Technology Assessment

     Gone is the day of assessing technology literacy with questions such as, are you familiar with word processing and the ten-key. Educator must now be familiar with software that is able to compose, modify, and adapt to the change of the 21^st Century Learner. Of course we must start with ourselves as educators, in order to use technology we must first understand its usefulness. Educators are offered many in-service professional developments however I have yet to one that offers the use of basic software application such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc… Hmmmn, don't we all know how to use these software application? NO, many are only familiar with the basic function of Word; PowerPoint blows their mind, not to mention what the "boxes" in Excel means.

     Assessing or educators is very important, school districts must be aware of level of technology efficiency that an educator has. This information will allow IT to determine level of assistance they may need to accommodate the 21^st Century Educator followed by the 21^st Century Learner. Once we have assessed the teachers and educated them, then technology can be incorporated technology into the lessons allowing for more project-based leaning applications.

     That will afford teacher s the opportunity to assess the students and adjust to accommodate the needs of students. At times the cart is placed before the horse, technology leaders find great new products and purchases them for schools, these schools are used as pilot programs however often training of the educator on its usefulness are not done effectively. Of course the Technology is available but if the training and assess of its usefulness it becomes a waste of funds also a lost opportunity for our students.
Of course there will be pros and cons, one the major pros is in allows the student to be more involved in his/her learning, along with taking ownership of their education. At times when I am lecturing I wonder if the kids feel like Charlie Brown in school listening to his teacher Ms. Donovan going "blah, blah, Blah."
"We can create and publish as easily as we read, and we must teach our students to leverage this ability and add their own work to the global conversation in meaningful ways. If the bulk of what we ask our students to do centers around paper passed back and forth in the classroom we are doing students a grave disservice."


Richardson, W. (2007, March). The online edge. Retrieved from www.DistrictAdministration.com