Yes, post-secondary education is becoming more expensive to prepare our sons and daughters at the actual schools of learning for their future. More the reason(s) that we must prepare students K-12th to be 21st century learners that can collaborate, communicate, use critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills that will enable them to be independent and self-motivated for online learning. By taking on-line college courses, the students will be able to save money in tuition fees, textbooks, housing, transportation, and other types of expenses. In spite of the high expense it will cost me to educate my daughter as a biology major and to attend medical school, I want her to be prepared to become a medical doctor--thank goodness I only have one!!

Choices, choices, so many choices to select from among the technlogy tools that will increase our multi-tasking environment. Due to their mobility size and powerful capabilities, these computer tools are with their owners just about anywhere. A couple of weeks ago, my daughter and I were at PF Chang's having dinner; we saw a boy engaged with an I-Pad while family was having their dinner, a young lady using a tablet while eating her meal, and a young couple that had a laptop, but shut it down when their food was brought to them.

I, too, am happy using Edmodo. I can share notes, links, and files with the students. I can send the students an alert for an assignment, test, and an event. Even from their home, when absent the students can check for assignments being done in class. As Esther mentioned, Edmodo makes it easy for grading and the students can check comments on assignments.

After reviewing the 2011-2012 DHS STaR Chart, some of the key areas of concern that dropped to Advanced Tech were:

Teaching and Learning
Educator Preparation and Development
Infrastructure and Technology

It is vital to offer teachers training or send them to conferences on how to integrate technology in their lessons so that students will be able utilize the technology in the classroom and out of the classroom. The training will make the teachers feel more at ease with the technology tools and more receptive to implement them. In addition, when the district network system is working on overload, the system crashes when the students are using the terminals. We need to focus on the district infrastructure to resolve that issue. As a BIM teacher, I would like to be able to use Synchronize in the classroom terminals in order to ensure that the students are focused on their tasks and using the technology tools to become productive 21st century learners. Administrators, technology department, teachers, students, and parents need to be on the same page in order to achieve the Target Tech status.

Esther,
I agree with the article, because administrators are suppose to be our instructional leaders. It is important for administrators to encourage and support the usage of technology integration in classroom instruction. They also need to provide rotation opportunities for teachers to attend technology conferences and to encourage teachers to participate in the MTT program so that teachers will be more informed on the Technology Applications Standards I-V for integration.

Corina,

I belong to the "baby boomer" generation! In December 1986, when I left Edcouch-Elsa HS, about 10 new TRS-80 computers were delivered to the class which had 20 IBM Selectric typewriters. I recall when I would use two overhead projectors and transparencies for classroom instruction--that was technology for that time! I definitely feel like a time traveler that has been going through each generation of technology and it just gets better. I look forward to purchasing two iPhones now that my daughter will be attending UTSA in the Fall. I believe that technology should help us become more efficient and productive, but it can be a distraction and dangerous when misused.

The Master Teacher Technology (MTT) courses have given me an insight to some of the problems that teachers in general encounter while attempting to integrate technology into their content area. I have a better understanding of the importance of the Texas STaR Chart, Long-Range Plan, and the No Child Left Behind Law. Furthermore, I believe that through the MTT participants/mentors who believe that technology integration will ehance the instructional capabilities of teachers in order for the students to use the technology that will make them 21st Century Learners and to compete in a gobal society.

Wow! Shannon, I was absolutely amazed by the Wii remote video from http://www.ted.com/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html. It proves that out of necessity, will, and creativity, there are individuals that are super creative and are willing to share their knowledge to help the world become better. Thank you, Shannon for sharing!

Corina,

Students (our youth) of the Net Generation and the iGeneration are great conumers of immense amounts of media techonology such as: video game consoles, laptop usage for their social networking, television, MP3 player, and cell phone to surf the web and to text message. These tools keep the typical teen engaged in the areas of entertainment and communication.

Just like Doctor Butler indicated that students need to learn how to apply the usage of media technology in a "working environment" that will result in efficiency and productivity. Even though media technology can be sometimes be overwhelming, we as teachers need to use it to convey subject content in a real-life setting that the students can relate to in their future "work' lives.

As teachers, we need to take one-day-at-time in successfully mastering various types of media technology in order to be confident and to seek assistance when needed.