The school year has come to the end. As is traditional, we had a nice, short meeting with all the staff and lunch. The lunch was fantastic – BBQ.
The short meeting included a brief reflection from each department. The reflection was tied to a success during the year. This is a great strategy and a good time. Each of the departments shared a success during the year. Generally, what was shared was a “big event”.
This though is one of the things that strikes me with Technology. Everyone seems to be looking for the big splash. This is one of the reasons that so many paid programs become so popular. They advertise great things.
I get it. As humans, we have a natural predisposition to “shiny” things. The “ordinary” takes less and less of our attention. The novel grabs our attention. Thus, technology vendors push the “new” (i.e. the novel) constantly. Their job is to make money. To get people (or organizations) to give them money, they need to stand out.
Educators go to conferences, follow famous educators, read books, etc. They see something shiny and want to implement that too.
Meanwhile, we have some terrific technology that is fully implemented and available. This technology has become “boring”. Students could very easily be taking advantage of these tools. However, frequently, educators haven’t figured out exactly how. Part of educators not having that figured out may relate back to the amount of time that educators have to learn new things and how to use those things.
Let’s get a bit more specific. Basic skills of computer use are frequently missing for educators. Things like connecting to a projector and troubleshooting if the screen doesn’t immediately display can be frustrating for many. This should be really, really basic. Projecting is crucial because so many teachers rely on projection as a method of communication. Projection can also be crucial for students to share what they know. How about basic spreadsheet use? Spreadsheets can help students understand facts. Spreadsheets can also help understand charts and graphs. Students should be able to create and understand charts and graphs. Students should also understand how data can be misused. This includes misusing charts and graphs. This is really about critical thinking. Yet, many educators are confused by spreadsheets. Educators may not understand how to create good spreadsheets. By educators not understanding spreadsheets, it makes it difficult for students to learn, develop and grow those critical thinking skills.
Having decent technology skills would help enable educators to differentiate instruction. There are several ways differentiation would be empowered with technology skills.
For starters, these skills would open up opportunities for students to show that they know things in a variety of ways. Having core competencies with technology means that educators could feel comfortable having students create an audio program (frequently called a podcast), create a video, create an interactive presentation, create a website, etc. Students need assistance in the how to do those things. However, once students have those skills, they can utilize them in multiple settings.
Once educators have strong technology skills, other avenues also open up for them. Educators can take advantage of Learning Management Systems to time shift. Those educators can create multiple pathways for students to learn material. This takes work and is probably not very “shiny”. However, this can make huge differences for a wide variety of students.
