injenuity

I don’t know the origin of Wordless Wednesday, but I hope I don’t offend by starting my own themed day. I’m always wondering, “What if…?” and thought I could focus on it one day a week. I often read blog posts from ed tech professionals frustrated by their customers (administration, teachers, students) who are resistant to new technologies and change in general. This seems to be the common thread that connects everyone involved in educational technology. Sometimes it gets exhausting reading another story of a rebellious audience in a technology workshop.

What if they’re right? What if the rebels are onto something? What if they have been teaching the same thing successfully for 30 years and it doesn’t make sense to change? Have you ever wondered? What if, instead of venting your frustrations at the end of a workshop, you made some changes to avoid the frustrations all together? I used to advise people that technology was just a tool and it stopped being useful when it got in the way of content delivery. Ten years later, I feel the instructional content is less important than knowing how to process the wealth of available information and make decisions.

Now, children have access to all the information we have as adults. What they lack, is the skill to process the information, build knowledge and make wise decisions. If an instructor is resistant to using technology, there are other things you can do to give them support that will allow them to provide students with a stronger technology foundation.

1. Instead of showing them a bunch of flashy Web 2.0 tools and how you use them, teach one of their lessons. Track down their 30-year-old mimeographed lesson plan and use it! Find the heart of the lesson; the thing they are so attached to that they just can’t give it up. Show them how you can use technology without losing heart.
2. Emphasize that the students will use the technology whether or not the instructors adopt it.
3. Share the importance of the fact that students have access outside the classroom to unlimited resources and information in their content area. Regardless of whether the instructor uses technology, they will be affected when students bring new, and sometimes inaccurate information into the classroom to share with other students.
4. Let them know that in addition to the content they teach, they will have the responsibility of helping students filter through outside information using reasoning and critical thinking. If they choose not to use technology in the classroom, they would be advised to at least provide instruction that leads to creative critical thinking.
5. Keep in mind that more than technology skills, students need to know how to read, reason and think critically before they leave school. Employers often prefer to teach employees on their technology systems. If students learn to read and think critically, they will be able to adopt the technologies, even if they do not get the exposure in school.