Standards and technology are two separate pieces of teaching. Both can be taught completely separately or together. In the current STEM pedagogy, its seems there is a push to incorporate more technology into lessons. As long as the technology is meaningful and makes a task easier wihtout cutting corners, it will make the lesson more engaging. Examples from NCCAT talks include real-time and anonymous feedback with phones or clickers, or using a website to generate a infographic to make information more engaging.
There are, however, lots of times when including technology can make projects seem overly complicated or automate processes that are important for students to practice. The place I see cutting corners in order to integrate technology the most is with logger pro data recording and graphing. There are plenty of students who have trouble making graphs in math, science, or both classes. The easiest way to remedy this is to have them take measurements by hand and take the time in class to graph the data. An example of of technology becoming overly complicated is PowerPoint or Keynote. I felt strongly that over 50% of the resources shared at NCCAT were a substitute for teaching proper slide presentation and design to yourself or your students. Prezi, Photopeach, Animoto, making a bar, line, or pie chart on infogr.am etc. are all resources that are quick to do certain tasks but are shortcuts that can be done effectively in a slide presentation program (whatever your preference is).
If you are able to include technology that enhances your lessons rather than using technology for technologies sake, your engagement and technologic literacy will go up regardless of what standards you are using. Whether the standards are common core is irrelevent.
I think that Bill Gates summed it up best with, “Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is most important.” You are so on target about technology for technology sake… it doesn’t work… we’ve had some initiatives in my systems that were “forced” technology. The teachers were frustrated and the kids weren’t learning. Sometimes what seems to be an effective shift in the paradigm may only increase anxiety level and decrease effectiveness. Also, I agree with you that some technology just fits and some does not. It also sometimes depends on the comfort level of the user. Quality professional development along with a network of troubleshooters seems to be a successful way to introduce new technology. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. Thanks again for the great post!!
You bring an interesting perspective to this topic. Thank you for sharing.
Amneris