Many students are already technological savy and they enjoy using new ways of communicating. Why not incorporate these new tools into your lessons? Equally important, universities and colleges expect students to be technologically adept. They are required to work collaboratively over the Internet and to use advanced school management systems. Will our students be prepared? For more on these expectations, see the page on 21st century skills. In fact, I am going to use those skills to structure this page, as I believe strongly that it's not about the tools but about how students (and teachers) can use them to enrich learning.
Core Subjects Ideas for enriching academic content (including Hebrew and Limudei Kodesh subjects) with primary sources, videos and tools can be found off my resource wiki at http://www.tbyresources.pbworks.com. Please check the Sidebar on the right-hand side of the page for a menu of subjects. As well, explore the various tech resources on the wiki for ideas culled from websites, social networking with other teachers and my own imagination. Ideas include collaborating with another classroom across the globe for geography learning, creating pretend Facebook pages for Shakespearean characters to creating glogs (multimedia posters) for a history project that includes primary sources, images and even video clips of historic events.
Global Awareness Working collaboratively with others - in-class and even globally - is considered another 21st century skill. In addition to gaining knowledge about diverse cultures, it helps foster mutual respect and gives students a wider platform for ideas on global issues. There might be some hesitation in perusing this area due to worries about safety or about inappropriate content, however consider a project with another class that is working on issues of recycling or anything that stays away from controversial subjects and does not require students to use full identifying names. There are many sites set up for classroom wikis, websites, blogs and more that have been developed with an eye to student safety. Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy Life and career skills Financial and career literacy prepares students for real-world situations. Students can use a wiki to create career pages. For example, in my art class, a student could pick Graphic Artist and then explore the education needed, schools that offer programs, potential salary range, skills needed, etc. It might be challenging to incorporate financial and entrepreneurial skills into an already crowded curriculum, however it might be an interesting exercise to integrate these skills into relevant lessons. For example, when teaching spreadsheets in computer class, I ask them to make forms that calculate a budget for a school event. Another suggestion might be to invite someone to talk to the class over Skype (like a telephone on your computer) about their career.
Civic Literacy We already offer students civics classes in grade 10. Perhaps students can read a counsellor's platform and comment on their website or invent their own party and create a website to support it (hmm... that would be fun!).
Health Literacy Teenagers are particularly concerned with body image. Gym, biology and nutrition all offer opportunities to talk to students about health and safety issues. There are many websites with multimedia content set up to support health education. Students could also use computers to track progress in nutrition, etc.
Environmental literacy Environmental issues can be discussed in many classes. There is a wealth of information about this on the internet and there are also many challenges created for schools. As of writing this, Staples is offering a green challenge for students with a nice financial prize for the winner.
Learning and Innovation Skills This area focuses on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration and is considered essential to prepare students for the future. All subject areas should be encouraging these skills. Offering tech options gives the students more skills to collaborate and present their ideas.
Information, Media and Technology Skills With all the rapid changes in technology, it's very hard to keep up with the best sources of information, most appropriate tools for a task and all the ideas being shared on the Internet. Many of our students are more tech savy than the teachers -- just check Doc's pockets to see a selection of the latest cell phones! Students liketechnology and use it in their personal lives to share and comment, create original material and pursue their hobbies. They use the Internet as their primary source of information when writing reports. It's my job to show them how to find, evaluate and document sources and your job to keep them accountable after I'm through with them. I also introduce them to different tools that will allow them to collaborate and create. If possible, invite students to use tech tools for your class by allowing them to create wikis, websites, blogs (they can be private with only you and/or the class invited to see the content) and other tech options. Whenever a written reflection is required, consider an alternative form of delivery. You could even use a site like Voicethreads that uses recordings - verbal reflections! The only differences to you would be that you would read work on the computer (but imagine how much more fun if students use multi-media!) and leave comments in the comment area of a blog or wiki.
Shayne Train, Education, Educational Technology, Computer Literacy, Web Tools