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This is a guest post by Patrick Godwin

No one can deny that technology has become a permanent feature in our society. From sites like Facebook and Twitter to applications like Microsoft Word, it’s hard to go a day without using some kind of modern piece of technology. But do people really know how to use these great advances? Do they even understand how most of the gadgets and websites they use work?

That is one of the major issues facing American schools today. How do we integrate technology into education, and to what extent do we teach students about technology? Obviously not every student needs to know how Twitter’s API works, but I think that they should at least be introduced to the concept of tweeting. Employers are looking for more than what schools are teaching now a days. For instance, take resume building. As a part of my school’s graduation requirements, you must prepare a portfolio and participate in a sort of pseudo-interview with people in the local community. Not once during the entire process of putting together a resume and content for the portfolio was it suggested that I mention my blog or Twitter account. Now this should be expected as Twitter is relatively new, and not many educators understand it.

But how can this change? Many educators refuse to take time out of their schedule to learn a new technology, let alone something that is seen as “social” and irrelevant to a learning environment. We could try teaching these new technologies during Professional Development days, but these days are few in number. How can we expect teachers to integrate social media when they don’t understand it themselves?

Another issue is the lack of access to technology in the classroom. The classes that see the most access to computers are the actual computer and programming classes. Teachers are not able to integrate technology into their lesson plans if they have no resources to do so. Some districts allow teachers to set up classes on a course management system like Moodle, but that does very little to “integrate” and “educate” students on new technologies.

There is no way that we can remain competitive in education if we allow our current policies on educational technology. I intend to discuss this issue more in depth on my blog over at XImplosionX.com. I’d like to ’ear what you think about the state of technology in public schools, so feel free to leave a comment here or contact me on Twitter.

I thank you very much for reading.

Patrick Godwin is a technology blogger and the founder of XImplosionX.com. He’s a Microsoft Student Insider – Programming and a student software developer.  He’s very passionate about talking tech and you can follow him here on Twitter for more information.

Further reading:

The Future Of Technology

5 Tips For Keeping Up With Technology

Poor Technology Can Be A Security Risk

How To Make New Technology Work For You

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