Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
I take this standard to mean that I, as a teacher, should be taking what I know about technology and using it in such a way that I motivate students to learn. One thing that makes technology so useful, is that it can be very engaging and interactive. One can use animations to capture students' attention and lock in their interest, while students are also able to create and design things themselves, which gives them a sense of pride.
Blogs are an example of how useful technology can be to students. They can use blogs to post homework assingments, but they would also have an outlet for their creativity and a way to express themselves. Many students might not consider starting a blog unless a teacher introduces such a concept to them. If this happened and the students actively engaged and interacted with their blogs in such a way that they were learning, I think it would be a perfect encapsulation of what this standard strives for: Students being motivated and encouraged to learn after seeing how technology can be interactive and practical at the same time.
Technology often has a way of opening up a whole new world of possibilities for students, in the sense that they can create and design, but they can also erase and retry if something doesn't work out. Teachers can also aid students in realizing that technology is a tool that has the potential to connect people, as opposed tothe idea that it just separates them. Students can use wikis to communicate and work together for group projects. A classroom blog can help a parent to stay plugged into his or her child's school life. We are able to help and commmunicate with people on the other side of the world thanks to technology. That not only benefits people in other countries, it also benefits students in their learning. They are able to get a more accurate picture of what the world beyond their neighborhood is like. Teachers can remind students of all these facts ans show them that technology can be used in very powerful ways.
Of course, the best way for a teacher to convince studentst that technology can be useful in learning is not to just talk about technology; teachers should incorporate technology into their classrooms in such a way that the students really do benefit.
