Today learning is vastly different from when I went to school. There was no access to online for research it was encyclopedia and books. This generation and future generations have grown up with technology that provides them with endless information. If you ask a student today in K -12 "what is a pay phone?," many of them will not know that answer. It is a foreign concept to them, their world is cell phones and can make or receive a call at any time.

The way our teachers taught us will not work with students today. Our students are digital therefore we need to change the way we teach our students. We need to be educated on tools that are available to us. We need to engage our students with a variety of learning tools. We must teach using less lecture, and incorporate more interactive learning and the world of online. The world has gone online or computerized in many occupations. Therefore it is critical that we teach our children because these are the tools they will need to have success in life in the working world.

We must integrate technology into our teaching to engage children in learning the way they learn, not the way we learned. We need to provide them with the fundamental knowledge while allowing them to be creative while following their passions. Engaging our students in learning goes beyond the 4 walls of the classroom. It is important to expose them and teach them the applications and programs that will enhance their learning for particular subjects. For example, a teacher who is presenting material on China can have students do presentations on different aspects of China. The students can use advanced google search for more specific information, and go to sites that can translate words from English to Chinese, etc. The teacher can set up an online collaboration with a teacher and classroom in China, using iEarn, ePals, or In2books to enable children of both countries to engage in learning of one anther's culture etc.

When I went to college and went to class, I can't remember any online presentations, interactive activities and various teaching methods that was 12 years ago. I remember sitting through some lectures bored not getting anything more than the book taught, out of it. It was all lecture and group work, group presentations, and group projects. When I started this class last week, I was engaged by a variety of teaching methods, from online videos, setting up twitter and blog accounts, reading articles and having group discussions, to navigating different sites provided by the professor. I felt I was engaged and learned more by a variety of different techniques.

The two different styles have opened up my eyes to the style of my future teaching. One must engage students, and teach to the levels of technology that can be integrated into the classroom.