by Tristan Leder, SFUSD Student Leader

We live in an age of technological innovation. We’ve grown up with computers, video games, and the internet. Many of the people we interact with at schools, be it administrators or teachers, did not have this luxury during their youth. Being teens, we keep up to date with the newest internet trend or the hippest gadgets. Our teachers most of the time don’t. If we really want to forward ourselves an age of “21^st Century Learning,” we must embrace the technology that defines this generation.

At the forefront of the 21^st century push is the internet. The internet is not some big, ominous beast that people make it out to be. Rather, it’s a tool to be wielded as we choose. If you don’t know what you’re doing, sure, you may cause some harm, but with proper training and usage, the internet can perform a plethora feats that may be extremely useful. The most important tool the internet offers is “communication.”

With the rise of the internet, it’s ridiculously easy to get in contact with just about anybody. We’ve seen the district take a huge step forward with the installation of School Loop, but I want to see this go farther. I believe School Loop to be a good next step, but not an end product. We need to be reaching out to students where they already have a presence. For example, my English teacher has created a Facebook group for our class. Now, it may not tell me what the homework is everyday or what grade I’m receiving in the class, but I find it a lot more useful. Sure, he has all the big assignments, such as large essays and the like, posted on the page, but it’s the conversations that take place there that are the most meaningful. The page offers a space for students to post comments and have a discussion on whatever they choose. You can find anything from a continuation of an in-class discussion, to conversation clarifying an assignment or even students complaining about due dates, all posted in this one area. While School Loop has been awesome step forward, it lacks this sort of direct connection and communication tool that is so important to furthering our goal of 21^st Century learning.

We live in the city of San Francisco, one of the great hubs of the Web industry. There are companies all around that create and run a variety of websites. I don’t imagine being it that hard to have people from these companies, be it web designers, graphic artists, coders, and business people to come give seminars or run workshops with students. Not only would this be a fun enjoyable experience, but students get a glimpse at a variety of careers that all take place in this one industry. We would be increasing interest and hopefully encouraging San Franciscans to pursue careers in San Francisco.

21^st Century Learning can be interpreted a number of different ways. To me, it’s taking the internet and using it to its full potential to best serve students. This means having easy to access, open conversations via the internet and showing students the various careers available in the tech industry, and in some cases, right in our own backyard.

What does 21^st Century Learning mean to you? How else can we take the internet and use it to its full potential to best serve students?