No one can deny that technology has become a permanent feature in our life. From sites like Facebook and Twitter to applications like Microsoft Word, it’s hard to go a day without using some kind of modern piece of technology. But do people really know how to use these great advances? Do they even understand how most of the gadgets and websites they use work?
That is one of the major issues facing lots of schools today. How do we integrate technology into education, and to what extent do we teach students about technology? Obviously not every student needs to know how Twitter’s API works, but I think that they should at least be introduced to the concept of tweeting. Employers are looking for more than what schools are teaching nowadays. For instance, take resume building. As a part of my school’s graduation requirements, you must prepare a portfolio and participate in a sort of pseudo-interview with people in the local community. Not once during the entire process of putting together a resume and content for the portfolio was it suggested that I mention my blog or Twitter account. Now this should be expected as Twitter is relatively new, and not many educators understand it.
But how can this change? Many educators refuse to take time out of their schedule to learn a new technology especially third world countries, let alone something that is seen as “social” and irrelevant to a learning environment. We could try teaching these new technologies during Professional Development days, but these days are few in number. How can we expect teachers to integrate social media when they don’t understand it themselves?
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