Moreover, just 15 years ago, we stored music on a compact disc. During the time of the CD, we were all amazed at the quality and ease of playing and finding the tracks on the disc. Today, CD’s have pretty much gone to the wayside. Music is now stored and played in the hundreds and thousands on devices such as iPods, mp3 players or streamed over smartphones.
Also, 15 short years ago, most of us didn’t know about satellite radio. Today, we can access over 100 stations, most are commercial free, expanding our options from traditional radio.
Online sites, such as Pandora, and Jango, allow users to create their own personalized station that will only play music they like. This is done by the user clicking musical formats of interest, then as the station plays, the user can give thumbs up or thumbs down to any song. The site then remembers these tastes and continually adjusts and personalizes the station. For example, you can choose country, rock, pop, Christian, R&B or a mix of any of the above to play on your station. Within your station, you can customize what groups or types of songs will play. Or, you can simply ask "Alexa" or "Google" to stream any music you like!
Another advance in technology is touch. Nearly all cell phones and mobile computers (laptops, tablets) now offer touch screens and have very few buttons. The Apple iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy and the Microsoft Surface Pro are examples of this technology. Users are able to be more ‘attached’ to the device if you will. Consumers can use stylus pens or fingers to activate features. The keyboard and mouse are quickly becoming things of the past.
Less than 10 years ago, Apple launched its App Store. Only 10 years! Mobile apps have created a huge shift in how society consumes media. 77% of adults own a smartphone with apps. This is up from 35% in 2011. While desktops and laptops remain the primary digital platforms, they won't be for long. The most common way people get news and updates on their favorite website is through mobile apps.
Children thrive in this technology-rich society in which we live. Maneuvering devices come much more naturally to them than it does to most adults. It's their world. They have never used an adding machine or a manual typewriter (or an electric typewriter for that matter). Yet in my lifetime these were valuable equipment in any business class. So, knowing the rapid rate of change, we need to be teaching technology more than ever or our children will fall behind, right?
The answer to that question is, "No."
Learning the use of technology is valuable, but it should be integrated throughout the student's daily learning. It shouldn't be separated out and taught as a stand-alone "class." Technology in education is a tool, just as it is in business and industry. We need to ensure that students have an opportunity to use those tools in a technology-rich environment. That they have access to the appropriate technology when it is needed and that they understand when and where different devices are useful in researching, learning, production, or creating works.
The reality is that the kids know how to use technology now better than most adults and we ask them to "power down" when they hit our school doors. It is us, the educators that need the classes so that we know how to use the available technology most effectively as an instructional tool.
Today, students have access in our schools to desktop computers, laptop computers, netbooks, and tablet computers. We are moving to students storing assignments, completing assignments and turning assignments into their teacher online using "the cloud." Many of these assignments can give them instant feedback and the teacher can watch each student working online and give feedback during assignment completion. Even when the student is working from home!
So, if not technology, then what do our children need to know to be successful in the new global economy of the 21st century, where seemingly every job can be automated, out-sourced or off-shored? Certainly, they need to be technology literate. More importantly, they need skills learned through our curriculum which are interdisciplinary, integrated, project-based, and more, include and are learned within a project-based curriculum by utilizing skills similar to those advocated by
Tony Wagner in his book, "The Global Achievement Gap" as the 7 Survival Skills for Careers, College, and Citizenship:
- Critical thinking and problem solving
- Collaboration across networks and leading by influence
- Agility and adaptability
- Initiative and entrepreneurialism
- Effective oral and written communication
- Accessing and analyzing information
- Curiosity and imagination
Teaching kids to memorize information should be a thing of the past. In the 21st century, mere memorization won’t get you very far. There’s too much information, and it’s changing and growing exponentially. Besides, most of the information we need is readily available on the nearest computer or PDA screen—provided we know how to access and analyze it. Where in the 20th century, rigor meant mastering more—and more complex—academic content, 21st-century rigor is about creating new knowledge and applying what you know to new problems and situations.
