The "True" Wave of Digital Natives

Today in a session with Project Tomorrow's CEO, Julie Evans, we were treated with a sneak peak at some of the data trends from the last Speak Up survey administered this past December (2012).

Now, data and I have had a rocky, tumultuous relationship.  In my early teaching years, data and I weren't too familiar with one another--passing ships in the night.  As a graduate student, I started to flirt with data a little bit once I caught a glimpse of what he could do for me and some of the practices I was researching in my classroom. But, we hit a major roadblock in our relationship the year that data was wielded like a thick, leather belt, snapping and cracking down the hallway, forcing data-driven instruction down our throats, angrily pushing us towards practices that  did not align with our beliefs and better intuition.  Data and I broke up that year, and I admit I talked trash about data behind his back.

There was no magic moment when data came back into my life and the past was erased.  It took a lot of coaching and mentoring from leaders, friends, and mentors who had healthy, constructive relationships with data.  Today, we're cohabitants of the same house, focused on the improvement of learning for everyone on our campus; we relate easily, flexibly, and without judgment.

So, today when Julie announced she was giving us a preview of the yet-to-be released data, my nerdy heart skipped a beat.  Our campus participated in the Speak Up survey--a difficult task in a campus of 2200 students.  Individual campus and district results will be made available tomorrow, 2/6.  I appreciate having the national trends to compare our local results to and anticipate that we'll fall in line with those trends.

Three Key Trends for Educational Technology
1) Students want devices that allow them to personalize the educational process, the same way that they personalize their social media and web presence.  They want devices that help them be more productive and allow them to CREATE and ADAPT.

2)  We're at a BYOD/BYOT tipping point.  The stage is set for integrating personal devices into learning.  Administration has turned a corner with its willingness to allow personal devices, teachers are curious, and students are willing and able.  How can we take advantage of the growing momentum and be thoughtful, reflective and strategic in our visions and action plans?

3)  The "true" digital natives haven't even arrived yet on our high school campuses.  According to the findings of Speak Up's yearly survey assessing the rolling of technology in learning, a shift has occurred in the readiness, access, and skills our 9-12th graders bring to the digital table and their middle school counterparts.  They are coming to us very soon; how will we prepare for tomorrow's learners?

Wow!  I'm excited.  I'm ready.  I'm curious.

Now what?
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