Hidden Common Core skills students need to learn…and how to learn them School experts say these Common Core tools can teach students the digital skills they need to learn As schools across the country begin to implement Common Core, assessments are asking students to use digital skills that many still need to learn. According to one school district, it’s knowing what these skills are, the online tools available, and in what grades to implement them, that will make students Common Core-ready. “If you look at the Common Core requirements closely, there are minimal technology requirements for every student,” said Tamra Hogue, supervisor of instructional technology and media services for Bay District Schools in Panama City, Fl., during the FETC 2014 presentation “Common Core: Cool Tools for Your School.” Beyond knowing how to respond to an online prompt during computer assessments, prompts that often use Microsoft Word icons without instructions, students also need to complete Common Core requirements by creating “brochures” or “video presentations.”
Why Technology Alone Can’t Fix the Education Problem For more than a decade now, I’ve internally cringed whenever someone talks about the promise of technology in education. Often, discussions of iPads, video games, laptops for all focus on the potential of access to the software, device, or app rather than how it’s used. In 1999, my department at UC Santa Barbara decided that all lecturers would hold classes in campus computer labs to demonstrate our progressiveness. We received no training. There was no brainstorming about lessons. But globally, many thought technology would revolutionize education. No matter how many laptops we put in classrooms or wi-fi networks we set up, if kids are in a district where schools are closing and class time is reduced due to budget shortfalls, learning is going to suffer. Challenges outside the classroom affect learning within. Facing these societal challenges, clearly technology can level the playing field, but cannot be the only leveller. Banner image credit: Brad Flickinger