Technology Integration--Article 1--The Digital Jungle, Globalization and 21st Century Skills: What They are and Why They Matter for the Christian School

It is a jungle out there! Jungles are treasure troves of beautiful vegetation and exotic animals. They are also habitats for poisonous snakes and a breeding ground for deadly tropical diseases. Modern technology, including the Internet, is also a jungle--a digital jungle filled with exotic and intoxicating tools, a wealth of information and gadgets as well as viruses, predators, and moral quicksand.

Technology is ubiquitous with both a light and a dark side. On the light side, hundreds of millions of people all over the globe can download and watch videos and TV shows, search the vast storehouse of human knowledge on the Internet, instantaneously communicate by email or text message with virtually anyone in the world, take pictures, listen to music, play games, and receive turn-by-turn GPS generated directions on a small, inexpensive device clipped to a belt or slipped into a pocket or purse. Oh, and it makes calls too, to anywhere in the world with no wires! The world's vast storehouse of knowledge is instantaneously and freely available 24/7 with just a few keystrokes on a keyboard. Students, teachers, and professionals can access open source customizable textbooks written by experts from around the world--free to anyone at anytime. Wireless, rugged laptops for under $200 are being used by impoverished school children in third-world countries where there is no running water, limited electricity, and no indoor plumbing.

On the dark side every conceivable form of hatred, perversion, ignorance, vulgarity, and sheer lunacy is instantly available to our children 24/7. Predators lurk in the corners of chat rooms and prowl social networks like Facebook and Myspace. Anonymous access to pornography leads to addiction, ruined lives, broken marriages and destroyed careers. Illicit affairs are fostered online and hatred and abuse are foisted upon the vulnerable and unsuspecting.

Technology is simultaneously heralded as a messiah for education, the economy, and of culture or demonized as the end of learning and the catalyst for the destruction of culture. Michael Parsons, editor of CNET.co.uk, writes the following about America's penchant for worshipping at the altar of technology:

If you get too excited about technology you end up in Silicon Valley, where pretty much everyone is either making, drinking, or selling Kool-Aid about the potential for technology to make wondrous things happen. In the Valley, there's the added excitement that technology can also make you incredibly wealthy, although the fiercely idealistic geek elite eschew any vulgar mention of money: it's all about trying to change the world, man ... It's easy to believe in America that technology will save you. It's part of the secular religion of progress and success that drives American society.

As school leaders it is our responsibility to stay abreast of technological developments and to understand their implications for our students and our schools. Our students are digital natives, (see the Digital Native research project run jointly by the Berkman Centre for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School and the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland for more information) the first generation to grow up with the Internet, cell phones, and free-wheeling social sites. A recent FRONTLINE documentary, Growing Up Online, profiles the attitudes, struggles, dangers, and potential of this new medium and its impact on students and learning.

We must think deeply about the complex issues involved while maintaining a prudent and visionary appreciation for technology's potential for fostering good education or distracting from it. We must also develop well informed and thoughtful answers to essential questions about technology.

• What is technology's place in our schools?
• What is the connection between technology and the curriculum?
• How do we ensure that technology contributes to authentic learning and does not merely become edutainment or technotainment?
• How do we avoid the hype without becoming Luddites?
• How much of our scarce resources should be devoted to purchasing and maintaining technology?
• How do we effectively train our teachers?
• How do we get our teachers to enthusiastically and effectively embrace technology?
• Where does technology fit in our overall strategic planning?
• How do we effectively plan for and implement technology?
• What is a biblical framework for answering such questions?

A Brave New World--Digital Technology, Globalization and World-Class Competition

The impact of digital technology reaches far beyond social concerns. Digital technology has created a paradigm shift in world economics, the labor force, and by extension education. The world has and continues to change--rapidly and profoundly. It is hard to understate how profoundly digital technology has changed world economics and the future that our students will inherit. To put it simply, any job that can be done digitally can be outsourced to anyone in the world with the necessary knowledge and skills.

In the new information-based globalized economies of the world, brains are replacing brawn in the workplace. Neef (1998) observes: "Low-skill, blue-collar positions have been disappearing at an alarming rate…knowledge in the form of complex problem solving, technological innovation, creative exploitation of new markets, and the development of new product or service offerings is central to success in these areas" (p. 2). This systemic change in our economy and the resulting rise of the information worker is dramatically illustrated by the following chart from the Wall Street Journal showing our movement from an agrarian to an information-based economy.

According to Reich (1997) the result of this economic shift is that the economic boats of redundant and in-person service workers have sprung leaks and are sinking. Even middle level management jobs, particularly those associated with redundant production typical of hierarchical corporations operating within post-industrial and Fordist economies (Brown & Lauder, 1997, p. 175), are being displaced as routine jobs are moved to Asia and Central and South America. In his provocative essay An Era of Man-Made Brainpower Industries, Lester Thurow warns that:

With the ability to make anything anywhere in the world and sell it anywhere else in the world, business firms can ‘cherry pick’ the skilled…wherever they exist in the world. Some third world countries are now making massive investment in basic education. American firms don’t have to hire an American high school graduate if that graduate is not world-class. His or her educational defects are not their problem. Investing to give the necessary market skills to a well-educated Chinese high school graduate may well look like a much more attractive investment (less costly) than having to retrain…a poorly trained American high school graduate. (cited in Neef, 1998)

By contrast, symbolic analysts (Reich, 1997)—those who solve, identify, and broker new problems—are prospering. Possessing the knowledge and skills most needed in the information-based, technologically driven economies of the West and in parts of Asia, the symbolic analysts are able to auction acquired knowledge and skills to the highest bidder.

The ability of American firms to cherry pick the best and the brightest at the lowest possible cost has contributed a significant increase in outsourcing for talent as illustrated by the following graph from the Wall Street Journal.

Unfortunately, far too many of our students are ill prepared for global competition. in recent international comparison of mathematics literacy (U.S. Department of Education: Institute of Education Sciences (2003), U.S. performance in mathematics literacy and problem solving as measured by The Program for International Assessment (PISA)was lower than the average performance for most Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries. The United States also performed below the OECD average on each mathematics literacy subscale representing a specific content area (space and shape, change and relationships, quantity, and uncertainty).

The PISA 2003 uses six proficiency levels (levels 1 through 6, with level 6 being the highest level of proficiency) to describe student performance in mathematics literacy and three proficiency levels (levels 1 through 3, with level 3 being the highest level of proficiency) to describe student performance in problem solving. In mathematics literacy, the United States had greater percentages of students below level 1 and at levels 1 and 2 than the OECD average percentages. The United States also had a lower percentage of students at levels 4, 5, and 6 than the OECD average percentages.

Results for each of the four mathematics content areas followed a similar pattern. In problem solving, the United States also had greater percentages of students below level 1 and at level 1 than the OECD average percentages, and a lower percentage of students at levels 2 and 3 than the OECD average percentages. The following table ranks the mathematical performance on the PISA. In mathematics literacy and problem solving in 2003, even the highest U.S. achievers (those in the top 10 percent in the United States) were outperformed on average by their OECD counterparts.

We must come to grips with the reality that even if our standardized test scores are above the national average they are likely well below international standards. In other words, we may be comparing ourselves to a low standard of achievement. As indicated above, the highest performing U.S. students were outperformed on the PISA.

To put this poor performance into perspective, consider the troubling observations by Peter Drucker, Bill Gates, and The Conference Board.

The dominance of the U.S. is already over. What is emerging is a world economy of blocs represented by NAFTA, the European Union, and ASEAN. There’s no one center in this world economy. India is becoming a powerhouse very fast. The medical school in New Delhi is now perhaps the best in the world. And the technical graduates of the Institute of Technology in Bangalore are as good as any in the world. Also, India has 150 million people for whom English is their main language. So, India is indeed becoming a knowledge center. Peter Drucker (Schlender, 2004)

When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow. In math and science ... by the 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations ... In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind. Bill Gates

The authors of a recent report by The Conference Board titled Are They Really Ready for Work?, Casner-Lotto, J., & Barrington, L., (2006), ask a poignant question, "How can the United States continue to compete in a global economy if the entering workforce is made up of high school graduates who lack the skills they need, and of college graduates who are mostly “adequate” rather than “excellent”? The authors go on to observe that:

The quandary is particularly problematic because it comes just as the workforce is entering a period of realignment. As the baby-boomers retire—taking their skills and knowledge with them—America faces a shortage of available workers. This report indicates that the pool of talented workers available is even smaller. (p. 7)

If by most estimates too many of our students lack the skills they need to compete in a highly competitive, globalized economy, then what are those skills and how do we ensure that our students have them?

21st Century Skills

Contrary to the assumptions held by some and the hyperbole that often surrounds this issue, 21st Century Skills do not replace traditional skills and knowledge. On the contrary, 21st Century Skills embrace, enhance and extend both traditional content and pedagogy. In other words, the choice is not between traditional content and 21st century skills. The choice is whether or not as school leaders we are going to recognize that our students' futures depend on reshaping curriculum and instruction to match new realities and commit ourselves and school resources to producing systemic change in our schools.

The basics are still the basics. In fact, we must do a better job with the basics. As noted above, U.S. students are falling behind in academic achievement relative to industrial and industrializing countries. Too many Christian schools are complacent, assuming that because our standardized test scores are higher than the national average that we are doing a good job. Given the poor performance of so many U.S. students relative to world standards that is like suggesting that a Chevy is an excellent car because it is better than a Yugo. The Chevy may be better than a Yugo but the better standard may be a Toyota, Honda, or Nissan.

21st Century Skills place great emphasis on strengthening core skills in reading, comprehension, math, science, history, literature, composition, etc., but do so within a context that recognizes the explosion in human knowledge and the implications of new technologies and globalization for teaching and preparing our students for the 21st century workplace. The authors of 21st century skills for 21st century learners, write that:

Information and communication technologies are raising the bar on the competencies needed to succeed in the 21st century, and they are compelling us to revisit many of our assumptions and beliefs” (p. 4). The sheer magnitude of human knowledge, world globalization, and the accelerating rate of change due to technology necessitates a shift in our children’s education—from plateaus of knowing to continuous cycles of learning. Therefore, policymakers and educators alike must define 21st century skills, highlighting the relationship of those skills to conventional academic standards ... Basic literacy—the ability to read, write, listen, and speak—is more important than ever, and the definition of basic literacy has changed over time to reflect that increasing importance.

In the early 1900s, basic literacy meant the ability to write one’s name. That definition was later expanded to mean the decoding of text, and by the 1930s it had come to include reading and expressing oneself through writing (Bransford et al., 1999). The National Literacy Act of 1991 defined literacy as “an individual’s ability to read, write, and speak in English, and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society to achieve one’s goals, and develop one’s knowledge and potential” (National Literacy Act of 1991, Sec. 3). (NCREL and Metiri Group 2003, pp. 5,16, emphasis added)

The authors go on to note that:

Authors of the National Research Council’s Building a Workforce for the Information Economy suggest that workforce preparation is dependent on the ability of schools to promote students’ cognitive abilities, such as logical thinking, problem solving, analysis, careful observation, and data management. The authors contend that “these abilities are highly valued in the workplace” and vital to successful performance (Committee on Workforce Needs in Information Technology, 2001, p. 225). ((NCREL and Metiri Group 2003, p. 9)

Although there are various on the theme of 21st century skills, the following diagram provides a useful reference point.

According to the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the Metiri Group, the "following skill clusters, when considered within the context of rigorous academic standards, are intended to provide the public, business and industry, and educators with a common understanding of—and language for discussing—what is needed by students, citizens, and workers in the Digital Age." (p. 12, emphasis added)

Each of the skills listed above, including basic skills, are fleshed out in the full report, which I strongly encourage you to download and read. I am also sharing over 200 technology related research papers and reports that I have collected. Click here to access the files. My only request is that if you share the content from these files with others, in whatever form, or quote from them, that you attribute access to the information to this blog and refer your readers or audience to this blog for reference (http://christianschooljournal.blogspot.com/).

Concluding Thoughts

It is a jungle out there. Are your teachers prepared? Are your students prepared? Are you prepared? The task of a leader is to peer over the horizon to assess the impact of current realities for the organization and to anticipate new realities, new challenges and new opportunities. Our students, staff and parents are immersed in a digitally rich, information-based, globalized world. We cannot continue to educate 21st century students with a 20th century model. We must refine, enhance, extend and adapt our curriculum, our instructional methods and our tools to the new realities. Anything less is malpractice.

Response:

• Does your school have a strategic technology plan as a component of a larger strategic plan?
• What percent of your budget is allocated to technology integration?
• Do your academic standards include clearly stated measurable 21st century skills?
• Have your teachers and administrators been trained in technology integration and on the specifics of 21st century skills?
• Is the integration of technology incorporated into the larger mission of developing students' and teachers' biblical world views? Do they have a well developed biblical world view of technology that is positive rather than merely negative, i.e., focuses on the positive use of technology rather than on merely avoiding pornography and violating copyright laws and plagiarism?

References

Brown, P., & Lauder, H. (1997). Education, globalization, and economic development. In A. H. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown & A. S. Wells (Eds.), Education: culture, economy, society. NY: Oxford University Press.

Casner-Lotto, J., & Barrington, L. (2006). Are they really ready to work? Employers’ perspectives on the basic knowledge and applied skills of new entrants to the 21st century U.S. Workforce.

Neef, D. (Ed.). (1998). The knowledge economy. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory and the Metiri Group. (2003). enGauge 21st century skills for 21st century learners: NCREL and METIRI Group.

Parsons, M. (2007, August 31, 2007). Worshiping at the altar of technology. Retrieved January 19, 2008, 2008, from http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article2364133.ece

Reich, R. (1997). Why the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. In A. H. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown & A. S. Wells (Eds.), Education: culture, economy, society. NY: Oxford University Press.

U.S. Department of Education: Institute of Education Sciences (2003) International outcomes of learning in mathematics literacy and problem solving: PISA 2003 results from the U.S. perspective, Highlights. Available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005003

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