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Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education. Volume 106, Issue 2
ARTICLE

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YNSFSE Volume 106, Number 2, ISSN 0077-5762

Abstract

There is little dispute that technology has transformed people's everyday lives. People shop online, download news in their iPods, communicate via text and video, take digital photos, and conduct all manner of personal and professional business via the Internet. While these technologies have afforded new opportunities to improve efficiency, exponentially increase access to information, and expand the notion of global citizenship, they have also caused many researchers and educators to rethink what it means to be literate in this post-typographic world. It is not enough for citizens in the 21st century to know how to decode and comprehend information as they have in the past. They are also now responsible for efficiently and effectively finding and evaluating information as well as quickly adapting personal learning goals in response to the varied structures and complexities of these technology-enhanced environments. Still, the infusion of technology in schools has not yet transformed everyday lives and learning in the nations' schools. Its progression has been slow and labored. Although it is clear that efforts to align teaching and learning to the new affordances of information and communication technologies (ICT) are necessary in order to realize their full pedagogical potential, such reform efforts are extremely challenging, particularly for the teachers and teacher educators who must implement them. The authors contend that technology integration is not a unilateral endeavor, and that what is missing is an "overall picture" of what constitutes transformative practices for technology integration. Information emerges from a variety of academic communities, including those involved in teacher education, professional development, the academic disciplines, educational psychology, and educational technology. The authors believe that dialog across multiple groups, perspectives, and domains is key to successful reform efforts in the future. This volume is an attempt to stimulate discussion across a variety of academic perspectives and to be inclusive of the researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who work within them. How might technology be used for "transformative" efforts aimed at developing alternative models of education that reinvent many aspects of teaching, learning and schooling in order to prepare students for the 21st century? The opportunity for new educational paradigms made possible by technology has been advocated before, but the authors think a deeper examination of four themes--technology use in and out of school contexts, educational technology policy, diversity, and teacher development--can help in moving beyond advocacy to a realization of positive change. (Contains 13 tables, 18 figures and 19 notes.) [For Issue 1, see EJ835247.]

Citation

Smolin, L., Lawless, K., Dede, C., Jones, S., Johnson-Yale, C., Perez, F.S., Schuler, J., Pellegrino, J.W., Goldman, S.R., Bertenthal, M., Lawless, K., Vrasidas, C., Glass, G.V., Haertel, G.D., Means, B., Penuel, W., Goldmann, H., Warschauer, M., Tettegah, S., Whang, E.W., Collins, N., Taylor, K., Vasquez, O.A. & Burbules, N.C. (2007). Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education. Volume 106, Issue 2. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 106(2), 1-218. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from .

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