"I would use more technology in my classroom, but my school/district doesn't provide enough training for me to learn how to use all the tools available to us."
Have you heard that before?
Do you believe it?
This post came from my response in a recent Moodle forum and frankly, it was too good not to share more widely (he says modestly!).
Jon D. hit the nail directly on the head in his response...and I pick up from there. When MLTI started in 2002 or so, Bette Manchester and crew did an outstanding job of "mass educating" middle level teachers about the laptops, how they worked, and most importantly, how they could be used by students and teachers as learning tools. Before giving out brand-new laptops to every 7th and 8th grade teacher and student in Maine, they needed to have a massive professional development program like never seen before. The PD had to be thoughtful, engaging, multifaceted, and it had to be done fast! Preparing for initial MLTI implementation had to be done at that time and in that way and ultimately it was very successful. But as Jon notes, there is no way that we can provide personalized "service" to everyone. Mass education just doesn't work anymore (and maybe that goes for our work with our students as well)!
There is a reason why manuals that used to be book size are now on 3 x 5 inch cards; in addition, many tutorials, podcasts, and written explanations are readily available online. Once past a certain level of "technology savvy-ness", we simply need to spend some time with a new device or tool (like VoiceThread) and learn how to use it. Perhaps a major problem is that we don't take time to learn something by playing with it.
Let's deal with the elephant in the room. Why don't we use the expertise/knowledge of our students? Why doesn't every Maine school have an iTeam with tech-learning savvy kids who can not only set up and fix the machines...but more importantly, can help us figure out how to use them to learn? Let's take this even further. I suggest that every elementary, middle and high school have an iTeam whose members are knowledgeable about how the technology works, how it can be used to help students and teacher learn, but are also knowledgeable about using it safely, responsibly, and ethically. Call this digital citizenship if you like. And then we teach every student and teacher in the school how to use digital media in this responsible way. Possible...of course! Probable...only if we have the will to make it happen.
So, whose responsibility is it for us to learn more about technology and learning...and why aren't we using the expertise of our students who are willing and eager to help us learn this stuff?
