Curriculum

A Video Plea for Better Ed Tech

By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo — December 11, 2009 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The YouTube video below has been making the rounds for a couple of years, but I was reminded of it again when it was forwarded by a colleague this morning. It shows a series of students holding small white boards (NOT the interactive kind, but the ones that require dry erase markers) with their pleas for using technology in school.

The students, seemingly ranging from elementary to high school age, look solemn as they appeal for some class time spent on 21st-century skills. They want to consume, remix, and share information with each other, and use digital tools for learning, such as wikis, blogs, podcasts, and digital storytelling.

The numbers offered have likely changed significantly in the last two years, since I assume that more and more teachers are using some technology in the classroom. But the video claims that 63 percent of teachers at the time never let students use technology to create content in class. No source for the data is given, and I haven’t found out much about the film producer, B.J. Nesbitt.

“Teach me to think, to create, to analyze, to evaluate, to apply,” the students’ message boards read. “Let me use the www...whatever, whenever, wherever. Let me tell a story, digitally.”

The video makes a compelling case for technology in the classroom and is intended to inspire teachers to adapt more modern tools for teaching. Given that it’s had nearly half a million views since it was uploaded in 2007, it might have some success in doing just that. Of course, it is promoting a 21-century-skills agenda, which has come under a bit of scrutiny lately, as is outlined in this Education Week story by Stephen Sawchuk, and in this piece by Mike Rose.

Do you think the film makes its case?

Related Tags:

A version of this news article first appeared in the Digital Education blog.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Reading & Literacy Webinar
(Re)Focus on Dyslexia: Moving Beyond Diagnosis & Toward Transformation
Move beyond dyslexia diagnoses & focus on effective literacy instruction for ALL students. Join us to learn research-based strategies that benefit learners in PreK-8.
Content provided by EPS Learning
Classroom Technology Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: Is AI Out to Take Your Job or Help You Do It Better?
With all of the uncertainty K-12 educators have around what AI means might mean for the future, how can the field best prepare young people for an AI-powered future?
Special Education K-12 Essentials Forum Understanding Learning Differences
Join this free virtual event for insights that will help educators better understand and support students with learning differences.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Curriculum Opinion There’s a Better Way to Teach Digital Citizenship
Many popular resources for digital-citizenship education only focus on good online behavior. That’s a problem.
Alexandra Thrall & T. Philip Nichols
5 min read
digital citizenship computer phone 1271520062
solarseven/iStock/Getty
Curriculum Letter to the Editor Christian Nationalism vs. Spirituality in America’s Schools
A retired teacher responds to the Oklahoma state schools superintendent's guidance on teaching the Bible in public schools in the state.
1 min read
Education Week opinion letters submissions
Gwen Keraval for Education Week
Curriculum How Oklahoma's Superintendent Wants Schools to Teach the Bible
Oklahoma's state superintendent directed schools to teach the Bible and to place a copy in every classroom.
4 min read
A hand holding a magnifying glass hovers over a Bible opened to the Ten Commandments.
Marinela Malcheva/iStock/Getty
Curriculum Should the Bible Be Taught in Public Schools?
Are recent pushes to include the Bible about cultural literacy—or a pretext for politicians who want Christianity in public schools?
10 min read
bible lying on a school desk with a lesson plan and calendar
tamaw/E+