Embrace digital age for children’s sake

The age of digital technology has permeated education, medicine, banking and business, as well as everyday life. It is now part of television, photography, music and other aspects of our society. Terms such as iPhone, texting, SmartBoards, blogging, Facebook, Xanga, Wi-Fi and You Tube are not words from an old “Star Trek” script, but are part of our language. Many of these terms are so new that they have not made it to my word processor spell check, and no hard copy dictionary can keep up to speed with digital-age terminology. Personally, I’m no tech wizard, and it is sometimes difficult for me to keep up, but it does seem that technology is a part of almost every aspect of my life.
Technology has become such an integral part of the education process that as parents buy pens and pencils, the shopping basket may also hold E-books, MP3 players, lap-top computers and other technology tools. It is easy to sit and scratch your head and simply wonder what is happening next, but I advise that we consider jumping on this technological trend and make it work for our students’ education.
A recent report, “The International Society for Technology in Education” (ISTE), issued guidelines to educators:
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
2. Design and develop digital-age work and learning
3. Model digital-age work
4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility
5. Engage in professional growth and leadership
We need to embrace these advancements of technology to support the learning process of all children. Instead of blackboards, classrooms now have SmartBoards or other similar digital boards that allow a teacher and students to link the board to the Internet. Some students are required to produce PowerPoint presentations, including video and pictures to give their annual “What I Did This Summer” report to the class.
While staying up with the digital age and its uses and abuses can keep educators hopping,  I agree with the ISTE statement that we need to model digital-age work, citizenship and responsibility. During a recent conference, State Superintendent of Instruction Sandy Garrett said, “Another part of the solution to our conundrum, raising achievement and raising graduation rates, is giving greater attention to using tools of technology to enhance learning time and engage students.”
Editor’s Note: This guest editorial is offered by Steve Beall, a member of The Shawnee News-Star Editorial Advisory Board. He is assistant superintendent of the Shawnee School District. The views expressed by our guest editorialists and guest columnists are theirs, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the News-Star’s management.