5 Things to Share With Your Teachers About Educational Technology

Here is a list of the top 5 things you should share with your teachers in regards to educational technology:

1. Technology is here: Today, tomorrow and forever.

Many a parent and teacher has despaired over how easily young people’s attention is diverted, especially when they’re online. Stay focused! we urge them. Don’t let yourself get distracted! Our admonitions have little sway against the powerful temptations of the Internet.

Let’s encourage teenagers to discover (maybe with the help of their peers) that the freedom and autonomy they feel when they’re at the helm of their computers is in some ways an illusion, and let’s help them develop the skeptical, critical stance that would allow them to be truly autonomous users of the Internet.

Although there have been some attempts to teach students “critical thinking skills” with respect to the web, too often these programs adopt a sanctimonious tone, with all the rebellious appeal of extra-credit study hall. The history of antismoking campaigns offers a potentially more effective alternative. Granted, clicking a link or posting a status update won’t give teenagers lung cancer. But the undisciplined use of technology can waste their time, fragment their focus, and interfere with their learning. Just like their health, young people’s attention is a precious resource, and they should be empowered to resist the companies that would squander it.

Opportunities, Not Apps

"When Does 'EdTech' Just Become 'Education,'"

it's not about the technology. It's about the process of learning."

A few years ago, district leaders wanted to know the educational and economic benefits of making a digital transition, according to Bill Goodwyn, president and CEO of Discovery Education, in another panel on public-private partnerships. "Today they're not asking why. They're asking, 'How do I get there?'" he said.  "A lot of districts want to frame this as a technology issue. It's not a technology issue. It's a learning issue."

“Today, if I were to lose the devices (iPads) that that my students have,” writes Shawn, “I would mourn the loss not of the technology but of the voices that my students have gained through having them.”

“Innovation shouldn’t look like a tablet or a laptop. It should look like a learning environment where students—with teachers at their side— choose their learning targets and aim to hit them.” writes Grant Lichtman (@GrantLichtman)

His approach to SAMR was simple: It isn’t a ladder that we should try to climb, but instead a pool that we need to be swimming in.

It even inspired me to make this clever graphic (see below).

here’s a quick overview of what I think it means to swim in the SAMR Swimming Pool:

An important technical rule governs the use of the “@” sign, which is the beginning of every account’s handle. If you start a tweet to someone with “@,” only that person and those who follow both of you will see the tweet. This is so you can have a semi-private conversation with that person without cluttering up others’ timelines. To make the tweet appear in the timelines of everyone who follows you, add a word or character before the “@” sign, even just a period.