Technology Nowadays

Why are computers important in today's educational experience? How do students and teachers use computers in the classroom? Technology, and computers specifically, is important in education today because most of life is becoming digital. Think about how far computers have come. The first computer was introduced to the world on February 15, 1946, that's 70 YEARS!!! All the apps that have come out are insane! I know that on the newer iPhones, there is a wallet app that you can keep all your online accounts, including to but not limited to, Target coupons, Starbucks cards, and boarding passes for flights. Many college classes use Blackboard to help the students and teachers be  more organized. If I am not by my computer, I can pull up our class website through Blackboard's mobile app. Computers give students and teachers access to the worls from their location, wheter it be their bed, desk, class, car, etc. Web 2.0 has provided many applications including chats, forums, and video conferencing to give students access to their peers outside of class for things such as tutoring and group projects. Teachers and students need to be more adept at how to use the multimedia capabilities that are available to them at the click of a button. All of this new technology is not going to be integrated overnight. There are many things that have to happen first! Technology costs money, a lot of it! Many schools cannot afford technology. If they can, some schools limit the number of computers they have as well as limit the internet access speed. Many teachers aren't getting the proper training that they need for all the new technology. The integration of technology also takes lots of time away from the teachers. I definitely agree with integrating technology into classrooms. It allows for the students and the educators to become more involved in the classwork. I think that it is hard to integrate technology, but it is necessary because students will be growing up in the 21st century and most things, if not everything, will be digital.

The International Society for Technology in Education is a "professional organization dedicated to promoting appropriate uses of information technology to support and improve teaching and learning." I thought that the ISTE Standards were interesting because it gives generic things that each subgroup (teachers, administrators, students, etc.) should be doing, but there is nowhere that I saw that said, we should all be doing blah, blah, blah. Looking at the ISTE Standards for Students 2016, seeing as I am still a student, I love the Creative Communicator Standard because I am a creative person and I love using technology to express my creativity. On the other hand, I look forward to expanding my knowledge about the Global Collaborator Standard. This will help me with my people skills and hopefully help me meet new people.

I agree with the label "digital native" for today's youth. The kids nowadays are definitely more involved in technology than previous generations. So technically you can definitely call the youth digital natives. Digital natives are people who have grown up using technology and usually refers to children, teens, and young adults. Digital natives usually can't remember a time without technology, however that doesn't make them a better technology user than the technology immigrants. Digital natives are just used to the presence of technology in their lives than immigrants. Due to the fact that I don't use as much technology as others in my generation, I don't really see much difference because up until now, I haven't had to use much technology in the classroom, more at home. I also don't use the same technology as my teachers, and if we do, I don't see much difference between how they use it and how I do. In the future, I expect that there will be many different kinds of technology than there are now. I am sure that I will have to learn about new software, programs, apps, etc. so that I can capture the student's attention and help them learn.