1. All kids are tech savvy and are using lots of Web 2.0 tools.
False. Based upon a recent survey at our high school, I found the following:
Do you do any of the following on a regular basis (check all that apply)
| | | (21%) |  |
| | | (13%) | |
| | | ( 7%) | |
| | | ( 1%) | |
| | | ( 9%) | |
| | | ( 2%) | |
| | | (70%) | |
| | | (33%) | |
| | | (35%) | |
| | | (38%) | |
| | | (11%) | |
| | | (71%) | |
| | | (29%) | |
Conclusion: They text and download music. They entertain themselves with technology. I'm not sure how much content they are creating beyond their messages. Certainly the vast majority of high school students do not know how to use the Office suite for full academic potential, cite sources correctly, or access scholarly sources.
2. All teachers are not tech savvy and are using methods from the 1950's.
False. Based upon a survey of over 50% of the teaching staff in my district, I discovered the following:
For the following skills, please self-assess your comfort and skill level:
Creating, editing and producing a word processed document, including inserting pictures, tables, clip art, and font/color variation.
|
Creating, editing, and producing a multi-media presentation.
|
Creating, editing, and producing a simple spreadsheet to calculate or organize data.
|
Composing, sending, and reading emails, both with and without attachments.
|
Using a search engine to effectively research a topic and narrow the search to ten "hits" or less, including evaluating the validity and perspective of the site.
|
Searching, retrieving,and playing a video from United Streaming or YouTube.
|
| | (27%) | | |
| | (12%) | | |
| | (21%) | | |
| | (15%) | | |
| | (15%) | | |
| no answer | (10%) | |
Conclusions: Our professional development programs are effective, our teachers see value in these tools for instrution, and it has become embedded into classroom practices.
3. India and China producing more engineers and gaining economic advantages on the United States is a problem our schools must fix.
False. The issue is so much more complex. England and France were the colonial leaders of the world two centuries ago. The United States took over that role a century and a half ago. Japan and Germany tried to assume it for a short time. Today, it is not so much about land but about raw materials, natural resources, the industrial complex, standards of living, the divide between the haves and the have nots, and exapnding influence and perspective. Add in spheres of influence, global terrorism, homeland security, and other concerns, and you have an issue so large that it is beyond the realm of American public schools to address.
My thought, if India and China become stronger than the United States economically, so what? The United States has been economiucally stronger than most of Europe for a century, and most of the student sin those countries achieve far more than we do today. I say, let them go. Let's worry about preparing our kids to be good thinkers and contributing members to a world society, not getting caught up in jingoism or saber rattling.
4. All kids spend all their time online.
Again, surveying our students:
How much time are you on the Internet daily, on average?
| | (16%) | | |
| | (21%) | | |
| | (28%) | | |
| | (15%) | | |
| | (10%) | | |
| | ( 8%) | | |
| no answer | ( 2%) | |
No doubt, these are big numbers. However, if you go out to our fields, kids are playing sports in record numbers. They are playing in the band, singing in the chorus, and hanging at the local Starbucks with their friends after school. Yes, they are online.....but they are still engaing in in-person interactions too.
5. Technology is needed to students to learn in the 21st century.
I feel that learning with technology improves my achievement.
| | (15%) | | |
| | (41%) | | |
| | (36%) | | |
| | ( 6%) | | |
| | ( 3%) | | |
| no answer | ( 0%) |
First, the world "technology" is used a great deal. Technology could be a VCR or a filmstrip. It could also be a laptop in the hands of every student. The definition is "the application of scientific or other organized knowledge--including any tool, technique, product, process, method, organization or system--to practical tasks. ..." according to the National Institute of Health. We need to be specific with what we are talking about, for at its most basic defention, everyone on the planet uses technology!
Have you heard any good myths lately?
4 comments:
I agree that not all students are tech savvy nor are all teachers tech ignorant. Its always going to be a little bit of both. However I have two questions regarding your survey and teacher use. First none of the questions regarding teacher use mention the use of collaborative web tools, whereas many of your student questions do. Why did you make that choice? Also in the teacher section you do not mention the frequency of students using those tools. How often are their teachers requiring the use of those tools, are they once in a term or more often than that.
Interesting findings. We have also issued a technology survey to all of our grades 9-11 students. Many of the questions were the same as yours. I am very curious to find out where our students stand on their use of Web2.0 and their perceptions about teachers' use of technology impacting their learning and/or desire to learn. Can you provide for your readers the curvey? Would you mind if the survey is duplicated?
On a side note, I was very impressed with your recent presentation (I watched most of the video).
Chris- I picked skills that were listed as part of our Board approved technology skills matrix that we require students ot have proficiency in. My thought was that if we require students to have these skills, teachers should have them as well. The point of the student questions was to perhaps show the need to adjust these skills in the future. You point about frequency is well taken....but I think the question needs to be phrased to show use for cognitive purposes, not solely affective. Any thoughts on a good question phrase?
Mike- I'd be happy to provide the survey. Send it to me on email and I'll put it up.
Thanks for watching the video! (It is a long one!)
Barry
Barry, at the risk of being a research geek, I'm not sure I'd agree that your findings support some of your conclusions. For example, you primarily asked teachers about their comfort levels and not their actual implementation. If you only look at the responses where teachers said they're DOING what you asked them about, the percentages are 47%, 25%, 21%, 43%, 40%, 27%, and 27%. You know your school better than I do, but as an outsider I'm not sure those numbers support your conclusion that 'our professional development programs are effective, our teachers see value in these tools for instruction, and it has become embedded into classroom practices.'
Also, it is quite common for educators (and others) to tell surveyors what they want to hear. For example, I've surveyed administrators who tell me one thing. When I then cross-check by asking teachers, students, and/or parents, I often receive a completely different, usually contrasting, view of the situation! It would be interesting to see what your students say about the teachers' actual usage of, not just comfort level with, these tools.
I don't mean to malign your survey. It's very interesting. I just want to know more, of course. Thanks for sharing with all of us!
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