It’s an interesting concept to consider…what came first the chicken or the egg?  When thinking about the question will the Common Core/Essential Standards influence the use of technology for learning, I think about the chicken and the egg. One cannot exist without the other.  It wasn’t the Common Core standards that prompted using technology for teaching and learning but the benchmarks for each standard imply that students will be given the opportunity to discover, through the use of technology, the content being taught.

Curriculum is curriculum. As educators we don’t have a choice of what to teach but we do have a choice how to teach. The learning goals create the basis for the student experience that each teacher creates.  The learning experience needs to include periods of discovery and research which is directly related to the use of technology.

Here’s a quote from Columbia University that articulates beautifully the ongoing challenges education has regarding the delivery of instruction.

The Department of Curriculum and Teaching, established in 1938, was the first department in the U.S. devoted to the scholarly study of problems of curriculum and teaching across all subjects and all levels of schooling, from early childhood through the education of teachers and supervisors. Broad questions about the nature, purpose, and design of curriculum and about the theory and practice of teaching remain at the core of all department programs. Addressing these questions in contemporary times calls for critical analyses of the ways in which curriculum, teaching, and schooling contribute to social inequalities, and a commitment to educating for social justice. 

Now we add the technology piece. I believe that technology always enhances my research in finding materials for my lessons AND tremendously increases the active participation of my students. Therefore, no matter what the curriculum, I will always seek the benefits and resources offered by the various tools of technology.  To me they walk hand in hand.

The Common Core standards lay a beautiful foundation for the future of education and, in my humble opinion, significantly enhance the opportunities to use technology.

Bring on the world. Bring on the World Wide Web! Bring on Learning!