Day: August 6, 2015

Good Questions

by dougpete, posted in Computers

I ran across this article in my readings yesterday and certainly made sure that I saved it.

Uncomfortable Questions for the Ed-Tech Community

If you’re a user of technology in education, a person who is responsible for decisions and deployment, a student or parent of a student who will be using technology in the classroom, or a person whose job it is to support others in the use of technology in the classroom, it should be a command performance read.

The content of the questions could be summed up with this one “Why aren’t we all rowing in the same direction?”

There is a certain bias in the tone of the questions.  I think that much of that bias could be solved in a district where both technology and curriculum leaders all sit at the same decision table. 

But, if they are in different camps you have the situation where curriculum leaders choose a solution that won’t work with the current support mechanism (i.e. BYOD without infrastructure) or where technology leader choose a solution that doesn’t support classroom needs (i.e. blocking online needed resources), you certainly have a less than ideal situation.

I can’t help but think that many of these questions can be at least partially answered with a concerted effort for #3 – professional learning opportunities – everyone sitting and learning together, having discussions.  And, a followup – “If we agree this is good, how do we make it happen?”

All in all, though, having answers to these questions could only go to help understand all sides of the technology puzzle – and maybe mitigate the us versus them scenario.

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OTR Links 08/06/2015

by dougpete, posted in Links

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.