On September 24, I posted the question here, “If ‘It’s not about the technology,’ then what is it about?” The response was overwhelming, by my standards, and I finally took some time this morning to read through all of the comments, and to post some of my own.
To get a visual sense of what came out of the conversation, and partly for the fun of it, I popped the comments into Wordle and made the tag cloud below.
Reading through the comments, I jotted down some of the key terms and phrases and counted up the times that they occurred. Here is the list, sized by their frequency but arranged by their occurrence.
- Students
- Maintaining Democracy
- Pedagogy
- Communication/Conversation
- Collaboration
- Exploring
- Differentiating
- Creating
- Expressing
- Interpreting
- Learning
- Problem Solving
- Connections
- Skills
- relationships
- Not just learning something, but doing something with it.
- The Story
Hi David,
I’ve been thinking more about this conversation as well.
Came across a great Michael Jordan clip on YouTube that got me thinking – “It’s not about the shoes – it’s about knowing where you’re going…”
I wrote about it (and linked to the video) here: http://www.iwasthinking.ca/2008/10/09/its-not-about-the-technology/
Have a great weekend! It’s Canadian Thanksgiving, so I’m looking forward to a long weekend full of rest and playing with my kids! Doesn’t get better than that!
Heidi
I got here via Heidi who commented above… essentially, thought my network.
I think that is really what technology has to offer: “Networking”.
The problem is that ‘networking’ sometimes has negative connotations to it, but in reality I’m not talking about networking in the same way that it has always been used in the past.
I’m talking about creating a ‘Learning Network’ that is fundamentally different than say a ‘Classroom Group’… I think mostly of Stephen Downes when I speak of this.
A video that I created, (linked to my name above), is my personal story of how being a networked teacher,
connected to other educators and learners, has launched what I can do as a learner and a teacher into a
place very different than schools traditionally took me or my students.
Technology is the open door that allows us to meaningfully connect and engage learners in what some would call ‘new ways’. I call this not just new ways, but the way of the future… in both economic and social economies.
Schools should move that way too, not to ‘prepare kids for the future’, but to ‘engage students in the future’.
The words above relate greatly to our goal in education. It’s not about technology in the classroom, it’s about what the technology can do for the students in the classroom. By giving students the resources they need in terms of technology, we are giving them the tools to be successful!
Returning to “If it’s not about the technology?”
It has to do with the teachers and parents willingness to move forward with the 21st century. Our children are going to get there with or without us. WE, as professional educators, MUST get to work. Not only to learn what there is to learn about technology but how to teach with the technological advances we have in our hands. I feel that our children have left us behind and we adults are running around like a deer in a headlight. One foot in front of the other. Do what you have to do to stay in the ballgame or step aside so others will press forward with the ball.