This document outlines the objectives and content of an online teaching unit. The unit will discuss how technology influences modern classrooms and the changing skills needed for students and workers. Candidates will create a blog, discuss technology's role in instruction and engagement, and identify their school's technology resources and policies. They will also set personal goals for integrating technology. The document presents information on a changing economy and job market that requires more advanced skills, a more global and diverse workforce, and the benefits of higher educational attainment in terms of income and national economic growth.

1. Unit 1:
Teaching Online
National University School of Education
Dr. Patricia Dickenson
pdickenson@nu.edu

2. Learning Objectives:
 Candidates will create and utilize a blogging tool.
 Candidates will discuss the influence of
technology in today’s classroom.
 Candidates will identify resources and policies at
your school site.
 Candidates will develop personal goals for using
technology.

3. • How does the way we communicate, share
information, and receive information shape:
– Instructional practice
– Student engagement and motivation
– Classroom learning
Click on the video below to see how technology has
influenced learning:
World is Changing:

4. Changing mix of jobs in the economy
12%
14%
38%
18%
8%
22%
25%
33%
12%
14%
0%
40%
Blue collar
workers
Admin support
workers
Sales related
occupations
Technicians,
professionals,
managers,
administrators
Service
workers
1969 1999
Source: Levy, F. & Murnane, R. J. (2004). The new division of labor: How computers are creating the next job market. Princeton, NJ: Russell
Sage Foundation. (p. 42, Figure 3.2)
Percentofemployedadults

5. Job tasks are changing across the
economy
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
1969 1980 1990 1998
PercentileChangein1969Distribution
Complex Communication
Expert Thinking
Routine Manual
Routine Thinking
Source: Levy, F. & Murnane, R. J. (2004). The new division of labor: How computers are creating the next job market. Princeton, NJ: Russell
Sage Foundation. (p. 50, Figure 3.5)

6. • Technological advances (internet, interactive
software, digital technologies) allow work to be
carved up and shipped around globe.
• Historic political and economic changes around the
globe freed up more than 1 billion people—in places
like Russia, Eastern Europe, China, India, etc.—who
could potentially compete for that work.
“The result is a world in which it is just as easy to create work
teams composed of people on four continents as it is to create
work teams composed of people from four divisions of the same
firm located in the same city.”
—the New Commission on the Skills of the American workforce (2007)
Technological Advances

7. “Suddenly more people from more different places could
collaborate with more other people on more different kinds of
work and share more different kinds of knowledge than ever
before.”
—Thomas Friedman (2005)
“Highly skilled people with roughly the same qualifications are
competing directly with each other, no matter where they are
located on the globe.”
—the New Commission on the Skills of the American workforce (2007)
Sources: 1) National Center on Education and the Economy. (2007). Tough choices or tough times: The report of the New Commission on the Skills of the
American workforce. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (p. 19)
2) Friedman, T. L. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (p. 81)
Global Economy:

8. Demographic change

9. Source: Census Bureau. (2008, August 14). An older and more diverse nation by mid-century. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor.
(Table 3: Projections of the Population by Race and Hispanic Origin for the United States 2008 to 2050)
Closing the Achievement Gap

10. More diverse population
• Entire U.S. population = 2042
• Working-age population = 2039
• School-age population = 2023
Year in which “minorities” will
become the majority of …
Source: Census Bureau. (2008, August 14). An older and more diverse nation by mid-century. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor.
Diverse Population

11. Occupations requiring more
education are predicted to grow
faster
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008, February). Occupational projections and training data: 2008-9 edition. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Labor. (p. 4, Table I-3)
Projected growth in jobs requiring …

12. Nearly two-thirds of new jobs will
require postsecondary education or
training
36%
33%
31%
High school or less Some college or postsec training Bachelor's or higher
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008, February). Occupational projections and training data: 2008-9 edition. Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Labor. (p. 4, Table I-3)
New jobs,
2006-2016:

13. 53%
-13%
6%
14%
40%
-30%
-10%
10%
30%
50%
H.S. dropout H.S. graduate Some college Bachelor's Graduate or
professional
degree
Percentchangeinconstantdollars
Source: Mortenson, T. (2007, November). Average family income by educational attainment of householder 1967 to 2006. Postsecondary
Education Opportunity, 185. (p. 15)
Change in average family income from 1973 to 2006:
Earnings boost for college degree

14. • If the U.S. improved students’ performance on
international tests to the level of top performing
nations, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would
be:
– An additional 5 percent higher 32 years from now (enough
to entirely pay for K-12 education), and
– An additional 36 percent higher 75 years from now!
Source: Hanushek, E. A. & Woessmann, L. (2008, September). The role of cognitive skills in economic development. Journal of Economic Literature,
46(3), 607–68. (p. 650)
National Implications: Human Capital

15. What Skills are Valued?

16. Critical Thinking
–Synthesize ideas to build new solutions.
–Identify and assess key elements of a
situation.
–Define a problem and explore solutions.
–Use data and facts to evaluate a
situation and hypothesize implication.
–Devise recommendations grounded in
knowledge and understandings.
–Apply skills & knowledge to new
contexts.
Characteristics of a Critical Thinkers?

19. Are your students:
Thinkers and analyzers
Informed consumers
Problem solvers and designers of
new ideas
Innovative and creative
Participants who ask critical
questions.
Leaders who express ideas with
data and facts
21 Century Students are:

20. • Build conceptual understanding
• Address misconceptions
• Collaborate with others
• Apprenticing with experts
• Apply to interdisciplinary challenges
• Fostering Inquiry investigations
• Engage & motivate students
• Differentiate instruction to meet individual needs
How can technology impact
teaching & learning?

21. How Technology may change your
school
• Support teaching and learning
• Communicate with parents & staff
• Administrative tasks
• Adaptive learning
• Change learning environment
• Professional Development
• Standards & Assessment

22. What to do in Unit 1
Create personalized blog & share link on discussion
board
Evaluate Online Instruction
Discussion Board Posts