Technology integration and use issues

I’d like to reference a news article in this post. The article is from the March 2007 issue of the eSchool News , pg. 38. Alan November , an ed-tech consultant had some interesting remarks in his speech at the FETC 2007 conference.November says that the key to using technology in the classroom is not training teachers to use it, but to train them in how to incorporate technology creatively into lessons in stimulating and engaging ways. He also states that the assignments need to be more rigorous and demanding. He says, “Our standards are too low.”November emphasized three skills needed to turn classrooms into effective digital learning centers.The first is to teach students to deal with massive amounts of information. He says that we tend to give the student just what they need, when they need it to take the next test.The second skill requires that the classroom become a global communications center. Teach the children to work with people around the world and establish a network of people you can tap to make the student’s learning experiences more effective. November emphasizes that we spend too much time teaching teachers technical stuff and not enough on creative application of technology.The third skill is self direction. “The real change in the global economy isn’t that you get a laptop or an MP3 player, it’s that you don’t have a boss telling you what to do., November said,” The self directed person becomes more valuable. We teach children how to be taught, what we need is to teach them how to organize their own learning. We have created a culture of dependency. “November says that teachers can reach students by tapping into the technologies they already have. Teach algebra on a podcast. Use MySpace to teach social responsibility.This was an interesting article for me in that it moved away from the high tech “Gee Whiz” factor of technology, to concepts of use. This is the issue that sometimes seems to get clouded when talking about technology, whether it’s a new digital television camera to the latest educational software, first we need to state our goals and explore how we can use the technology to help us meet them.

Changing Roles with Technology

In the recent issue of Current(The Public Television Newspaper) there was an article by Jeremy Egner on the keynote speech at the Intergrated Media Association’s Public Media Conference in Boston. The speech was given by video journalist Michael Rosenblum . Michael is sometimes called an evangelist for the video journalist concept. The video journalist is a journalist, videographer, sound person, and editor. The video journalist can use a laptop with video editing software and Ethernet encoders to edit and transmit his/her stories from remote locations. Traditionally the roles of journalist, videographer, sound person and editor were filled by separate individuals. New tools have led many stations to go with the “one man band” approach to field journalism. There are many different ideas as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. But, it is here now.This is similar to what Mr. Rosenblum was saying in his keynote speech. New technology is here. He said, “Get it or you’re unemployed, the steamroller is not coming, the steamroller is here.” Flash video, Google maps, podcasts are all elements that some Public Television Stations are using to augment their traditional broadcasts and in some instances creating new content for distribution on the web.Check out KQED’s Quest website for some idea of what’s happening with educational television. Television as we know it is going away. For broadcasters to keep their audiences they must drive them to the Internet.What does this have to do with education? New technologies are forcing educators to ask the same questions as the TV station employee, “What is my role and where am I headed?” Will the teacher of the future have more in common with the “one (wo)man band” video journalist? Will the teacher have to be a technician and an educator?