Technology in education
I am an instructor in the College of Ed at a small (14,000) land grant university. In our state, most college students are not required to have a specific level of technical expertise, but our pre-service teachers are. They are required to pass a six-hour technology performance exam before they are allowed to student teach. The content area exam that they are required to pass is only two hours long. I am a proctor for the technology exam, so I spend a great deal of time with the students who are taking it. About 25% of these students fail at least one of the five sections of the exam the first time. Many of these students do not have the necessary skills to pass, but our state board of Ed will not allow me to teach a prep course for the exam either. How are these Ed students going to get these skills without some instruction? As a technology teacher, I endorse the use of technology - but only when it is appropriate - it should be a tool, not a crutch. Do any other states require this kind of test? I think that students do need to have some level of technological proficiency, but not at the expense of math, science and English.
