The Academia Gap and the New Philosophers
When I started grad school, my colleagues and professors discussed the separation between Academia (University-level teachers) and Classroom (K-12 teachers). The gap between research and application of the research to the classroom. To the teachers in our group it felt as if the professors or “Academia” we discussed just weren’t grounded in the real-world. We could read research paper and journals but it just seemed as if they were observing and not participating.
There was a gap and this gap made them separate from us - on the battle lines.
I am starting to see this gap develop between our classroom teachers and our new upper echelon of education technologists and bloggers out there. I think this was most noticed by the idea of “famous bloggers” from Scott McLeod’s post as well. It is also seen in the conversation taking place on Twitter and in the blogs of the new philosophers of the Web 2.0.
The group is adapting the new technologies so quickly for themselves and for the development of new communication for the edublogosphere. But, is it reflecting in our classrooms? Is it being shared by our teachers? Or are we getting so far ahead of ourselves that we are creating our own gap between research and reality?
I see communication on Twitter from the new philosophers (I like this title better than Famous Bloggers) asking us to provide them with teachers for conversations they want to have using the new technologies. I can see why it would be hard to find core teachers using Web 2.0 strategies like we use daily to communicate with one another! I don’t know of any teachers using Plurk or Twitter for that matter during the school year or even summer.
The blog conversations are so full of ideas and the push to “get our teachers onboard” and “motivate student learning” with these tools. Inspire them with collaboration and creativity! Really??!? That’s what our teachers need right now?
I am in the field. I know the push. I do. But frankly, it is getting embarrassing. I have tried most of the tools and even found a few I like personally. However, I don’t think most of my teachers would really give a flying flip about most of them or the conversations we are having. I think they see the great divide much more than we do. And that divide REALLY separates us from them.
For the past few months, I have played around the edge of the new philosophers. I have been reading their blogs, listening to the podcasts, reading the books they recommend, joining their Ustreams, and even observing the Twitter conversations about everything from baseball to new uses of technology. I have been an observer and an active participant.
But the gap is great and expanding. And I don’t want to go to their side and lose connectivity with the teachers I work with.
I wish I could Twitter and Plurk all day too.
I wish I could research blogs and contribute to the online conversation like they do.
I wish I could Ustream and connect with this global philosophy shift in live streaming.
I wish I could participate in their witty and fun conversations and travel tips they share all day and night.
I wish I could get online and ask for participants from your district because mine…well..they gave up on listening to me months ago because I am “too far out there”.
I wish I could read all those books you all talk about and listen to those podcasts while I get ready to take on a new day.
But I can’t. I have to work. I guess we can play together at NECC or TCEA someday.
July 13th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Okay, I’m going to both agree and disagree with you. Agree with the fact that it’s hard to do this as a K-12 (or postsecondary) educator. Disagree with the fact that it can’t be done. A number of classroom teachers are doing this stuff. If they can figure it out, so can others.
Also, you know what?, I have a job too. I’m director of a national center, a postsecondary instructor / researcher, and coordinator of the Educational Leadership program at a major research university. Like most of us, I’m unbelievably busy. And, yet, I find time to do some of this stuff also because it’s IMPORTANT.
So we have to recognize the time challenges that people face. But we can’t go around saying that the issues are insurmountable because they’re not and because if we believe that then our K-12 teachers (and postsecondary instructors) get a free pass to ignore the societal revolution that’s swirling around them.
July 13th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
This argument reminds me of the chapter entitled “Conspiracy of Busyness” in the book Cultivating Leadership in Schools: Connecting People, Purpose, & Practice. I am an Instructional Supervisor of Online Secondary Teachers. Both my teachers and I are very busy . It is remarkable to me that when I ask some teachers to take some time to read or do something that I feel will make them stronger, the stronger teachers usually do it with little complaint and grow from it. The more marginal instructors tend to focus on the extra time it will take to do the legwork rather than the legwork itself. I’m a big fan of Steven Covey. In the Seven Habits, Covey talks about the reactive mindset. The whole idea of, “I don’t have time to do X. I have to work.” seems to me to be a very apt example of the reactive mindset. Just some thoughts….
July 13th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
I’m a preservice teacher, and many (I’d guesstimate 80%) of the students I study with are hesitant to use technology in their classrooms for anything other than the simplest of approaches. This may change when they begin working, after they qualify … perhaps.
The reason in my observation is simple, most are mentored to teachers in schools (and lecturers at Uni) who are unwilling, or feel unable to implement technology into their classrooms.
The students I study with are digital natives, they use a mobile and ipod, they blog and chat online at lunch or on their phones between classes. They have the skills to use technology in their classrooms already, but few examples of best practice in using technology in the classroom to observe or learn from.
I get up an hour early every day - before my numerous obligations - and I build educational resources to encourage technology use in classrooms … for no other reason than I think they are important. I could turn over and get some more sleep, but I don’t.
Martin Jorgensen
http://www.lightningbug.com.au
http://www.thedigitalnarrative.com
Martin J
July 13th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Oh yes Martin, you’ve hit the nail on the head….the acculturation of new teachers into the old ways by the current, older generation of teachers, prohibits progress and drives innovation and integration underground. So we fiddle and tinker and have great ideas but they don’t get put into practice for fear of being ridiculed by those who “know how things should be done”.
So very quickly, after being shown “how we do things here” new teachers with progressive desires keep them to themselves and begin photocopying worksheets and writing notes on the board for the submissive students to copy. Above all, keep them busy and quiet!!!
And within a few months the burning desires and the enthusiasm for change start to become dampened by the need to be accepted by colleagues who see change as an unnecessary interference to there own out-dated pedagogies.
And so it goes on …….
July 13th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I am one of the teachers who uses new technologies for learning in her classroom and with her students. I am also a PhD student in educational technology.
And I know what you mean.
You wrote:
“Or are we getting so far ahead of ourselves that we are creating our own gap between research and reality?”
In my case, I am the researcher in my reality, so the gap is not so wide. But it is quite wide between me and the other teachers in my school. And it’s easy to forget that they aren’t where I am in terms of classroom tech.
When I studied organizational change and consulting, our cohort spent a lot of time talking about the marathon effect - basically the higher someone is in the hierarchy of an organization, or the closer someone is to a change initiative, the more quickly she/he goes through the change process. Much like how, in a huge marathon, those who are at the beginning of the pack will cross the finish line way before those at the end of the pack. And more often than not, there is a feeling of being left behind - a sort of resentment - in the air around those who aren’t at the front of the race.
When I am mindful of the marathon effect, I try to meet people where they are - by offering suggestions for how to make something that they already do easier using tech, by offering to come in to do a demonstration, by inviting others into my classroom. But it’s easy to forget, and sometimes I see people glazing over as I go on about voice thread when they are still struggling with posting their class assignments to the school portal.
I need to continually remind myself of the marathon effect. That it is very real, that I can not forget about it and that I need to dance, not run, with change in order to be an effective leader in my school. But oh, it is so easy to forget with the adrenaline rush that comes with innovation!
We can not let the importance of what may be deemed a societal revolution trump the real feelings of those who live in that society. No teacher should get a free pass from having to learn best practices. But if best practices are accessed across the gap you talk about they just may get lost within it.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
@ GH - and actually everyone else….
When you state:
“… colleagues who see change as an unnecessary interference to there own out-dated pedagogies.”
Perhaps we need to ask the question WHY? Why is change viewed this way?
Do you think that anyone really wants to teach to mediocrity? That people wake up and purposely think, ‘today I am going to thwart change and innovation because it interferes with how I do things’?
Or maybe we are so far ahead of ourselves that we haven’t stopped to have some meaningful conversations about what is important to us as teachers and how we are going to get there.
And I don’t mean ‘us’ as those of us who want to teach with tech. But US as all of us educators who work with children, ‘point final’. (as we say in Quebec, meaning, final punctuation.)
As long as it remains us against them (edtechies vs. non-edtechies) there will never be change.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I am an elementary classroom teacher, not a tech instructor or consultant. I try to use 2.0 tools wisely to help kids be amplifiers of content, not mirrors, as David Warlick says. His idea came to me via my aggregator, which is also how got me here. I read about 50 blogs on teaching and technology, and a few more on my other areas of interest. I try to leave a comment every few days, because the dialogue is enriching. I am not “in with the in crowd” that have the fun conversations you allude to, but I am slowly building a personal learning network, and am grateful for their influence. It started me blogging.
“I don’t twitter. I decided that I needed a draw bridge around my life, because I need to manage the relentless flow of information. I know I am missing stuff, but as others have said, “if the news is important it will find me”. I always read the “About me” page of people’s blogs to get a sense of where they are coming from. I also sense that this is one venue where classroom practitioners are influencing the “thinkers” as much as vice versa.
I often hear the frustration of those charged with tech leadership that teachers aren’t “getting on board”. I think it has a lot to do with the way teachers are supported (or not) in using technology. The “I do–We do–You do” gradual release model which is the heart of good modeling is usually absent in tech professional development. My experience is that failed integration is the result of one-off instruction with no in-residence (not the help desk) follow up.
Joel, if you think your colleagues are not listening because you are too “out there”, then maybe it’s time to listen to them, and be there with them, because as you say on your “About” page that’s how you’ll find out “what works, what doesn’t work, and what to do to make it work no matter what”.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
You said: “But I can’t. I have to work.”
I hear this all the time. I am a Science teacher. Have been teaching for 21 years and have 3 different classes to teach. I also have two teenagers, a small farm, and a side business (as well as some researching moonlighting). Yes, a lot to handle but I stay out there. I can think of nothing better than to prove myself as a learner and improve teaching practice. After all, do we not want our students to be such - a lifelong learner? So, I twitter infrequently but am a technology leader in my district and making major changes.
How professional are we if we do not embrace better practices?
July 13th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Wow!
You are having a bad day! New philosophers, eh! Just a thought, but I detect that this term may not be a compliment.
I am Australian, so I may not be fully understanding what you are speaking about and to whom you are referring. Perhaps, it’s a local thing?
My edublogosphere A list slide show on slideshare shows ordinary people, mostly teachers across the world enjoying themselves, learning enthusiastically and hoping to share the thrill with like and not so like minded people. They appear to be working people too.
Much of what is being done is being done in private time, for the love of it.
This learning, listening, watching, thinking, posting and now tweeting, keeps me motivated.
I am a teacher at heart even though I am a secondary principal. I understand what the knowledge and skill gaps are out there, like you all too painfully.
Now, is not the time to see false divisions.
The late majority can be coaxed and supported “on board” by people with skill like you.
July 13th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Hello,
In addition to many of the comments above, there is another angle related to the (lack of) time issue. I use many of the new web-based technologies while I work. They have helped me be far more efficient and effective, and especially more collaborative and communicative.
Yes, I too, have to work. But my work is enhanced as I continue to learn about new tools that enable that work, and as I continually expand my network of professionals from whom I learn great things on a regular basis.
I was a classroom teacher (higher-ed) for 17 years and now have been an administrator for about 7 years. I would love to be able to teach my former courses with many of these new tools since I have no doubt that those courses would be far more engaging and relevant. Instead, I use them in my current work and try to evangelize at least a little bit for others to consider increasing and improving their uses of technology in the classroom.
My final comment is one I have used many times when faced with the “I don’t have time” argument. I too, used to say that I didn’t have enough time to learn lots of new things. Well guess what? I found that spending some of my time learning about new uses of technology was actually a better use of my time than some of the things I was previously doing. Humans are creatures of habit. We often continue to do things because “we’ve always done them.” Once I saw the value in developing my personal learning environment, I decided to stop doing some of the old things because I found more value in the new things. Time is what we make of it.
July 13th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Interesting path of this discussion. I really didn’t think anyone would find it, much less comment on it.
@Scott McLeod - I won’t get into the “I’m busier than you” discussion. Nor do I force anything on teachers. If anything, I listen to them. I listen to their concerns and their own passions and try to find the middle ground for us to work with. I try to pair everything I share with them about technology in the classroom to extending it to home and life outside school. I see my teachers as more than just teachers - they are people who work in education (like me).
@Scott Cloud - I like Covey as well and I know what you mean by the being reactive. I think our teachers are reactive and with just cause. They are constantly told how to improve what they do. If we want to look into helping our teachers better use their time, maybe we should study how they spend their time instead of fill their time ourselves.
@Martin - Keep it up. Sounds like you are doing a great job of keeping ahead and learning.
@Tracy - I think the marathon image is much clearer to what I was trying to say about the gap. My previous job kept me at the campus level and I could hear teachers talk about finding the balance between professional growth and just trying to make it through each day. This is what I want our ed-techie leaders to hear. This is the voice I think they aren’t hearing because those teachers are not blogging or on Twitter. They are deleting our emails. They are throwing away our paper newsletters without reading them. And in some cases, they are laughing at the idea of change in the name of “I’m too busy”. You are right again in your second comment about teachers not knowing they are doing this. I don’t think they are purposeful in trying to not be innovative. And yet, there is an undercurrent in these blogs and discussions from our own edtech community that teachers are lazy and saboteurs.
@Jan - I posted a comment on Scott McLeod’s blog about the statement that I felt I was “too out there” and I am afraid that comment isn’t about me. I was referring to a statement from a colleague. She had mentioned to me that she had to Skype call and setup appointments to provide training to teachers in other districts because her own campus was not as supportive. I took her comment to add to my list and should have put it in quotes or something. I just started a new job within the past 10 days and I can say I feel out of touch with my teachers only because I haven’t met them yet during summer ;). Anyway, I hope that clarifies. I don’t feel out of touch with my teachers. I think I was in touch with them at the campus level where I was before and will continue to keep up with them in the new place.
@Louise -Right on! Better practice includes listening to divergent view and talking about them. What is education in itself but learning something different? And what is better practice than the original idea of philosophical debate? I hear ya. Let’s keep it up.
Great discussion so far everyone.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:05 am
Just a note on the “busy” moniker. I’ve blogged about this a few times. Everyone is busy. Telling people you’re busy is equivalent to telling people you’re breathing. Especially educators. We are all busy, all the time. Thus is the nature of education, too little time and money to go around.
That’s why the use of these tools and more importantly networking saves time. My network makes me more efficient and smarter. I can’t afford not to take the time. And while, like you most of my local colleagues would say similar things about me and “being out there.” I refuse to give up, refuse to quit demonstrating in real ways the power of networks and social learning. Certainly at times it’s frustrating but I’ve seen small enough signs of success to make me pursue and continue on a path I know to be right.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Great stuff - this discussion sounds like our staffroom; diverse opinions, a bit of stirring, mild over reactions by precious ones and a wide spectrum of valid experiences.
I do agree, as a web2.0watertester, that boffins unconciously often leave enthusiastic and onboard noobs waaaaay behind. Imagine the effect excessive techno babble has on the oldskool resistors to change often found in places of learning.
I’m philosophically onboard but still struggling to get my head around the web2.0world, spending my Australian winter holidays blogging a bit badly and trying to actually find out which kids have learned faster, better, deeper because of web2.0, NOT just because some latest and greatest technology gizmo has been thrust in front of them in class.
I really don’t have any great affinity with computers or techno geeks or labrats or online blogmeisters who philosophise importantly until my brain hurts, but I am inspired by what the web2.0 world, or the flat classroom, or our evolving NSW Connected Classroom Program can do for my students learning, engagement, fun, motivation and most of all future. I’ll be honest, this is the first discussion I’ve found that I even feel remorely comfortable chipping in my 2c worth. I hope it’s not my last.
July 14th, 2008 at 12:12 am
My colleagues think of me as one of the technology innovators, but I don’t think I can even get invited to the table with the “New Philosphers” (probably because the invitation would go out on Twitter and I don’t have an account). I see folks in the far fringe of the Web 2.0 crowd trying to change the basic purpose and goals of education and attempting this coup d’etat via the tools that are driving innovation. Then I see my classroom teachers and colleagues in elementary education trying to teach kids well under the current paradigm of academic goals. My role is to try and bridge that gap by learning to use “some” of the tools and deciding which ones are beneficial for 1) my own learning and productivity and 2) my teachers and students.
While I think we should continually look to bring new and improved tools to the table, there is a tendency to jump on the bandwagon of new technology in sort of a “party spirit” that leads people to swoon over the tools and forget what they were actually trying to accomplish.
@ Elaine
Loved the way you gave that gentle encouragement at the end.
Cheers
July 14th, 2008 at 1:53 am
The commentary’s occurring on my blog too:
http://snipurl.com/2y7at
Thanks, Joel, for not taking my comments personally. I didn’t intend them to be an attack on you. Sorry if - in my haste at the airport - my wording came across that way. I was just trying to highlight what I thought was a false dichotomy. I’ll work on my language for next time…
July 14th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Hi Joel,
I suspect many of your “philosophers” see technology as an avocation, a hobby or a means of personal identification. When people ask how I find the time to write, my simple reply is that I don’t golf, garden or have affairs.
I have resolved (in my own weak mind) the dissonance between the “philosophers” and the practitioners by looking at them through the historical lens of the mountain men and the settlers. Both played important roles in developing the West, but were very different. I see many of the edu-bloggers, early adopters and tech advocates as the “mountain men” of the virtual frontier. Not everyplace or everything they encounter will have value or be useful, it seems necessary to at least scout it out and urge others to move west as well.
All the best,
Doug
July 14th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Joel,
Your post so accurately reflect the view of my leadership team. It is amazing how dissimilar folk all arrive at the same point. Some sooner, some later. My folks stopped listening too. So I went around them to the new teachers and offered up classes that show how Web 2.0 will make your life easier and your teaching more relevant to the students. At the end of the day that is what the proof of Plurk et. al. is about. Not my having fun(although I do)with all of the new tools but making my teachers lives more productive and through them the kids learning. I know how jejune this must sound but if not me then who? If not now then when? Every day I hear the call of the neverwills(this will never help, this will never work) and I want to join in too but I keep trying to sing a different tune. Stay with us, Twitter with us. I know you are busier than me but we need you still. It takes a lot of voices to make the change choir sing on tune.
July 14th, 2008 at 11:16 am
We each have 24 hours in every day. How we use them makes us who we are.
“Avoiding the phrase “I don’t have time…”, will soon help you to realize that you do have the time needed for just about anything you choose to accomplish in life.” -Bo Bennett, “Year to Success”
July 14th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Joel,
You have started a great conversation! I have found the comments very enlightening and am able to really relate to your posts and theirs…so many facets to this jewel we call “tech integration”.
Tracy Rosen’s Marathon Effect (comment #5) has totally described my CTC life and role on our district (your previous one).
When she says:
“I need to continually remind myself of the marathon effect. That it is very real, that I can not forget about it and that I need to dance, not run, with change in order to be an effective leader in my school. But oh, it is so easy to forget with the adrenaline rush that comes with innovation!”
she is so correct (you can put teachers faces to the dancing with change, can’t you? I can!).
We learn to know how to dance with who; and, if there are folks to run with, well it just makes our day even better.
When Alan November said: “Being overwhelmed is part of the deal - you have to learn how to manage
information.” He pretty much pegged it….
Keep posting! I am learning a lot from the conversations….Kerrville is lucky to have you!
July 14th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
[...] is my response after reading Joel Adkin’s post about not having time to do all of the new “cutting edge” technologies. I [...]
July 14th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I am a high school librarian by day, and I teach high school English four nights a week from 5:45 until 10:00 P.M. during the regular school year; I also teach summer school English for three weeks.
I blog. I read blogs. I Twitter (yes, in the summer!!!). I use del.icio.us. I Ning. I podcast. I get daily email updates of cool resources from my Diigo groups. These tools are essential to me as an educator—they are all part of my personal learning network that energize me and give me great ideas for integrating technology into my media center program and with my night school kids. I also show my students (in the library and in my evening classroom) how to use and harness these tools—the kids love it, and these Web 2.0 tools have become “Learning 2.0″ tools for all of us.
These Web 2.0 tools help both me and the students I work with to grow and learn. I don’t find that keeping up with all this is time consuming because the tools help me to learn and facilitat learning in a manner that is efficient and easy.
Everyone is super busy in today’s world, but for me, these things are important and get priority. Even if you can’t participate and use these tools as much as you would like, something is better than nothing—everyone has to start somewhere. For me, blogging, Twittering, and using all the other great Web 2.0 tools out there are an integral part of my work, which makes me feel like I am playing rather than working!
That is my experience from “the trenches”!
Buffy Hamilton
http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com
http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com
http://project800s.wordpress.com
http://project810.wordpress.com/
July 14th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Doug,
I like your analogy a great deal!
I also think Joel’s point is well taken about the gap that can develop between early adopters as they quickly move through so many tools, on that “adrenaline” rush that MBrown and Tracy write about.
It’s fun to play, to experiment, to get together with others who share your enthusiasm and run with it. But I also think it’s really important to also keep your eye on the prize–the students and learning and teaching, and be able to bring the “new tools” to a classroom usability level, also.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Twain blog…as in Never the twain shall meet?!!!
Thats the challenge, anyone can mess around with new toys. Serious uptake and substantial change are a completely different ballgame.
I suspect however that many of your edubloggers are working on this in their way. This sphere is aplace to dream and bat ideas around, what is presented as feasible in their consultancy work may well be different.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Of course, I wasn’t meaning to imply that any of us don’t bring the tools we learn about to the classroom effectively!
July 14th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I can honestly say that I am great impressed by the discussion on this topic and many facets of input from everyone who has contributed either here or on other discussion blogs.
Most impressive for me is the acceptance by our group for allowing people to vent and to openly discuss their frustrations. It was really great hearing from first-time blog posters who felt compelled to add to the conversation. There are many who read our posts but just haven’t felt the need to post their own thoughts and I am so glad to hear from them as well.
It is interesting to see all the points of view but to know that there are others out there who aren’t so ready to jump on the bandwagon. I knew I wasn’t the only one out there but I knew it would be hard to voice in such a tidal wave of movement. I just thought I would share my own hesitancy about jumping on so quick when I wasn’t sure how well my own teachers would react to such new tools. And I am glad to hear that I am not alone in feeling this way. It is hard to be the downer at the party some times!
Up until very recently, I have always been campus based and worked closely with the teachers at a campus. Working on a campus, you bond with the teachers and you become their advocate. At least, that’s been my experience. I am proud of the relationships I have built by working side-by-side with the teachers, librarians, counselors, administrators, and support staff wherever I have been. I feel that moving into a position like the one I am now, I have moved away from that campus connection. And I miss it.
I have heard administrators and even some of my closest mentors tell me that I will “get over it” or that it is “just a shift in responsibility” that I will have to adjust to.
I don’t want to “get over it”!
If this is part of the new job, then that part is going to take more time. I also know that this is a fresh start. This is a new district for me and me for them. I also know that this is a chance to do something not many places let a person in my role do - work directly with the campuses. Work with the teachers. Develop community with the teachers instead of just plans. Being passionate about teaching instead of passionate about technology is the foundation for why I do what I do.
So, the gap I refer to in this post is not something I want to keep. Doug Johnson’s blog takes the application of New Philosophers and calls them Mountain Men. Tracy Rosen described it as the Marathon Race. Whichever concept gets you going, this is the gap I want to bridge between the frontier and the frontline.
We all could list how we all would rather spend our time. We all could list and blog about how we already spend our time and see who really is the busiest of us all. (There is an award for that through ISTE now, right?)
See, it’s not about the tools. And it is also not about the time. Technology is part of it but I consider technology to include every tool available to us: the brain, our emotional connection, personality (quirks and all), fight-or-flight response, humor, role playing, etc. These are just some of our technology tools to access along with those humorously-titled Internet/Social networking tools like Twitter, Plurk, Flock, Seesmic, etc.
I like the tools associated with individuals and communication. Learning and listening on a personal level what works for some and what won’t work for others. To me, that is the most time-consuming and rewarding use of technology that I love to apply.
I admit that I am jealous of our colleagues who get to travel worldwide and share at various conferences. I get the most jealous when I read where they are eating tonight or who they just ran into while at such and so conference. I do wish I could spend my days and hours doing those things that I listed in my blog post. And then some days are just hard!! And I wish I could sit in front of a screen rather than sit in front of a scream!
There’s jealousy around not being able to travel or Ustream or Twitter during my day. But as I reflect on this post, I know I would be more jealous if I were stuck in a hotel or an airport reading on Twitter how someone else was in a classroom with a teacher and group of kids using something new to challenge them all!
I am proud to serve on the frontline as well as the frontier as much as I can. I am blessed to work where I can do both using new tools and getting to share with the people I work with and with the connections on the web. And I am happy that I can share and an open dialogue of frustrations to find others like me out there doing the same thing with the same passion and the same time limits.
And I like Nick’s post at #23 - this is the place “to dream and bat ideas around”. Where else can we do that? And be absolutely ourselves than in our blogs and online discussions?
As for the name - TWAIN - it was an acronym for “Technology Without An Interesting Name”. It is the protocol standard for syncing software with imaging devices. Interesting that this protocol for linking a scanner to a photo-editor is called twain and it really is because no one could come up with a better name for it.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:59 am
How much do we learn from a rich discussion? I will mull over this post for some time, certainly. I’m with Buffy… full-time, high school teacher who blogs, twitters, plurks, web designs, skypes, etc. However, most teachers in my circle of friends do not. There is quite a divide; I agree. As I was showing a teacher/friend plurk last night she commented “you just really like finding new technology things, right?” Sometimes that’s what it seems the famous Tweeters and Plurkers do–but I learn along with them.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:10 am
One of my very best English teachers told me that she hadn’t been able to sleep since I introduced her to Twitter. She would awaken, sure that something was going on in the world that she was missing. I reassured her many of us struggle with maintaining this balance, but that her sleep was more important. I told her I had convinced myself I would never be able to keep up with some people–and this IS my hobby since I don’t garden, cook, etc either. I do run and go to the gym, but I truly enjoy playing on my laptop, connecting with friends and colleagues, and learning as I go. It is what I do for work AND pleasure. However, it doesn’t define everyone, and we need to be sure people don’t think it’s all or nothing.
This is an excellent discussion and one that we will need to help our students navigate as well. I felt the universe “shift” about two years ago, and I’ve been trying to find my place in it ever since–what does this mean for teaching and learning? How connected do I want to be? How much pressure do I put on teachers to get on board? How should these new technologies define my work and my personal life? There are no easy answers, but I am enjoying the journey, even as I face retiring in five or six years!
July 15th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Not that we need another post, but let me put in my 25 cents worth (inflation). I have been working for eight years as a “visiting science teacher” in the Central Virginia area. I visit various teachers (3-12) in almost a dozen different school systems, from inner city to affluent suburbs to rural farm country. My experience is that K-12 teachers do not get more involved in new technologies for all the reasons listed above.
In short, when you are up to your chin in alligators, it is tough to remember that you went into the swamp to drain it.
More power to those K-12 teachers who can enable new technologies in their classromm. But isn’t that a strength? With hunderds and thousands of people testing all these schemes, does anyone really believe that there is only ONE magic solution? Aren’t there dozens and dozens effective methods of teaching? Let’s not all get caught up with “moon shot” (all focus on one goal) mentality, or just like the US space program, when you get there, you won’t know where to go next.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I think Buffy Hamilton is making by far the most important point when she writes: “I also show my students (in the library and in my evening classroom) how to use and harness these tools—the kids love it, and these Web 2.0 tools have become “Learning 2.0″ tools for all of us.” In my teaching, I ask students to use web tools because they need to use them.
The thing about these new tools is that our students need to know how to use them for school work and future work. From learning how to use word processing as more than a typewriter, using Styles for headings, for example, to learning how to use del.icio.us or diigo to create their own URL collection, to learning how to use Google with some complexity, or even Google Scholar, to learning about bibme and other academic aids, all these are basic tools. Beyond the basic tools, our students need to learn how to discern what’s b.s. and what’s more factual on the web, because we don’t have gatekeepers any more. Anyone can publish, anyone can blog, etc. so critical thinking is more important than ever.
What our students need now should be the focus of the discussion, IM(H?)O.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Thank you for starting this conversation. I’ve also wondered (a tiny bit jealously) about the seemingly 24-hour connectedness of the Big Guns in our edtech world. I admire all they do and I want to learn how to emulate their efficiency and productivity. I thought they could do all that because most of them were full-time techies and not actively teaching or training all day. I stand corrected.
Anyway, although I am VERY driven to keep up with my PLN and I spend A LOT of time & energy learning outside of my paid jobs doing so, I cannot seem to accomplish all the activities you enumerate in your post. I confess I’ve become a Twitter addict–addicted to “sound bytes” and getting lazy (as Will Richardson discussed recently) about consuming and producing meatier material. Yet I do hold two jobs and have a full life — like nearly everone who commented here. I’m not resenting the above-mentioned Big Dogs anymore; I just keep working on becoming a better time manager and prioritizer. I also continue to try and give back to the edublogosphere when I can so as not to be a lfreeloader or irrelevant.
I heard a presenter* say this and he suggested we pass it (gently) along to colleagues and anti-tekkies: “If you are an educator and/or a growing person, do you have 15 minutes each day to learn something new? Then you have time to begin building and learning from a PLN.” I try to remember that when I feel too busy to read a single blog, tweet, or conference transcript. It’s a commitment I can meet even on my worst days.
*To give credit, I think it was Bud Hunt, aka Bud The Teacher. I paraphrased.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:12 am
FYI - Will Richarson’s post “What I Hate About Twitter”
http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/what-i-hate-about-twitter/
July 17th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
@Joan Vinall-Cox: Right. And that’s EXACTLY why we need more teachers doing this stuff (’cause how are they going to enable their students otherwise?)…
July 17th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Joel,
What an important issue!! Thhanks for your transparency. This is why I went back to work in a school. The gap has always bothered me. Is it necessary that schools have only one or two tech users? What about everyone else?
I don’t have answers…yet. The discussion is so important.
Janice
July 17th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
After seventeen years of teaching, I have learned many things…one of which is that I have not, cannot, will not be able to read all the books that I want to…but I am trying!
Likewise, new to much of Web 2.0, I can only try out as many of these new Web tools as as my schedule and family and work responsibilities…or, in essence, as time allows for me to do so, but I am certainly enjoying learning!
Just as I really appreciate some authors/books more than others…so do I enjoy some of these new 21clc techniques also.
A year ago, I did not know what a blog was, but thanks to a peer (Lisa Huff at JustRead!), I now have two blogs, have our school newspaper online (using a blog there also), and have my students creating blogs and learning to express their ideas with this grand tool…and that’s just one utilizing one tool that I have learned!
Yet I feel Joel’s concern, for if in education, we all know teachers who will continue to do what they have always done, for they are very comfortable getting what they have always gotten.
Thankfully…I am not one of those such teachers.
July 18th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
It is not an add-on in the classroom and it is not an add-on in professional practice.
July 19th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I don’t have a problem with teachers saying they don’t have enough time to play with technology - indeed I like the fact that we all have different interests we like to explore.
One thing I do think is a problem is that too much advocacy for technology in education is ‘pie in the sky’, providing little evidence of benefits or acknowledgment of issues, and few examples of application to actual courses. Those who don’t have much interest in playing with the technology need to see something convincing which is relevant to their context.
I’m interested in models I can use as a professional developer which help develop a well-rounded case for technology innovation: see http://www.verso.co.nz/innovation/98/holistic-alignment-model-for-planning-innovation/
July 19th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Chucke! Kudos for posting an honest reality check! I totally get what you are saying–hey, I’ve been a classroom teacher for 10 years, and I know what it takes to get through a typical week leaving a little bit left over for my family–and personal twittering, blogging, podcasting, etc. just doesn’t fit nicely into any hardworking K-12 teacher’s day that I know… It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be here, part of the discussion: it’s just that there are only so many hours in the day. If these philosophers of 21st century educational change really want to impact our classrooms, they need to spend a little less time berating teachers and spend more time giving them specific ways to incorporate their philosophies into everyday practice–and I’m not talking about Web 2.0–what about the large percentage of teachers who work with low-income students that don’t have easy access to computers? What does 21st century teaching look like for them? There needs to be a push for new ideology that focuses on more than technology alone–technology use in the classroom does not equal learning… Student engagement does not equal learning (it helps!)–learning is more complicated than just incorporating blogging, wikis, podcasts, vodcasts, etc. into curricula…
July 27th, 2008 at 12:47 am
i keep coming back to this post. Why? I would like to use this discussion at our week 6 staff meeting. The views expressed are diverse, eclectic and all are important. I think many of the comments also echo many of our teacher’s views.
I’d like to share this with an essentially blog free school. Any protests?
August 1st, 2008 at 3:56 pm
[...] as they have always changed. But this time, it’s a biggy. I still enjoy re-reading the TWAIN debate that asks learners to think about time, ability, new philosophers and the whats in it? [...]