Solving Issues

Entry #2

When we created our top ten issues together in class on Monday, all of us pointed out that school districts don’t have the money to buy the newest and latest technology and that teachers don’t have the time to incorporate technology into their already completely packed lessons. The more articles I read, the more I wonder if those two issues are really excuses that we are making to justify why we ourselves don’t incorporate technology or social web tools (or don’t use them enough) in our daily teaching?

I found a blog by a teacher (I am assuming) from a school called Trinity. This teacher is writing this particular blog in response to Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli’s Social Technologies Podcast called Using Social Technologies to Redefine Schooling. While this podcast is almost 55 minutes, the teacher from Trinity did a wonderful job of summarizing the most important points. Richardson and Mancabelli find the following important for changing schools so that they use social web tools in instruction:

• Leadership: School leaders have to know, learn, and use social tools like blogs, wikis, and podcasts.
• Professional Development: Teachers and educators need formal instruction in how to use the tools and best practices.
• Reflection: Any sort of "major change" like the kind that social tools introduce needs post-implementation reflection.
• Support: Teachers need support once they walk into the classroom and begin using the tools with teachers.
• Access: This isn't the biggest challenge because of the availability of equipment and tools. Teachers can do cool things with 2 computers and an Internet connection.

Although most of us probably already realize most of these points, I really think the “access” point is quite important. Teachers, including myself, always complain that we don’t have enough computers or that it is too difficult to get the computer lab whenever we need it and therefore that is why we don’t incorporate technology on a daily basis. The truth of the matter is two computers can actually be enough! I found that statement to be eye-opening. The author of this blog also pointed out the following: “systemic change won't happen if it doesn't begin with educators using web tools in their every day lives. In other words, if an educator doesn't know how these tools can impact their own learning and the tools' place in society as whole, then they won't be able to successfully implement it in the classroom.” To me this seems like a solution to a few issues we have discussed – teacher resistance and teachers having the time to think of creative ways to incorporate technology into their already packed lessons. If a teacher truly begins using technology in the way the digital natives do, they will realize its importance and have a greater desire to implement that technology into their lessons. I think teachers will find ways to naturally fit many of the cool tools we have discussed into their daily lessons if they use it as a daily part of their lives. It will no longer feel time consuming for them to think of ways to incorporate technology.

The author then created another entry to discuss what teachers can do with wikis (which is really what I was looking for before I became interested in the first entry they had written). This entry is worth reading because it gives examples of educational wikis at the end. I have already bookmarked this blog in my del.icio.us!

This blog was short, but I think it said a lot. It also links to a blog written by Will Richardson entitled Moving Schools Forward – A School 2.0 Project. In this blog Richardson is describing his intentions to take a “typical school that is currently steeped in a 20th Century model of teaching and successfully move it forward in a systemic way toward a more relevant 21st Century, or, if you will, School 2.0 model that fully takes advantage of a more connected, collaborative, creative world”. It doesn’t appear as though this school has a lot of money; however, they have something much more important than money. The whole community wants to be involved in the process and there is so much willingness on the part of the entire staff to completely change everything they do if that means becoming a 21st Century school. The school leadership team “recognizes what’s coming and wants to be proactive in helping teachers and students practice real 21st Century education, understanding that there is no set definition of what that is.” Could you imagine a school leadership team without a definite plan? Wow! I am thinking that perhaps our group should have made our number one issue “resistance” or “willingness to change”. Apparently if this one issue is resolved, schools can dramatically change for the better in becoming successful at training their students to survive in their ever-changing world.

I know I can be long-winded, but in summary what I found are two solutions to some of the issues we were discussing in class. One is that it doesn’t take a lot of money to use social web tools in everyday instruction. And number two, if teachers begin using web tools in their every day lives it will become natural for them to begin incorporating into their lessons and won’t be so time-consuming.