The next few editions of PD Tips are going to cover the critical challenges schools face based on the 2011 K12 Horizon Report, released last week. These are drawn from a careful analysis of current events, papers, articles, and similar sources, as well as from the personal experience of the advisory board members in their roles as leaders in education and technology.
The first will focus on the challenge of digital media literacy continuing its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession. Doesn’t sound like a challenge? Well, despite the widespread agreement on its importance, the reality is training in digital literacy skills and techniques is rare in teacher education and school district professional development programs.
How are you working to correct this challenge? Have you thought about ways you can improve digital literacy for the learners – both staff and students – in your district?
As teachers begin to realize that they are limiting their students by not helping them to develop and use digital media literacy skills across the curriculum, the lack of formal training is being offset through professional development or informal learning, but we are far from seeing digital media literacy as a norm.
Resource: Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Haywood, K., (2011). The NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.The NMC Horizon Project identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. The research behind The NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition is a collaboration between the New Media Consortium (www.nmc.org), theConsortium for School Networking (CoSN), and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
PD tips courtesy of Atomic Learning
