Exploring ways to enhance education with technology and innovation

A passionate cry for educational reform

Dan Brown’s video (below) presents the best rationale for educational reform I’ve seen, and like any provocative cry for revolution, it raises more questions than it answers.

Even if we all agree that the U.S. educational system needs an overhaul, HOW do we go about it?  We don’t agree on the best fix or have a clue about how to proceed. All we know is what we have right now isn’t working. So we bite our lips and desperation grows, and sometimes we commit drastic acts to sweep the problem around enough to appear progressive — such as firing an entire high school staff of teachers — but we really don’t have a plan to replace the current one.

Meanwhile, videos like this and blogs by passionate advocates of reform continue to stir an uneasy feeling that all is not well with the status quo.

You know what? This uneasiness is a good thing. All changes start with an uncomfortable feeling that something isn’t right. I have faith that “the plan” will come in time, but first we need to bring people into the think tank. We need to recruit reformers. At least we can serve as rabble-rousers to point out some of the pedagogical reasons old-style education is failing our modern kids.

So let’s spread the discomfort! Share this video with people who need to hear it, the ones who have the power to change the system: administrators, politicians, school boards.  For those of us in the trenches, Dan Brown is singing to the choir. Most of us have been hoping for systemic change our whole career.



“Any educational institution based solely on providing students with facts is not preparing students for the real world.”   - Dan Brown

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Web 2.0 costs more than you think

Web2.0 tools aren’t free for long. An expensive webonomic trend is growing more and more prevalent: Once a tool has made its debut, becomes increasingly reliable and grows more popular, it eventually upgrades to subscription status in order to recover its costs. Otherwise, how could it sustain itself?

Polleverywhere.com recently articulated this dilemma in a blog post defending its position on upgrading its services to subscription status. The post slapped me silly with its come-to-your-senses pronouncement:


“Be proactive, and start educating your district on the benefits of student response. Apply for a grant. Solicit parent or corporate sponsors … It’s time for a reality check, since we’re teetering on the brink of whether to provide any free service all.”


I hate to admit it, but this makes sense to me.  Is it realistic to believe developers spend weeks cranking out complex codes and then years maintaining interactive web 2.0 websites just for fun and for no other reason? Will advertising profit sustain their efforts? My guess is that only a tiny handful of developers win the occasional rare jackpot of profitable advertising ROI.  … So who’s buying their sandwiches and paying their cable bill?

Sigh. It’s inevitable and even understandable. Perhaps this is the natural course of evolution for survival in these early days of the web.

From where I’m sitting, as a front end user, the times — and costs — are changing. It looks as if I’m going to have to start paying for my toys, like it or not.

Pardon the cliché, but I remember the good old days when almost every new tool that launched online was free and wide open, and geekily irresistible. To gain access to these toys, I must have registered for hundreds of websites, dabbled in most of them, and still use some of them. That’s why my web identity expands into a widely scattered constellation of semi-related sites — like the stars, there are too many to remember, and although I follow advice to maintain a secret system of passwords, I’m probably way too easy to find on the internet.

I miss those good old days already — I think they’re as good as gone. My prediction is totally a gut feeling because I’m no expert, but I believe that what we experience today on the internet will be unrecognizable in a decade. The internet is slowly becoming a microcosm of capitalism, in spite of its original creativecommons philosophy. It’s shutting down accessible connections in spite of its initial and continuing claim of open access, leading me to believe that even the cloud has a cost.

To illustrate the change in my attitude since I first started exploring web 2.0 sites, I’ve learned now that if I like a new web 2.0 tool and the word “beta” is in its masthead, I’d better run through the tutorials and try it out it quickly if the tool interests me at all — that way I’ll be an informed consumer when I choose whether to pay for it later. I had to make this decision about Jott, which started out as a free site that I used regularly; it ended up as a subscription service.  And for every free tool I adopt, I’ve learned not to get too attached to it and to archive my creations and contents because oftentimes, sites suddenly close down completely, as countless many have.


“Web companies such as Blinksale, GoToMeeting, CrazyEgg, Jott, and many others have chosen to eliminate their free plans (or switch to free trials).” — PollEverywhere.com


To be honest, I’m a bit concerned that I’ve become so addicted that I’ll remain a steady customer for most of the sites I register for, even if I must begrudgingly send in my money. I also have started paying attention to a gnawing bud of fear that I’m tethered, not connected — bound up in the whole tangled network of sites like a tied-up hostage — and to top it all off, I’m publicly exposed with only a torn veil of privacy left.

I’m not ready to leave the marketplace yet — I’m having too much fun and benefiting in a multitude of ways — but I’m starting to see that I’ll be making some web 2.0 choices in the distant future. It’s time to watch the trends and change to a more flexible state of mind about web 2.0 sites. It’s reasonable, in my opinion, to pay for service that has earned my loyalty and provides worthwhile functionality. But if, in my opinion, a site charges more than it’s worth for a subscription or delivers buggy service, any capitalist consumer knows that I’m not forced to consume the services or goods the marketplace puts before me. I can vote with my keyboard.


I’ve collected a few sites about web failures here.

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Fear of rotary-dial phones (or, how to be gentle when introducing technology)

I watched a 1930’s-40’s video yesterday showing a Grandpa grumbling about rotary dial phones.  Seems they were coming to town whether he wanted them or not — and he did not!  What fascinated me about this video (other than the curious retrospective back in time) was how methodically and deliberately Western Electric phone company introduced the rotary dial phone in order to assuage Grandpa’s and other citizens’ technophobic resistance.

To its credit, in spite of its monopoly over all telephone operations of the day, Western Electric approached its customers in a reassuring way that helped them embrace the changes. While I recognize and disapprove of the underlying “Big Brother” tone in the company’s attitude, I saw its focus on the customers as an important lesson for those of us who train educators about using technology in new ways in the classroom.

In a minute, I’m going to share clips from the video to illustrate my point, but first, the moral of my story:

Too often, we focus on the tools and forget the audience. We should, instead, direct our attention to the humans in the room.

When we conduct training sessions and begin to sense near-mutiny at worst or mild disinterest at best, it helps to understand what’s happening to the participants’ emotions. Resistance to change paralyzes people when it comes to progress. That fear of stepping outside our comfort zone is instinctive and involuntary, a type of intellectual survival mode.

It may help to remember that reluctance to learn new information is an automatic defense, not a deliberate rejection of the topic or us. I’ve found that if I can reduce session participants’ fear, they often end up agreeing that the technology is worth learning, and some of them are even hooked to explore further on their own.

So what can we do to help clear that hurdle of fear?

First, we can take advantage of Nature’s own antidote to fear — curiosity — that conflicting, prickling feeling that motivates us to venture out beyond our safety zone.  Like an intellectual itch that must be scratched, curiosity compels us to wonder, and if it’s powerful enough, it pushes us to explore.

What should we do to evoke curiosity? Before training sessions, provide a multitude of demonstrations and examples of the technology in actual use, without expecting any participation at first. Advertise! Use teachers who are already using the technology as models and inspirational examples. If possible, employ students to show the interactive elements of the technology and what they like about it. When teachers get curious about what students and colleagues are doing, they open their minds. When they are forced or pushed, they shut down.

Second, we can take steps to alleviate new learners’ doubts and address their concerns, rather than barrel ahead with the “how to’s” and the dog and pony grandstanding.  We want to reach the learner, not show off the tools — but too often, we focus on the tools and forget the audience. We should, instead, direct our attention to the humans in the room.

Third, we should refrain from feeling or acting superior to those who don’t know what we know or don’t do what we do. It would be wrong for us to feel judgmental toward anyone reacting resistant — they are working through their feelings. Sometimes, they legitimately disagree with us and believe the technology doesn’t fit their needs, and they have that right! Don’t push them. In most other cases, however, resistant teachers or administrators simply are unsure, and they process their feelings by remaining silent or detached or by discussing their concerns with their peers (usually out loud during a training session!). Don’t shush them. Their grumbling is just one of the steps of moving toward change.


Expect fear and resistance to change. And by the way, defensiveness is a good sign.

Watch as Grandpa learns that change is imminent — rotary dials phones are coming to town. He doesn’t like the idea one bit. His first reaction? Berate and blame the modern world. (Sound familiar?)

In the next scene, we can see a subtle yet important change of heart. When Grandpa’s friend shows less fear about the change than he expects, Grandpa’s complaint changes from ranting outrage to a defensive argument that he is not “old-fashioned.” The tide is turning. The object of Grandpa’s attention now has switched from the unwelcome technology to his own ability to face it. Defensiveness — although frustrating on a trainer’s end — is a first step toward accepting the change. If we can find ways to encourage learners to maintain confidence during uncertainty, we will help them past some of the most crucial barriers to progress.


Show the preparation. Describe the infrastructure supporting the change.

Now that Grandpa’s curiosity is aroused, his fears are addressed directly when Western Electric meets with customers to explain the technology and how the company prepared for the changes. The company spokesman describes the careful steps taken to ensure a well-planned process. Likewise, we should also take the time to explain the rationale for the technology we introduce, as well as reassure teachers and administrators that the groundwork, resources, and support systems have been well thought out and merit their trust.


Describe what’s going on behind the scenes and what happens next.

Going beyond the explanations about planning and preparation, Western Electric also shared with customers its plans for the actual transition to the new technology — what it would look like “on the back end.” Even though customers would not be a part of these behind-the-scenes activities, they were informed enough to know “the man behind the curtain.” No magic — just manpower. This is a powerfully effective leveler that helps new learners realize that they and you are on the same team, even if you have different roles in the project.


Always provide the human touch. Always, always, always!

Change feels impersonal and mighty cold when you’re asked to embrace an idea that isn’t yours. Along with the initial uncertainty about knowing what to do in a new situation, the unpleasant feeling of being abandoned in new territory can be extremely unsettling. Watch how Western Electric provided reassurance that even though change was taking place, the human factor was not being eliminated. There would still be a voice to talk to, humans to reach out to, someone who would help them. In the same way, when we train new learners, we should always make it clear that we are only a call or an email away. We should check back with them later to follow up, and remain available to rescue them, cheer them on, and stand by them. Along with the other steps taken to reassure new learners, maintaining the “human touch” is, in my opinion, the most crucial element of any training and support.

Lessons from Grandpa:

  • Resistance to change is instinctive.
  • Defensiveness is a first step toward progress.
  • Patience and respect = allowing new learners to struggle and standing by them while they do.
  • Learners are comforted by hearing rationale for change.
  • Learners feel more like part of a team when they hear what trainers and technicians do behind the scenes to prepare for change.
  • The human touch is absolutely essential for progress.

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Down the rabbit hole: internet addiction

Is there life after internet?

In the Read Write Web blog, Jolie O’Dell struck a defensive nerve in her daring post “Should Tech Get a Turn-Off?” In her post, she confronts the geeky world of internet addiction and wonders if the seductive lure of the internet makes it much too easy to go missing from reality without being aware of it. Is she right? Just ask my husband and family, who claim they only know the back of my head while I’m sitting at my computer screen. She lands a sharp and jangling bullseye.

She challenges us to an intervention of sorts, She suggests we should disconnect more regularly and revisit the real world. This echoes my own recent worries — that the “rabbit hole” magical fantasyland of the internet promotes isolation and lures regular users like me away from family and activities in an endless pursuit to nowhere.


I’m not saying that the Internet makes you stupid. I am saying that, if left to run wild across the vast territories of the Web, your mind can turn into a laboratory hamster, frantically pulling levers and running in wheels while his environment remains essentially static and his motivations essentially artificial. –Jolie O’Dell

It’s easy to see why the internet is so pervasive and tempting. Not long after reading O’Dell’s blog, I ran across the graphic below in my Google Reader. The graphic is revealing but not surprising, exposing the prevalence of the internet in all its glorious ubiquity. Me? I am a loyal hamster running on that crazy wheel.

The irony of discovering this graphic on the same day that I read O’Dell’s post is not lost on me. Yeah, it’s definitely time to disconnect more often. Like any wonderland, the internet rabbit hole is a curious lure, but trips there are convoluted, deep and connected to a worldwide network of endless tunnels. It’s the type of maze that has no exit.

A Day in the Internet
Created by Online Education

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More show and tell: Dave Truss rocks!

The POD’s Are Coming

Not only does this slideshow offer highly important points about opening our minds to new technology in education, but Dave Truss, author of the Pair-a-dimes For Your Thoughts blog, knows the secrets of polishing his visual material so it captures his audience’s imagination along with its intellect. This is a perfect example of ditching the tired, boring, bulleted PowerPoint. Instead, he uses engaging images that bring the text to life.

His message may seem radical to some teachers who are resistant to new technology such as handhelds and cellphones, but his approach is so provocative and convincing that I can’t imagine audiences refusing to entertain his ideas, at least long enough to peek into the possibilities while going along for the ride.

Share it with teachers and administrators near you!



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Show and tell

I wanted to share a couple of eye-openers for educators.


iSchool Initiative

First, if you haven’t checked out the iSchool Initiative yet, visit 17-year-old Travis Allen’s website to explore more about his push to bring schools into the 21st Century with iTouch technology. Here’s a short introduction to his conceptual dream of schools of the future.




Also, visit Travis’s wiki, where you can contribute apps and ideas to his growing collection of educational resources for handheld technology.


Techy Tips for Non-Techy Teachers

Next, if you know any teachers who are reluctant to try technology or are just getting started, here is a useful collection of tools and activities in a presentation by Mark Carlson. Although it’s aimed at “newbies,” I easily spent the better part of an afternoon playing with these fun teaching ideas/sites, and bookmarked most of them:


After exploring the presentation, take a look at Mark’s collection of resources (”Ideas to Inspire”). It’s also worth a long visit.



Glogster Tutorial

Selena Ward, one of my friends on twitter, just posted a fantastic tutorial showing how to create online posters in glogster and graciously shared it with the “eduverse” community:


With these offerings, I think you can stay busy for quite a long while! Have fun exploring! (But don’t forget to return to Real Life before your family misses you!)

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Imbedded leaders

As educators, we are all leaders.

Our students look up to us, the public entrusts us to guide their children, and our colleagues depend on us for mutual support.  We make decisions continually that affect our students’ futures and, by our actions and our attitudes, we contribute to a school’s professional, social, and emotional climate. So whether or not we manage employees and make policy decisions, we lead.

We are not drones who simply perform duties as directed by “official leaders” above us. We have a responsibility, therefore, to claim our position as part of the leadership team that officially presides in our districts. We need to think about how we lead and commit ourselves to improvement.

In Dangerously Irrelevant, Scott McLeod challenges bloggers to post their views on leadership every July 12. I highly recommend reading some if not all of these posts — they offer wisdom, observant perspectives, and unique insight, not just for leaders or potential leaders, but for the rest of us, as well.

After reading many of the inspiring responses, such as those written by Kelly Hines, Pam Shoemaker, and Richard Byrne, I can only add my small voice in the like-minded chorus. Some of the posts, such as Jon Becker’s, speak eloquently about systemic changes in education from a wider view (government mandates and interdepartmental struggles within districts); others focus in on the school level.

Each person’s blog post ignites a new spark in the communal fire — we are all impassioned educators who want to spread our love of learning, but we are all aware that burn-out is rampant, and some leaders who hold decision-making positions unknowingly snuff out the brightest flames.

What will it take for the education system to adjust its views of leadership to include all the voices — from the teachers, the students, the teachers’ aides — and not just the administrators and school board office personnel and state or federal politicians? There are several fundamental paradigm shifts that must take place, at all levels, among district leaders, administrators, and teachers. Our beliefs about leadership must change.


Leadership is more than “authority.”

The stereotypical ineffective vice principal swaggers in the halls with too many keys on his belt, boasting that his disciplinary policy is feared and students (and teachers) bend to his will. Hopefully, this is a caricature that most of us see as ludicrous and outdated. As soon as administrators or teachers view themselves as “in control” of others — students or whomever — leadership has been diluted and demeaned by a toxic sense of power. Such a mindset is management, not leadership, and it is not only ineffective, but counterproductive. It leads to an authoritative climate that promotes either bland compliance or rebellious resistance — neither of which fosters a love of learning or a fondness for education. Teachers should beware that their position as a leader of a class of students can also become similarly corrupted and misguided.


Leadership is learned — and earned — from the trenches

In a March 2009 post, I listed 5 changes I would make to improve our educational system. The first two of those, quoted here, directly relate to educational leadership.

“A powerful leader should be able to perform any job his or her followers are asked to do, and furthermore, should be able to do it better than they can. No mediocre teacher should be allowed to rise to the ranks of school leadership. I’ve known countless exemplary administrators who are exceptional, but some administrators are, sadly, not particularly dynamic teachers themselves. In fact, often they are individuals who disliked teaching and wanted to get out of the classroom and/or were lured by higher salaries; they never experienced any true ‘calling’ to teach.

“As instructional leaders, administrators should be able to pass their passion on to their faculty. They should be able to mentor teachers, model techniques, and identify weaknesses and strengths in their teaching staff. Their first love — their calling, their passion — should be the students and the educational process, above all, not their own career advancement.

“Likewise, local school boards should include more than one token educator among its members. Education is unique and specialized, and the people who govern the districts should include the experienced perspective of seasoned educators. We can’t keep trying to run school districts like businesses or like political legislative bodies, in which the status quo is preserved at any cost and the newest members strive to make the community comfortable while ignoring the realities of the school system and the gritty, nuts-and-bolts needs of the teachers.”


Leadership doesn’t isolate itself.

The second change I suggested in my March post was this one:

“Beware the ivory tower syndrome! Both school board members and administrators should venture out of their offices to interact with teachers and students in the halls and in the classrooms. Otherwise, they fall out of touch with the reality of their constituents’ world. Such distance isolates them, making them less likely to build a trusting relationship that would allow a natural dialogue between school leaders and classroom teachers.”


Leadership goes both ways.

But here’s a twist: Teachers and students need to reverse that advice and talk more to the administrators and school board members! Why not reach out and “walk a mile in their shoes,” listen to the challenges and pressures they face, and form a common bond of commiseration? Find and read principals’ and superintendents’ blogs, such as Michael Smith’s PrincipalsPage; friend them on twitter. Knock on their doors. Invite them to your classrooms. We are all out here together, with the same aim: we want to educate students to help them seize the future. Too often, we forget that we’re committed to the same goals.

If we can blend the dividing line between administrators and the “troops” in the classrooms, and between the school board members, district personnel, and school administrators, we can begin to communicate with each other rather than fight a war of “us vs. them.”

We are the “imbedded leaders,” out in the trenches, in the classrooms, the ones who see most of the action. Like imbedded reporters for the media who live with troops in battle, we are close to the action and can best report what we see and what is needed — and we have a first-person point of view about what can be done to improve the chances of success.

Once we step over those lines in the sand, we can forge a common bond of leadership to get our messages across. Granted, there will always be positions of power “above us” that set policy and make rules that we must uphold, but as leaders ourselves — in our own spheres of influence — we can affect change and improve the status quo, and by doing so, earn the right to suggest innovative, constructive steps toward the progress we want to see.


Leadership 2009 badge: from http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2009/07/calling-all-bloggers-leadership-day-2009.html

Photo “I Live In the Walls” from http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/28071

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Delicious binge and purge: An invitation to a bookmark makeover

It’s time for deep cleaning. My delicious.com site is out of control. It’s bloated, overloaded and almost as overstuffed as my neglected guestroom closet.
The problem with delicious (and its cousin, diigo.com, which I also use) is that they are ridiculously effortless; you can save a website as a bookmark online with a single click from the toolbar, label it with a handy category tag, and leave the room as if nothing ever happened. This means it’s dangerously easy to collect more websites than I can handle.

I’m planning to go on a strict makeover regime, a delicious binge and purge: this will be a systematic, focused program to rediscover treasures, organize my collection of sites, and throw out the trash. You can join me if you think your bookmarks are getting out of control. You might recognize yourself in this list of symptoms:


Warning signs that it’s time for a delicious purge:

  • I have more than 100 bookmarks. More than 500. More than 1000. More than 2000 …
  • Sometimes while surfing the web, I’ve clicked on a site to bookmark it, only to discover that I already saved it eons ago but didn’t recognize it.
  • I often bookmark sites and never return to them.
  • Sometimes I don’t read or examine a website closely; I just skim it enough to say, “Hey, this looks like a good one!” and tag it. I call this “lazy-eye surfing.”
  • I have two — sometimes more — versions of the same tag,  written differently (such as ed_tech and educational_technology).
  • In a Wordle cloud, my delicious tag collection contains font sizes ranging from 120 pt. to -20 pt., which means there are two extremes in my tags: those containing one single website as well as those containing literally hundreds of websites.  I finally grew some intelligence and asked myself, “Just how useful is this? One tag with hundreds of websites? Inversely, how logical is a tag that only contains one solitary bookmarked site?” (These are rhetorical questions. I know the answers.)


I’m going on a “Serendipity Hunt”


This summer I’m going to spend some time cleaning up my delicious sites. I call it my “delicious binge and purge” because although I’ll be getting rid of many sites and tags (purging), I’ll also rediscover hidden treasure (binging). Delightful serendipity: I predict that I’ll find a wealth of old memories and treasures that I overlooked or forgot, and I will share them with my PLN (Professional/Personal Learning Network).

Feel free to join me!

Logistics:

  1. Set a timer to limit time on task. There’s no need to invite fatigue or boredom! I’m planning on 30-minute or hour-long sessions. I know I won’t get everything done at one time. Heck, I might not even get much done this summer, or this year! I’m going to tackle this project one step at a time in a manageable and comfortable pace.
  2. No rules apply: be methodical or jump around; I’m going with whatever feels comfortable. I might want to take each site down the list or I might want to simply cruise for what interests me most.
  3. Attack in small bites, each session with a different focus. Today’s focus, for example, is on shaking the sites up for a different view of them. The next sessions (in later posts) will deal with renaming tags, bundling tags, etc.
  4. Diigo.com will need attention, too… later. I plan on tackling diigo in the same way another time. First, as a warm-up, my focus will be on delicious.
  5. Eat chocolate or chew gum or do something pleasurable while in a delicious session. Why? Just because.

OK, Here we go:


Step #1: Shake it up!

Click on image:

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Technology graveyards: Why schools need instructional technology integrators


We’ve run out of room in our schools for the clunky technology of yesterday, both figuratively and literally. We need to get rid of the old equipment, along with the old mindsets, instructional methods, and philosophies that keep us pinned in the past. But change is exploding all around us at speeds and in directions that are impossible to keep up with.

We need tour guides.

In American education, we call them instructional technology integrators, technologists, ITRTS (Instructional Technology Resource Teachers), or a variety of other terms. These specialized tour guides must be multifaceted and able to stand on either side of the fence: above all, they should be experienced, recognized master teachers (not IT personnel) in order to understand the pedagogy and learning theory required to meet curriculum objectives; yet, at the same time, they should be technologically savvy enough to seamlessly incorporate the complexities of technology into an educational setting.

Finding such a blended combination of expertise is more challenging than one might think. A few years ago, teachers grew or stepped into those roles through their own experience with (and love for) technology. Those were days when technology still maintained a relatively low-key presence. Computers were new, the internet was Web 1.0 and schools still were limited in their connectivity.

In the last few years, however, innovation has fueled itself into a rocketing explosion of inventions, improvements, and emerging technologies, changing so fast that we can barely keep up enough to even know what’s out there and what it can do. Visit a website that reports on and reviews new technologies and one must scroll endlessly to view a complete list — updated daily — of new gadgets and tools. (Check out Wired’s Gadget Lab or Endgadget, for example.) On the internet, Web 2.0 sites have multiplied at a dizzying pace, opening an unexplored universe of interactive, collaborative web workspaces in which students and teachers can create, share, and comment on each other’s ideas, not just with each other, but globally with others around the world.

It is no wonder that many school districts are paralyzed in their technological advancement. And it’s not surprising that many teachers and administrators are overwhelmed.

Districts often blame their sluggish progress on budgetary constraints — and this is undoubtedly a sad reality in our crunched economy — but I suspect technological ignorance, naivete, and culture shock are also tying districts down and they aren’t even aware of it.

Because of the complexity and ubiquitous nature of emerging technology, instructional technology integration now has become a specialized field. University graduate-level masters programs offer instructional technology degrees and certification programs from which candidates (usually in-service, experienced teachers) gain many hours of focused training and immersion in both pedagogy and technological skills.


Who’s hiring?

Even though there are experts to call on, there are still many districts holding out, believing they can do without the experienced help of technology integrators. Some have laid off or repositioned the ones they had (I am a recent example; my position as an instructional technology integrator was eliminated due to budget cuts this past year). Other districts are still at ground zero, having never initiated an instructional technology position at all. School districts either do not recognize the importance of technology integration, or they expect teachers to learn the technological applications on their own without support.

But on their own, the best teachers can’t possibly do a thorough or excellent job teaching and keep up with technological advances. This is not meant as an insult to the abilities of teachers to handle the complexities or additional demands; rather, it is an affirmation of their professional commitment to their career. Teaching — for those of you who are blissfully unaware — is an overwhelmingly demanding lifestyle that requires at least 50-60 hours a week when schools are in session to do well. To expect teachers also to keep up with emerging technologies is asking for superhuman accomplishment and sacrifices to other aspects of the teaching arena.


Who’s buying?

When school systems spend hundreds of thousands of dollars buying upgraded technology equipment, relying on IT personnel to make the purchasing decisions seem counterproductive. Of course the technology engineers and network specialists should weigh in heavily on these decisions because they understand the infrastructure, the technical specifications, and the security issues inherent in a district’s equipment purchase. But balancing the purchasing power by including instructional technology personnel in the decision-making would help keep the focus where it belongs: on education and learning. (Case in point: please stop buying short little ethernet cords for classrooms with only one or two network drops on distant walls.)

Combining instructional and technology personnel in buying committees would also require these two often-divided camps to communicate and exchange ideas. Unfortunately, this is a novel idea in many districts, in which the cliche fits: “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”


Move out of the graveyard

The secret to managing change and staying grounded in the midst of evolution lies in having the luxury of time to adjust to the newness and having time to reconcile old mindsets and habits with new ways of thinking and new approaches. At today’s pace of change and innovation, school systems need “tour guides” to help with this process. It’s all coming too fast to sort out and sift through. Gone are the manageable days of slow progress: In the past, the pace of change was easier to tolerate. The evolution of multimedia tools in the classroom, for example, moved at a slow-walk pace from slide projectors to filmstrips to 16 millimeter movies to TVs with VCR players to DVD players and then to LCD projectors.

But today’s pace has accelerated to a supersonic whiplash flash. Teachers and administrators — and students — need the support and guidance of instructional technology integrators as experts who can research new technologies, suggest and model ways to use them in the instructional process, and weed out the junk, fluff, and trivial toys from the serious tools that encourage critical thinking.


Update: July 27, 2009: I just read and strongly recommend “Jeff Gordon Can’t Change His Own Tires” on Free Technology for Teachers, Richard Byrne’s blog. His post emphasizes the necessity of maintaining a clear division of duties between IT technicians (hardware/network, etc.) and ITRTs (instructional technologists). He offers a pithy analogy between a NASCAR driver serving as his own pit crew and an instructional technologist maintaining computer hardware and networks.


Related posts:
“Scapegoats and White Elephants”
“John Deere vs. a Hand Plow”


Photo of overhead projectors courtesy of Wesley Fryer, from http://www.speedofcreativity.org/
Photo of tangled wires by Sharon Elin, laughing, using a cellphone


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Don’t forget the newbies at NECC 2009

Washington, DC is swarming with educators and technology lovers as the NECC 2009 conference begins. Today’s crowds should swell even more as attendees arrive in town for the official kickoff of the national conference this afternoon, capped by the opening keynote speaker, Malcom Gladwell, author of Outliers (2008), Blink (2005), and The Tipping Point (2000). The conference center is sitting ready, with Ask Me booths and volunteers, including tech support (”The Doc Is In” stations) prepared to assist attendees.

One thing I noticed as I walked around the convention center yesterday (Saturday) afternoon: almost everyone I passed smiled at me and was friendly. There is a collegiate, collaborative feeling in the air, knowing that we’re embarking on a learning adventure for the next few days and that we all come into the arena from the same point. We’re all educators or in the education field and we all love technology and want to use it more effectively and creatively in the classroom.

But we don’t all come to the conference with the same level of expertise and experience using technology in the classroom. We can’t assume that everyone we talk to or share with in a session has the same knowledge about web 2.0 or software that we do. I know many attendees who do not have delicious or diigo accounts, do not blog, are not on twitter or plurk or use facebook, and, more importantly, do not know why these applications are integral to their professional growth. But they’re here to find out. Be gentle, veterans, and do not judge too harshly or look down upon anyone who knows less than you do. You started somewhere, too!


Find out what your audience knows!

Veteran attendees, please remember those of us who are attending a NECC conference for the first time. If you’re leading a session or workshop, take a few minutes to find out what the members in the audience know about your topic before you begin. We need you to explain more, perhaps even from the beginning in some cases. If you don’t have time to start from the beginning, suggest resources and — above all — offer encouragement. Explain the rationale so newcomers understand the reason your topic is essential. And remember, it’s not a comfortable feeling to be a newbie, so be gentle.


Newbies, speak up!

You can’t learn if you don’t ask. Don’t be bullied by the feeling that “everyone else knows this but me.” If you’re attending NECC for the first time, please speak up and ask questions. With a few exceptions, most veterans will offer help and share their expertise with you. They just forget sometimes that everyone doesn’t know what they know. Take careful notes and check out the resources and links provided in sessions. Be willing to take risks and try something new. You have experts around you here to support you as you step out of your comfort zone!


Be kind to new presenters

There is a middle ground between veterans and newbies, which includes educators who are not brand new to technology but who aren’t quite yet seasoned experts. Some of them submitted proposals for sessions and workshops and will be “on stage” for their first time. Please encourage them and participate in their sessions. If they bomb, give them friendly feedback by emailing them afterward or speaking with them to offer tips. If you are the type of person who doesn’t have patience and feels your time is too valuable to waste in a session that is not helpful to you, please find courteous ways to exit the session without showing off your displeasure. Even better, just quietly work on something else while staying in the session.


Don’t be a Mac snob

Many of us use PCs, either by choice, by habit, or because our school system or workplace dictates it. I know that Macs are the buzz, and, personally, when I grow up, I want to own a Mac — but for the time being, please do not show arrogance toward those of us at NECC who pull out our Dells in the midst of a sea of MacPros. The apple logo can be intimidating to PC users, especially because Mac people talk in a different language sometimes. It is like traveling in a foreign country. We need translations to understand what you mean when you mention Mac-specific applications such as Keynote or Garage Band.

The next few days will be a mindmeld of useful information and professional growth. As a relative newcomer myself, I’m looking forward to actually meeting friends from twitter and plurk with whom I have only chatted online. I can’t wait to start learning! I’m expecting my head to begin spinning sometime in the next few hours and not stop anytime soon afterward — I know I’ll learn more than I can reasonably hope to digest.

My hope is that every participant at NECC, whether new or seasoned, makes an effort to communicate and share with each other without staying to themselves. I’m looking forward to a professional, collegiate, and collaborative experience that will rock my world!

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