The importance of technology in education is reviewed in this presentation.

1. The Virtual School Dr. Maty García-Arroyo and Nestor Del Valle Camera Mundi Puerto Rico TESOL Convention November 21, 2209

2. What is a virtual school? It is a school that is not limited by the walls of a classroom. It uses all of the technology that is available nowadays. It is the school that reaches more students because it is more attractive to the generation of the 21st century (both the talented and those that are limited proficient [LEP students]).

3. It is the school that allows us to evaluate our students in more authentic environments or conditions. It is the school that allows us to monitor our students’ progress from any place (home, school classroom, principal’s or superintendent’s offices, etc.)

4. The “Cs” of Change to Technology “The skills today’s students need ‘are often referred to as the C’s of change,’ says Donald Leu, co-director of the New Literacies Research Lab at the University of Connecticut. They include creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, self-control, and comprehension” (Collier, 2008, p. 6)

5. A reality check: Our students become very bored when attending traditional classrooms because there they only listen to teachers talking and then they copy from the chalkboard information that most of the time is not very pertinent to them.

6. What does this mean? We continue doing what our teachers did when most of us were students. We “teach” basic facts and knowledge and then we evaluate our students to determine their level of proficiency (Collier, 2008). In other words, we teach to test.

7. How do we evaluate our students? We use traditional tests that mostly require memorization of basic information.

8. What does this mean? We are preparing our students for 1985!!!

11. We need to look at what is outside our schools that most of the time attracts our students.

13. Two important facts: Most adults are digital immigrants. We are really foreigners in the digital world. We have had to become citizens of this world – a world we never visited as children.

14. Our children… They have grown up with computers. They have grown up with mobile phones. They have grown up with MP3s. They have grown up with the Internet.

15. They are native digitals. They never lived in a world without all of the technology we have available today, including the Internet. They socialize in Facebook, My Space, and through Twitter!

16. What does all this imply for educators? We need to become familiar with all of the new technology – that goes beyond emailing and using word processing and presentation programs.

17. We need to integrate the new technology to the traditional classroom. We need to practice using social literacy. We need to become the managers of our students’ talents, time, and productivity.

18. Finally, we have to help our students become familiar with all of the technology that is available out there in the real world. Maybe they are experts sending text messages, but they need help with other technology. For instance, Collier (2008) indicates that many of them only know how to use the computer superficially.

19. Another example is that they can get on the Internet, but they do not know how to use it. They think Wikipedia is the answer to all assignments they may have!

20. One last reminder… The virtual school allows students to construct their learning, to discover knowledge, and to build new knowledge through collaboration making learning authentic and pertinent.

21. References Considine, D., Horton, J.,& Moorman, G. (2009, March). Teaching and reading the millennial generation through media literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52 (6), 471-481. Collier, L. (2008, November). The “C’s of change” students – and teachers – learn 21st century skills. Council Chronicle, 18 (2), 6-9. Gee, J. P., & Levine, M. H. (2009, March). Welcome to our virtual worlds. Educational Leadership, 66 (6), 48-52.

22. Ohler, J. (2009, March). Orchestrating the media collage. Educational Leadership, 66 (6), 48-52. Writing now: A policy research brief produced by the National Council of Teachers of English. (2008, September). Council Chronicle, 18 (1), 15-22.