Needs+analysis


 * Team Member A:** **Project Leader**

Needs Analysis
According to the 2009 Horizon Report, today’s students are different, but education is largely unchanged (Johnson et al., 2009). Outside of school, kids are connected through the internet, cell phones and hand held devices. They are blogging, networking, gaming and communicating on line often at the same time, but when they enter the school building, they are forced to shut down all their connections (Gersh, 2009; Prensky, 2008). Students are learning 21st Century skills outside of the classroom, while inside the classroom, the curriculum and tools have changed little since the 20th century.

Our students are digital natives; they speak the digital language. Meanwhile most of our teachers are digital immigrants; they speak with an accent and are rooted to their past (Prensky, 2001a). Examples of this accent are going to the internet second rather than first for information, printing out email, and printing out a document to edit it. In contrast students are used to getting information fast, with lights, music, pictures and motion. Immigrants think linearly. Natives think in parallel. Immigrants are deliberate and methodical. Natives are fast and multi-task. Immigrants are accustomed to working alone. Natives are networked and crave interactivity. Scientists argue the two minds just do not think alike (Prensky, 2001b).

Unfortunately, when students enter the school building, they leave their digital world behind. If schools were future oriented, Prensky argues, students would be learning and practicing global communication, team work, and innovation (Prensky, 2008). “This is less about teachers mastering specific tools or techniques – such as electronic games, blogs, or search engines – than their being willing to allow students to use these tools to find information and create products” (Prensky, 2008, p. 45).

Rogers(1995) used a normal distribution model to describe the adoption and diffusion of technology, with innovators/early adopters and laggards forming opposite tails of a bell curve (as cited in Butler and Sellbom, 2002). The majority, approximately 68% of people fall in between. Chizmar and Williams (2001) identified three barriers to adopting technology, lack of institutional support, lack of financial support, and lack of time to learn new technologies (as cited in Butler and Sellbom, 2002). An instructional program cannot address these barriers. However, in a study conducted at Ball State University (Butler and Sellbom, 2002), factors cited included reliability of the technology, knowledge of how to use the technology, and belief the technology improves or enhances education. This instructional program is designed to address the last two concerns.

References

Butler, D. L., & Sellbom, M. (2002). Barriers to adopting technology for teaching and learning. Educause Quarterly, 2, 22–28.

Gersh, S. (2009). Global Projects and Digital Tools. MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, 16(1), 10-13.

Johnson, L., Levine, A., & Smith, R. (2009). //The Horizon Report// (2009 ed.). Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from []

Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).

Prensky, M. (2001b). Digital natives, digital immigrants part II: Do they really think differently?, On the Horizon, 9(6).

Prensky, M. (2008, March), Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership. 65(6), 40-45.