21st Century Educator

NETS for Teachers 2008
\nUnveiled June 30 at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, ISTE's revised National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Teachers mark a significant overhaul of the group's original teacher technology standards, which ISTE introduced in 2000. The revised framework focuses on what teachers should know to help students become productive digital learners and digital citizens.\n

2008 National Educational Computing Conference also touts collaboration as a key to 21st-century learning

New term for how digital youth take in information: MEDIA SNACKERS. Check out the video on this page!

John Palfrey & Urs Gasser [Berkman Center] identify 9 myths about Digital Natives and offer succinct interpretations based on research and observations of youth. Educators involved in digital citizenship efforts may find a shift in thinking is necessary in how we educate students about issues related to online safety, copyright, privacy etc....where their confusions are and what they do/don't understand. It's also important to understand the significance of social groups and online communities on our youth and how they motivate development of friendship-driven and interest-driven content.

Anne Collier provides us with thoughtful analysis and commentary on the MacArthur Foundation's recent symposium [April 2008) at Stanford, "From MySpace to Hip Hop: New Media In the Everyday Lives of Youth." Click here for the entire Digital Youth presentation.

On April 23, 2008, public forum, "From MySpace to Hip Hop: New Media In the Everyday Lives of Youth," reported on the interim findings of the ethnographic project funded by the MacArthur Foundation, "Kids' Informal Learning through Digital Media," conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California. Part 1, 4-23-08. This event addressed how digital technologies and new media are changing the way that young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life. The forum was presented by Common Sense Media, the MacArthur Foundation and the Stanford University School of Education.

An academic research team -- joining people from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland -- is hosting and working on the core of this wiki, which illustrates the beginning stages of a larger research project on Digital Natives. The site offers a wealth of information in 10 topic areas:
\nDigital Identity, digital safety, digital privacy, digital creativity, digital opportunities, digital information overload, digital information quality, digital piracy and digital education.

Thinkquest Award Winner 2008. Digital Cooperative is a global exploration of censorship in the digital age. This winning team studied the topic from academic perspectives, analyzed five countries in in-depth case studies, conducted exclusive interviews with industry experts, and created interactive quizzes. Their goal is to raise awareness and increase understanding of this often invisible issue.

TThinkQuest Newswire Announcement: Students from 13 countries took top honors in this year's ThinkQuest International 2008 Competition. The competition is utilized by teachers to engage their students in developing critical skills for life and work in the 21st century.This year's winning teams collaborated in the research, writing and creation of websites on educational topics ranging from mathematics to promoting tolerance and preventing bullying.

ThinkQuest International 2008 included 972 teams from 60 countries and the winning entries included students from Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. Each team had approximately eight months to complete their final websites. The submissions were then reviewed by an international panel of volunteer judges who selected the winners in each of the three age divisions. The judges also awarded the "Global Perspectives" prize to the team best exemplifying respect for diversity and recognition of global interdependence.

How tech-obsessed iKids would improve our schools. One of the strangest things in this age of young people's empowerment is how little input our students have into their own education and its future. Kids who out of school control large sums of money and have huge choices on how they spend it have almost no choices at all about how they are educated -- they are, for the most part, just herded into classrooms and told what to do and when to do it.

Slick video made by the Pearson Foundation for COSN that explains the shifts that need to happen if we are going to enable students to become fully digital literate.
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) provides a voice for K-12 education leaders who use technology strategically to improve teaching and learning. CoSN provides products and services to support leadership development, advocacy, coalition building, and awareness of emerging technologies.

[May 2008] AASA article gives examples of school organizations that are desperately and inappropriately blocking the future and Scott McLeod pleads, "Please don't block the future." Please don't relegate your students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to second-class status in the new economy because you left it to them and their families to figure out on their own what it means to be digital, global citizens. Ask AASA and its state affiliates to provide more technology leadership-related professional development opportunities. And let us know how we can help.

Today's readers become literate by learning to read the words and symbols in today's world and its antecedents. They analyze, compare, evaluate and interpret multiple representations from a variety of disciplines and subjects, including texts, photographs, artwork, and data.

May 2008 : THE Journal. The challenge for teachers is to find ways to support in-depth learning and increased student achievement, "...while also employing a variety of measures, including standardized tests." What kinds of new methods would provide the kind of learning environments and learning measurements that truly reflect the learning that is taking place? What new skills are needed if instructors are to meet this challenge?

"21st Century Learning" is currently the hottest catchphrase in education, but what it means has yet to be fully determined. Technology is a part of students' everyday lives, and substantial advances in technology have profoundly affected the way they learn. As a result, educators are working hard to meet the ever-evolving needs of 21st century learners. Translating the ongoing technological revolution into a learning experience is a fundamental part of that challenge.

In his article, Thompson offers an exploration of the meaning and application of Web 2.0; evaluates how Net Generation students, who will enter the classroom with Web 2.0 expectations and experiences, will reshape institutions of higher education and their practices; and examines what some of these IHEs are specifically doing to meet the needs of the next generation of students. Thompson suggest that in order to move our educational practices forward, it is incumbent upon us to recognize and react to our changing student population.

Why is media literacy important? Here's a beginning list of reasons from thinkers and leaders in the field.

Every day, across the nation, our digitally native students are punching search terms into their school's Internet browsers. But which keywords are they searching for most? Starting today, a top 15 list of the most active search terms will be available on Thinkronize, Inc's netTrekker site

What to do with all those cell phones, PDAs, and iPods tucked away in students' backpacks? Forward-thinking administrators have found a 'smart' solution: Load them with educational content and welcome them into instruction.