Post #1

Seeing technology and the use of it in classrooms, seems like second nature in the 21st Century. There are a number of factors that influences teachers to use technology in their classrooms. For example, program initiatives such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which is "a federally funded initiative to develop standards for technology for teachers, other education professionals, and student" (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 2015, p.3). "ISTE's project called the National Educational Technology Standards - Teachers, was developed to evaluate teachers knowledge and skill that they should have in order to prepare students to be proficient in technology usage" (Lever-Duffy, 2015), which would of course influence teachers to use technology in their classrooms. Teachers are also influenced to use technology in their classrooms to help support administrative reporting, teaching and research such as, "helping report attendance, entering grades, preparing a worksheet, or researching a topic on the internet" (Lever-Duffy, 2015, p.12). There are also factors that influences students to use technology in the classrooms. For example, students are influenced to use technology in the classrooms as a means of learning according to their cognitive and learning styles, and communication. Other factors that influences students to use technology in classrooms include the need to foster critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration (Lever-Duffy, 2015). Both the influences of the use of technology for teachers as well as students are synthesized based on the bidirectional needs of the student and the teachers learning objectives for the students. For example, "educators are charged with ensuring that students are prepared for their place in society, therefore, teacher and student technology literacy is a critical tool" (Lever-Duffy, 2015, p3).

The ISTE standard for students "enable students to engage and thrive in a connected, digital world" (ISTE, 2017). One standard that gladdens my heart is the Global Collaborator standard that states: "Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally" (ISTE, 2017). This standard gladdens my heart because it promotes technology that fosters diversity, which is important in our society to embrace our differences to support positive change. Another standard that seems to be outside of my current skill set would be the Computational Thinker standard which states: "Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions" (ISTE, 2017). I believe that this standard is outside of my current skill set because I rarely use technology as a means of solving problems and developing and testing solutions, but instead as a means of entertainment and study purposes.

Digital natives is a term that describes individuals who have grown up knowing technology. I agree with the label digital native because it accurately describes the cohort of individuals who could barely recall a time without advanced technology such as the computers, the internet, and cellphones. I also agree with this label because it does not guarantee that this cohort of individuals will automatically know all there is to know about technology, but instead it focuses on the presence of technology in ones life time rather than the effective use of it. I have seen differences between myself (a digital native),  and my older professors (digital immigrants) on the basis of technology use in the classroom. For example, sometimes when my professor veers from the PowerPoint slide lecture to a YouTube video clip, it is often hard for them to navigate back to lecture slides which cause students in the audience to vocally assist the professor to return to the correct tab. The impact instances like these have had on my learning experience is that it makes the professor seem less credible to teach and is distracting to my learning process. The difference in technology usage I anticipate to have with my future students is to be proficient in navigating through the internet and to keep up-to-date with current information and include interactive programs and videos to my lectures.