A 21st Century Educator

An Educator in the 21st century is quite a different experience that previous times. Students, technology, and learning requirements have all changed; and so must the way one is to teach. The use of technology in the classroom is of great importance and offers a great resource for the teacher and student.

It appears to be that as the 21st century rolled around so did technology. Students are now entertained mainly by electronic devices and have reduced human interaction.With the growing interest and dependency on technology by students, there is also a growing number of resources and developmental tools available on computer programs etc.. to appeal to students yet help them learn at the same time. These types of programs appeal to students because of their individualized setup. Students get a one on one atmosphere and instant feedback to their work. Computers provide a variety of more sources, and the availability of answering a student's question without the bias of a human.

Technology is a viable resource to have in a classroom as a help. A help is not the teacher and a line needs to be drawn between the two. A human had an actual mind that can look over a students work and be able to give them more accurate feedback as to why they might have gotten a problem wrong. An actual teacher can give a student encouragement, whereas a computer will just shoot out a generated comment over and over again. A teacher in the 21st century will use what the student's interests are in and use them in their lesson plans and activities so that they students get more involved and take a greater interest into the material. The fact that students have a much less attention span than they have in the past shows that the traditional lecture class is not going to be affective. Teachers in this time would be smart if they took well advantage of what technology has to offer for them and they will see the benefit to the student's in their work and dedication to learning. The teacher and computer technology's jobs need to be well defined and followed so that the student gets the advantages of both resources. If one oversteps its boundaries then the student's learning capabilities could be put at risk.

Educating is and always will be a time consuming and focused career. Technology has offered a way that teachers can be given an outlet and also additional resources for the students if they need help and support. Students are more apt to give effort to something that they are interested in and that is what teachers can use their advantage. Technology can not replace the interaction between humans, and so it needs to be that technology use is supervised and followed up on by the teacher. Technology has given educators a tool to connect with today's students, and if used wisely it will greatly benefit both ends of the learning spectrum.