Daily Technology Use?

How much of my day should be spent using technology? I get asked this question a lot as I travel from school to school. Teachers want to know how many activities should include it, or what percentage of their day should involve technology. While it's true that several of the Common Core standards specifically mention technology, I think the question should be more like, How can technology help make student learning more meaningful? Or, How can technology help me achieve my learning goal?

I would never advocate forcing a tech tool into a lesson just to say I was using technology. It's not something to be checked off of a list (Yep, used a tech tool, check!). However, there are many learning benefits that can occur when tech is used in a meaningful way.

Here are the Common Core anchor standards (base language that grade level standards were built upon) that specifically include the mention of technology. Notice that there are reading, writing, and speaking & listening standards included in this list.

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7
  Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.6
  Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.8
  Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2
  Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.5
  Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

(When you examine the standards at your specific grade level, you will find many more mentions of technology use.)

One of the buzzwords, (buzzphrases?) flying around the education world right now is "21st Century Skills". You will often hear that it is a goal of a curricular program to improve 21st century skills. When I Google the phrase I get 607,000 results. In fact, if you search for that term on the California Department of Education's website, you will find pages of results: CDE 21st Century Skills

Why is this relevant to this post? Because technology is a vehicle that can help us teach our students to be 21st Century Citizens.

So, in an answer to the question how much technology should I be using in my classroom, I return with: does the tool you are considering foster creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, or communication? If yes, than be using it often! Blogging, Skyping, Collaborative Google Docs, Using a photo editor to create a logo, designing an online poster, etc... all of these are examples of classroom activities that will help our students master both the Common Core standards, and 21st Century Skills.