Over the last thirty-plus years, technology has been built into schools’ infrastructure and instruction. The first great wave took place with the infusion of technology into classrooms and labs in accordance with the vision and resources available to each school or district. This was followed by a second wave which emphasized technology literacy as a discrete set of skills and as a set of tools which could be used to achieve and demonstrate learning in all subject areas. This phase has given way to a third wave which espouses technology fluency: the seamless, incidental use of technology in real-world applications to solve problems and create products.
Technology fluency components include foundational concepts about its possibilities and limitations, heuristic reasoning for using it appropriately and effectively, and authentic experiences which prepare students to enter the twenty-first century workplace.
In addition, the National Research Council identifies ten specific capabilities under these three components:
- Engage in sustained reasoning
- Manage complexity
- Test a solution
- Manage problems in faulty solutions
- Organize and navigate information structures and evaluate information
- Collaborate
- Communicate to other audiences
- Expect the unexpected
- Anticipate changing technologies
- Think about Information Technology abstractly
Technology fluency goes beyond simple integration to a complete immersion in a real-world learning environment where collaboration is the norm, risk-taking is encouraged and creative and critical thinking are celebrated. Process-oriented curricula such as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education demonstrate the potential of technology fluency in the classroom.
CRSTE promotes technology fluency as the next goal in educational technology. We strive to provide professional development that encourages instructional practices which promote technology fluency at all levels K-16. We provide leadership in transforming the twenty-first century classroom into a conduit for the twenty-first century workplace, in which all our students will be citizens of a global community that values flexibility, fluency and collaboration.
While technology fluency is not a new idea, it is yet to be realized in American education. CRSTE encourages educators of the national capital region to complete the shift from an industrial model of education to a model that prepares students for the Information Age.
