Introduction

Introduction

There is no escaping it. Technology is here to stay. It is not a trend or a fad. It is the medium by which citizens of the world communicate more effectively, produce more efficiently, and research more efficaciously. To insure that these functions remain viable and strong, schools must prepare student's adequately to assure the public, and private sectors that graduates will possess the competencies to lead organizations, and communities using technology. There are, of course several critical issues to consider as we profoundly posit this position regarding technology's place in the world. We should concern ourselves with "Why?". Why should we insist that every student learn how to create and utilize a spreadsheet? Why should that same student know how to upload a video to You Tube? Where did all of this come from? How long have we been facing (or ignoring) this revolution in education? We should also ask, "So what happens when a teacher is not interested, willing or competent to teach students using various technologies"? What course or activities are most connected to computer and other technology use in k-12 classrooms? Finally, how can we expect student's to learn these competencies in districts and schools where the money is not there to support such?

This article will explore these issues as it seeks to look at the topic: Teachers Use of Technology in Today's K-12 Classrooms.



** Why we must Graduate Tech-Savvy Citizens for the 21st Century  ** “More than 3,000 books are published daily. The amount of technical information is doubling every two years (by 2010 it is predicted to double every 72 hours). 3 A new blog is created every half-minute; 50 million blogs were created in the second quarter of 2006. 4 Six million photos are uploaded to Flickr daily. 5 Podcasts, videos, machinima, and digital archives further expand our information sources, and 2.7 billion Google searches are performed each month” ( [] ) With the understanding that information is producing at this rate, we must become tech savvy students and citizens. Our ability to obtain this information is vital and speaks to not only citizens being able to obtain but, also how to use it. We as people always want to know why or how many. We have many reasons for why we would want this information. Teachers need information to teach. Doctors need information to improve their skills. Parents need information to do a better job at parenting. People that are obese need information to control their weight. There are many reasons why information is needed and many reasons why it is used. Think on the people who were not taught how to obtain this information and you can see a community without informed citizens. I remember when my mom got sick with cancer. I was grateful that there was so much information out there about cancer. I had access to the information, I used the information and I became a tech savvy citizen. The information made me   Page 2 – Tech Savvy feel better and helped me to know what I needed to do to help my mother. I was even able to have intelligent conversations with her doctors. I understood what they were talking about and we were able to collaborate on behalf of my mother because I was an informed citizen making informed decisions. This is just one of the reasons why we must be tech savvy citizens for the 21st century. Other reasons include that technology is used in major institutions such as schools, hospitals, government, local and state employment, churches, mass transportation systems, landscaping and architecture buildings and most importantly it is used as entertainment through video games, television, digital camera and just a whole notion of life is integrated with some form of technology. Therefore, we must not only keep up with technology. We also must be able to change as it changes. We must understand that how it was done last month may be obsolete because of technology advancement or significant findings in research.