evaluate who the author is of the website. Ask yourself does this person have the credentials to understand and deliver the facts or could this information be his/her opinion?
• P- Purpose: evaluate the web site's purpose. Is the site trying to sell a product? Persuade with ideas? Share information? or Entertain an audience?

As November points out, blocking students' access to the Internet is only a short term victory. We need to educate students far beyond turning a computer on and off. It is our responsibility to teach them how to be critical thinking when it comes to information found on the world wide web.

November also stresses the need for teaching students to have global communication skills.

• One way to do this is through the use of Skype. Students can with students in other schools within the town, state, country, or even the world. Using Skype is a great way to replace the traditional pen pal. Students would get instant feedback and responses from their "pal". November warns though; the technology is easy, students need to be prepared for different cultural backgrounds and understanding when communicating with someone of different cultures.
• Parents can also use Skype or another videoconferencing device to be part of the classroom community. This always busy working parents to "drop by" to see what is going on in the classroom or be part of their students' learning.
• Posting students' work online is another way to establish communication outside the classroom. As we saw in some teachers' online blogs, we can have children's work posted for families and friends to comment on. Family and friends across the country would never have this opportunity to communicate in this way without the web.

November gives new meaning to the term life-long learner... He reminds use that our students might have more experience with web-based tools than we do. Giving students the ability to teach the teacher would be a new concept in many classrooms but image the motivation!

According to November (2010) teachers can empower students by teaching them how to seek answers to their own questions. As teachers our role shifts from providing all the learning to helping students identify what it is they want to learn and help them locate resources to find their answers.

My questions to you...

(as they are the ones bouncing around my mind as I read)

• This is an overwhelming change in thinking, how do you begin? Where do you start?
• How do you feel about this overall change of student control?
• How would your administrators view this overall change of student control?
• How would parents view this overall change of student control?
• How would students view this overall change of student control?
• How would this align with new Common Core State Standards? (CCSS are driving my district's current curriculum overhaul, which was just completely rewritten in the summer of 2010, not even two years ago...)