I have found recently that I am surprised that there are still many people in education who are comfortable with ignoring the technology changes that are occurring all around them. Some just announce – “I don’t know how to do any of those things!” with no indication that they find that to be any kind of problem or issue. Changes come very quickly in technology and very few of us can hope to be comfortable or even aware of everything that is being developed. There should be some space between “I don’t use computers.” and being enmeshed in every new technology gadget and its use. In education we as an institution expect students to be open to ideas, try things that are hard, get excited about learning. Is that what the adults are doing? Are they willing to move out of their own comfort zone?
I thought I would try to pull a lot of different pieces of my technology tools and resources together in one place to help me get a better picture of what I have created and what is still missing. Currently, I have a website on the public side of the Penfield district site and a much more extensive site on the protected intranet site which unfortunately I cannot share here. Here is my first attempt at creating a screencast which was sent to all district staff as a tutorial to help users access the district intranet site and to provide an overview of the resources there. Both the intranet site and the consistent use of it are relatively new.
It is Monday and I am once again enmeshed in discussions about how to get web 2.0 tools into the daily routine of teachers especially at the secondary level who are overwhelmed with demands of testing, time and teenagers. I know that if they would experiment with some new ways of doing things, some of those constraints might ease up some but they are skeptical. Many are of the “been there, done that” mindset about any type of new technology that would improve student learning and so do not want to invest the effort to experiment with something new. At the same time there are those who have been willing to try new technology applications in the past and have run into brick walls in the implementation phase due to poor hardware and/or accessibility issues. They got burned and so are hesitant. Then there is another group who are new enough to the profession that they can barely keep their heads above water with all of the demands and booby traps of bureaucracy and institutional politics. Others are fearful of looking ignorant in front of their students and the feeling of lack of control of the unknown. I am sure there are other sentiments out there but these seem to be the predominant ones at this time. Looking for some clarity in thought… maybe later
I am back. I am currently taking a course in using Web 2.0 courses and have an assignment to create a blog. I had created this initially as part of another year long web 2.0 effort (Powerful Learning Practices) with Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach in the fall but like others before me, have not kept up with it. Which leads me to the idea of a renaissance or rebirth of my blog.
The struggles to find a way to help classroom teachers make a connection between the needs of their students and classes and the new web 2.0 tools available have been weighing on me for months! I suppose if it takes me multiple tries to integrate these tools, it is not at all surprising that it would take quite a few attempts for teachers who are wary to commit.
I am trying to look at getting teachers excited by technology and its use in instruction while trying to be very respectful and aware that time is the scarcest commodity in their lives. I am thinking that perhaps if I look at this as a marketing problem with training in technology as a product, I might have more success. Not really sure where to start…too many ideas.
