If you had the opportunity to create a 21st Century technology class for middle school what would it look like? Would it be paperless? Would it be application/computer based? Or would you harness the cloud and the Internet? This is exactly what I have been challenged to do. After many years working with teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum and then teach the application to the students, I am being given my own time slot to work with students. My head is spinning with trying to create a year long tech class for the incoming 6th graders.
Fact: The majority of the students moving from 5th to 6th grade have already been introduced to Google Apps in the form of email and wordprocessing documents. There will be 16 new students added to the class population in the Fall. I have started to create an outline of cloud based computing tools to use. Working out from Google Apps, there are digital imaging programs, social networking sites, study tools, and online file storage to name only a few.
Presently: I am teaching an online HTML class using Coursesites. I am wondering if I should be using Coursesites or our Moodle program to deliver the course content along with the classroom instruction? I know I want to explore the use of handheld devices such as smartphones and itouches.
Future: My ultimate goal is to focus the program on ISTE NETS and have my students facile in many aspects of technology use. The students now fumble with attaching a document to email but they know where the games are online. They may be digital natives but they have yet to tap into the resources available to them.
There is much for me to think about and only months to put it all together. It is both scary and exciting.
