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Joel Klein: Schools need to change their “technology ‘culture’”

Eight more schools will open this fall with the goal of using technology to change the way students and teachers work together, according to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein’s inaugural column on the Huffington Post’s new New York City site.

The schools will be in the model of the NYCiSchool, a small, selective high school that opened in Tribeca last fall as the first school in the city’s NYC21C initiative. (The name refers to the “21st-century skills” that technology-infused schools teach.) Klein touted the iSchool at the small schools panel discussion he introduced last week, saying that the school provides an example of how technology can be used to ”tailor the instructional journey of the child to the child’s needs.”

In his column today, Klein writes that the iSchool is pioneering a new “technology ‘culture,’” one that more schools should emulate:

In the past three years, the New York City Department of Education has created a number of technologies that allow teachers, principals, and parents to better understand students’ strengths and weaknesses and create academic programs that are tailored to the students’ needs. …

For New York City, the next big change is to change our technology “culture,” so we begin using modern tools to rethink the way our schools and classrooms are organized to most effectively engage students and bolster their achievement.

An iSchool student, Angelica Modabber, wrote about getting accustomed to using technology in her classes on this site in December. And here’s a video about the iSchool produced by the city Department of Education:

  • mr g

    Can this video be ANY more vague about what the students actually DO? A bunch of talking heads talking about technology. SHOW IT

  • http://www.davidcbloomfield.com David C. Bloomfield

    There was no instructional reason for the NYCischool to be designated for a selective group of students. Don’t all students need “21st Century Skills”? Especially as a replacement in the “phased down” Chelsea Vocational High School, this was just pandering to upper income neighborhood parents, something the Mayor and Chancellor decry in other locations but seem perfectly willing to do in that neighborhood, now about to be repeated at Brandeis and probably Humanities.

  • http://thejosevilson.com/blog Jose

    I really gotta see how this works before I make a true judgment. On the surface, it sounds good, but otherwise, I’m not impressed yet.

  • Marty

    Yes, it’s very vague. I once worked in a school that was featured in a video. The reality was much less impressive.

  • http://www.theeducaitonprofessionals.com/ Education Jobs Blogger

    I have to agree with Jose. Planning and execution are 2 different things. I really hope they can pull at the instructional part of their intentions for students. It would be an impressive one. Let’s see.

  • Mj

    I go to this school and i do not find this video to be vague. This school is very cool. It allows you to be free and to think on your own. Instead asking the teachers about everything you are able to research it by yourselve. Not all students want 21 century education. Some rather to stick to the old tradition of learning.

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