You Say You Can't Do Technology?

I hope that's not the case!  For some of you, this course has been easy.  For others, however, it's been more of a struggle.  So why bother?  That's a question posed by Scott McLeod in his Dangerously Irrelevant blog.

from Scott McLeod

Excuse 1: I don’t see it as teachers spurning technology, or choosing not to take advantage of those new ideas and tools. I think most teachers don’t even realize that there’s a decision to be made. It’s not a matter of choosing the red pill or the blue pill… if you don’t know that there are even two pills available as options.

… A teacher that has never heard of Blabberize or Glogster or Prezi, has never been introduced to the new world of online applications that are available to them. They likely don’t follow blogs or listen to podcasts. They have probably never been to an EdTech conference or seen a TED talk. In short, they’re just ordinary, average educators who aren’t aware that there’s a whole other world that they have easy access to… if they just ‘take the blue pill’. (Steve Dembo)

Excuse 2:  The fact of the matter is that there exist a very large number of effective educators that are simply not able to contribute in any significantly recurrent amount to online discussion. All told, it’s not that they’re incapable of participating and it’s not that they’re unwilling. Rather, this group maintains perceived silence online because their professional priorities prohibit them from spending the time or energy required to provide plausible contribution. (Darren Draper) 

Read what McLeod says in this blog post, "We can't let educators off the hook!"

Which side am I on?  Guess!  Remember my favorite quotes from that interview with Heidi Hayes Jacobs?

• Regarding technology, you have to show me how it’s good for kids 
not to use technology. Not using available technology is like going to a doctor who says, “Oh, I’ve heard of Xrays.” It’s not okay. The first issue is not your comfort.  It’s a no-brainer. These kids are in the 21st century.  The question isn’t whether, it’s how.

• Teachers need to grow beyond their habits. Doctors take an oath. They don’t say, every September I am going to give you my favorite medicine whether you need it or not. Would any parent take kids to a doctor using techniques of the 70s and 80s?  It’s not okay.