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The Increase of Interactivity One only need to look at the gaming market to see the evolution of how our brains crave interaction. We went from Backgammon to Atari and realized that with some simple interaction, like a yellow circle eating dots, our brains could stay occupied for hours. The recent shift to touch screen and even motion-based interaction means that we now involve our whole body when interacting with games. Classroom Outcome: We might notice that our students seem more “antsy,” but in reality, sitting still in a seat for several hours has never been ideal for learning. Research is now becoming more abundant to back that statement. Incorporating regular brain breaks or mini-activities that require kids to move every 15-30 minutes re-invigorate the brain and get them refocused in the tasks at hand. On-Demand Living Most of us grew up in an era of either three basic television channels or the privilege of many via paid cable. With the digital era, television and movies have seen an exponential change in how they are distributed and accessed.  You no longer have to wait for that favorite re-run of Moonlighting; today, you can just pull it up on your phone. Better yet, you can pause it on one device and then watch it on another when you choose.  If you really get hooked on a show, why wait a week when you can just binge view it? Classroom Outcome: Flipped-teaching comes to mind when thinking of the “on-demand” model of learning. Not everyone has the time or energy for a full-fledged flipped-teaching model (not to mention at-home access for all students), but recording some lessons or concepts for later viewing, even in class, would be one way to let students have access to information when they want it. Wouldn’t it be nice if kids wanted to binge learn? Self-Publishing the World As We See It They ways we viewed and read the news was previously distributed to us through a filter.  Publisher, editor, advertisers, and corporations decided what we should watch and read when it came to content. In some ways, the classroom has followed a similar path. Look at the world now when it comes to news. We are all publishing to the world around us in blogs, tweets, posts and…yes…even Instagram selfies. Our brains are no longer designed to sit back and take what is given to us. We want to create and share what we see and learn too. Classroom Outcome:  This is one area where I feel that education has excelled, but there is still room for improvement. We’ve always encouraged students to write and report on what they think or believe. As students, we learned to play the game of “know your audience” when it came to writing a paper for a certain professor. Our purpose was writing for writing’s sake. Now we no longer have to limit ourselves to one recipient. Our students have access to a global audience and don’t have to write just to please one teacher. They can write based on what they see and believe to be true. Everything is Mobile (and Instant) As fast as the internet took the world by storm, the mobile revolution dropped a bomb of societal change and practice. People can now have all of their media in the palm of their hand. They can connect with anyone, anywhere. While there isn’t always value to why we use our devices, having that instant access means our brains can now outsource menial facts and focus on application and creation rather than retention. Classroom Outcome: One of the greatest challenges to the classrooms of today is mobile technology. Do we fund a 1:1 program? Allow a Bring Your Own Device policy? Won’t this just add the distraction of the outside world into a classroom? Rather than avoid or ban the use of mobile devices, some are embracing it as a way to not only engage learners, but also dig deeper into learning. This isn’t without its pitfalls, and can be quite messy, but setting expectations of use can be a powerful way to model how our kids use these in the non-school setting.  Maybe instead of whipping out their phones when at a restaurant, kids will actually sit and have a conversation with the grown-ups around them.  Of course, this is assuming the grown-ups have put down their devices too. Embracing the Digital Brain As we can see from these few examples, the world around us is changing.  This change affects the way we think, learn, and connect. In education, we have three options when dealing with these changes: avoid it, struggle with it, or embrace it. Technology would seem to be the panacea for solving all of these issues when it comes to engaging the digital brain. However, while it does have an impact in the classroom, the greatest impact still lies within the teacher and the content that they are trying to get their students to learn.  Until the pedagogy and purpose align with this new world, we are all left fighting a battle rather than embracing it.

Technology has become part of the educational process, but too often it is separate and not integrated into the learning experience.Today, Education World offers easy and painless ways to integrate technology into your daily routine.

Integrating technology into the curriculum is a priority -- if not a mandate -- in most schools today.

For many teachers, a lack of personal experience with technology presents an additional challenge. In order to incorporate technology-based activities and projects into their curriculum, those teachers first must find the time to learn to use the tools and understand the terminology necessary for participation in those projects or activities.

Introduce your students to new ways of seeing the world with a cultural exchange between your class and another classroom anywhere in the world. Language skills Bring language to life with real-life conversations where students can practice a new language with a class of native speakers, or help English learners practice their skills. Discovery Try mystery Skype calls, where classes connect online and give clues to help each guess the other's location. Or introduce your students to a classroom in the location of a book they're reading or a subject they're studying.

. Get clear about what your community needs and values. What do you want for your graduates (whether they leave you in 5th, 8th or 12th grade)? Try to avoid the trap of doing what's always been done -- this is a different time and world from when you were in school (or likely even in college). What skills do students really need for success in today's (and tomorrow's) world? Their time at school is too valuable to focus on anything that doesn't help them develop those skills and doesn't underscore the value of play, failure and hands-on experiences (activities that are often seen as less "rigorous" or less "college prep"). Once you have determined what you value for your students, it is easy to avoid the trap of products that promise instant results or boxed solutions. For us, having our students engage in real-world learning experiences is a priority, so we utilized technologies like video-conferencing that enabled making those connections.

Technology is an amplifier of natural abilities. Brilliant teachers see that good writers become better writers, good debaters become better debaters, good French speakers become better French speakers, good mathematical problem-solvers become better mathematical problem-solvers, and so on. by helping their students harness technology. They do not see technology as a crutch, but as a propellant. Brilliant teachers have experienced the empowering power of technology themselves. Brilliant teachers use good assessment strategies to rigorously determine the quality of technology-enhanced projects.

Creation and Design. Likewise, creation activities provide students the ability to develop creativity and problem-solving skills by displaying their mastery in profound and meaningful ways. Teachers at McKeel Elementary Academy in Lakeland, Florida, integrate the use of technology for student-created digital media into all areas of curriculum: Kindergarteners create image-based movies on recycling and insects; First graders develop PowerPoint presentations for “My Time to Teach” projects to share with the class; Fourth graders prepare for their statewide standardized writing assessment by developing elaborate digital storybooks on free web 2.0 sites such as Storybird (www.storybird.com) or StoryJumper (www.storyjumper.com). Fifth graders collaborate to launch a Web Safety Wiki to teach other students worldwide about digital citizenship (wildcatwebsafety.wikispaces.com). The projects created are excellent tools for formative and summative assessment. Yet more than that, through creation activities, students design products that make them active partners in constructing learning experiences in the classroom and beyond. In demonstrating their skills and knowledge, they become more confident in their own abilities and their own voices.

Following the joyous moment when educators realize their students are capable, independent technology users who can create inspiring digital masterpieces, the next reaction is often a more solemn, “How do we fit it all in?” In fact, the answer to this question is vital to a successful technology integration transformation. In the former mindset of teaching with technology, the teacher was the focal point of the classroom, creating (often time-consuming) interactive and multimedia presentations to add shock and awe to his or her lessons and capture the attention of the 21st century child. A new mindset of teaching through technology must emerge, which depends on a vital shift in teacher/student roles.