First-ever Digital Learning Day touts technology procurement in the classroom
Published: February 6, 2012
While most Americans are aware of February festivities involving groundhogs and hearts, many are likely not aware that 2012 marked the inaugural year of another event, "Digital Learning Day."
Officially celebrated for the first time on February 1, 2012, "Digital Learning Day" was developed to encourage and celebrate the use of technology in the classroom to foster better learning and student engagement.
Many educators believe the festivities will be a success, and think the day is promoting a worthy cause.
"Today's students are growing up surrounded by technology, and it is having a profound impact on how they access, retain, and process information to create knowledge and understanding," said Jeremy Friedman, an expert in the realm of cloud-based learning solutions. "Teaching practices must evolve to keep up with this reality. We must rethink not only what we teach, but how we teach it to keep students engaged. Digital learning solutions will be the foundation of this much-needed paradigm shift."
More than 1.7 million students hailing from 39 states participated in the day's events, including webcasts and video chats throughout the country. A national town-hall style meeting could be attended online by nearly all participating, and featured U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Technologically-savvy schools in Colorado and New Jersey connected to the meeting to share their success stories of increased student achievement through digital learning.
Educators and students who could not take part in the live event, however, can still reap many of the benefits from the special day. The official Digital Learning Day website has many of the videos and programs archived from the event, including the Town Hall meeting, as well as several video tutorials. Many are aimed at educators, including online seminars on how digital learning can assist at-risk students, and digital's ability to teach critical skills. The site is also a great place for educators to learn about future events of this type on the national and state-wide level.
Due to the event's success, Digital Learning Day is already being planned for 2013, with next year's date still to be determined. Organizers hope to continue to raise awareness of the wide variety of options digital learning currently provides and will continue to provide in the future.
Return to Technology News