of writing a term paper. Virtual field
TEACHING trips will take them to an art museum on
the other side of the world. And if their
high school doesn’t offer a particular
THE DIGITAL advanced placement class? No worries:
They can take the class online.
Computers have been in schools for
more than two decades. But it takes
NATIVES more than equipment to transform
schools for the future. Michael Speziale
MS ’78, dean of Wilkes University’s
TECHNOLOGY College of Graduate and Professional
Studies, says more is required.
CHANGES “Computers have had little, if any,
effect on transforming our classrooms
21ST CENTURY because they haven’t been used
effectively,” Speziale says. Classrooms of
CLASSROOMS
the 21st century, he explains, must
reflect the way members of the
By Vicki Mayk
millennial generation—those born
between 1982 and 2000—think. “They
multitask, they collaborate, they live,
breathe and work in social networks.
And there is a whole body of research
B
that addresses how these students learn
uilding a model of the solar system—
and how to reach them,” he states.
complete with little planets made from “Then they come to school, and we ask
them to park the technology at the
plastic foam balls—has no place in Kathy door.” The way to teach them, he
explains, is to use a variety of media that
Schrock’s world. Schrock, an adjunct professor in engage them in learning collaboratively.
The key to transforming schools is
Wilkes University’s master’s degree program in
transforming teaching methods to
instructional media, likens it to an ancient artifact incorporate the wide variety of digital
and online tools available. Helping
with little relevance for today’s digital learners. educators learn how to do that is the
focus of several Wilkes University
“We need to be using technology demonstrate that they know the material. master’s degree programs in teacher
to allow students to do alternative Changing how they do it is the big step.” education. One of those programs—
assignments,” says Schrock, a nationally Offering students alternatives for 21st Century Teaching and Learning—
recognized expert on technology and completing assignments is just one aspect starts by helping teachers understand
education who has authored six books of the 21st century classroom, a place that why change is necessary.
and presented more than 100 workshops actively engages students by using “We tell them that they’re not doing
on the subject. “We need to be asking technology—from interactive whiteboards something wrong: The students have
WILKES | Fall 2009
them, ‘Do you want to do a video about to digital cameras—as tools to teach and changed,” says Kathleen Makuch,
that, or a comic strip, or a Flash video inspire. The 21st century classroom will program coordinator and a former
presentation?’ They still have to find some students making a video instead school superintendent. Their students,
16
Left: A computer is
always close at hand for
Pamela Oliveira, a
teacher in the Wyoming
Valley West Middle
School in Kingston, Pa.,
and a student in Wilkes’
master’s degree program
in instructional media.
Chalk boards and PHOTO BY BRUCE WELLER
worksheets aren't preparing our Below: Jim Kotz ’90
MS’92 demonstrates
the use of an interactive
students for the world in whiteboard as a
technology coach in
which they will perform. the Lackawanna Trail
School District.
PHOTO COURTESY JIM KOTZ
she explains, are “digital natives”—a term Once they do, many become advocates. “Sometimes the concept of slope can
coined by e-learning guru Marc Prensky He cites one veteran science teacher who be difficult for students to understand,”
to describe youngsters who have never “jumped right in” and made lessons Glod explains. “If they take digital
known a world without the Internet and interactive. For example, students in his pictures of roofs with various pitch and
cell phones. Teachers are “digital classroom study anatomy by placing then use Google SketchUp to outline the
immigrants” who have had to learn the organs in a digital human body. height and width of the roof line, they
equivalent of a second language. The assignment to create a model of the can calculate the slope of the roof.”
Gone are the days of lecturing by the solar system still has a place in the digital And for those who fear that
teacher. For digital natives, Makuch universe. Using simulated modeling, technology is making education more
explains, “project-based learning” is the students can build the solar system, set impersonal—Moran disagrees.
key. “Teachers are the facilitators of the planets in motion and watch them “It’s getting more personal,” she
learning. They set up projects and the orbit the sun. Barbara Moran ’84 MS’88 states. “Students can be online with
students do the learning.” and Victoria Glod MS’91, program their peers from New York to
The need for change drew Pamela coordinators for Wilkes’ classroom California and collaborate with them
Oliveira, a teacher at the Wyoming Valley technology and instructional technology on a project. Twitter, Facebook, Web
West Middle School, to enroll in Wilkes’ graduate programs, can identify dozens cams—here are endless options for
instructional media program. “Chalk of such resources. Technology can being connected.”
boards and worksheets aren’t preparing be especially helpful in teaching
our students for the world in which they challenging concepts.
will perform,” Oliveira says. LEARN MORE ON
Jim Kotz ’90 MS’92, THE WEB
focuses on helping teachers
master the tools in his role Learn more about
as technology coach for the online learning tools and the
Lackawanna Trail School classroom of the 21st century:
District in Factoryville, Pa.
• http://course.wilkes.edu/web20
“Newer teachers have been
using the technology all • http://school.discoveryeducation
along. For experienced .com/schrockguides
teachers, it’s a matter of • www.kathyschrock.net
WILKES | Fall 2009
finding the time to • www.iste.org
incorporate it into their
lesson plans,” Kotz says.
17