My message for today’s teachers is pretty simple: Get on board with embedding technology with your students in your classroom or find another job.
That may sound a little harsh, but it’s the truth. Teachers may wish away the smart phones and iPads and Kindle Fires and the ever increasing wireless access, but that won’t do them any good. These things are becoming embedded in our lives and at the same time are becoming cheaper and more prevalent. That means that they’re about to become even MORE embedded into our lives.
And if you want proof, look no further than to the video below. Companies like Corning are reaching out to partners (the intended audience of the video below) to help them achieve a future that technophobes may not like, but one that is coming nonetheless. And schools need to get on board.
As you watch the video below, don’t really focus on the children. Yes, you’re looking at what education will look like 10-20 years from now, but that’s not the point. Look at the adults in the video. Imagine that they are the children in your classrooms right now. While everything in the video below certainly won’t come to pass exactly as shown here, our students are certainly going to be living in a world something LIKE the one in the video. Are the lessons that you’re teaching today the right ones to prepare students for this world? If they aren’t, what can you do differently?