“Mom, watching music videos is my homework!”

Let’s face it: This generation of students absorbs information different than past generations. They are fed a constant stream of information – outside the classroom – through sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. So, is there any wonder they have a hard time being engaged in a static classroom?

Teachers and school administrators understand that concept – but they are still struggling with how to utilize those same programs that students use for entertainment as actual teaching tools.

Luckily, they have Dr. Lodge McCammon. And with McCammon – they have FIZZ.

Watch McCammon explain FIZZ

McCammon, a curriculum and contemporary media specialist in the Friday Institute for Education Innovation, spends all his time thinking about how to bring 21st century tools into the classroom to better engage students. His program, called FIZZ, originally began as a secure Web site that allows teachers and students to upload educational videos they make in the classroom. However, the program has evolved, and now FIZZ is considered a new way of teaching. Discovery Education, a leader in digital video-based learning, has contracted McCammon to help teach their 30,000+ group of tech-savvy teachers – called the Discovery Educator Network – how to incorporate FIZZ into the classroom.

“It really boils down to three things – engagement, content knowledge and classroom transparency,” McCammon explains. “We’re showing teachers how to use technology in the classroom in a practical, functional way.”

McCammon will be taking his show on the road – traveling all over the country in 2010 – to meet with large groups of educators to inspire them using lesson simulations, showing them what a day at school with FIZZ would be like.

Man, I wish I was in that class!