On Friday, several of us from campus attended the Tech Forum Austin Conference, which is put on by Technology and Learning Magazine.
The most striking idea of the day to me came to me from David Jakes’ opening remarks, when he showed this Hp commercial (watch it!) featuring Shaun White.
My perception is that for kids it is really about the thrill of connections–between people and between ideas.
We know that this is the type of living/learning environment that a lot of our students live in outside of the school building. (I say living/learning environment because if you really look at the things students are doing online–these are all the kind of lifelong learning traits that we want to foster in our students.)
His core question was how do we as educators use technology in a natural way, like our students do, so the technology is invisible and natural, and how do we use technology that “sticks” –that is, technology that motivates students to “come early and stay late.”
In another session, David Warlick talked about the value of play. I think this is part of the draw of technology for our students. Though sometimes for us it seems more like work, to our students it is work/play. It can be a fun and individualized way to share, learn, and communicate.
Technology is obviously not the be-all end-all, and our students need many types of interactions and learning experiences. I guess the question is, how can we continue to merge teaching with all the new tools we have available to make education a richer experience for all of us?
And how do we take the best of ideas of the “techie tools” and use them to help our students connect–with ideas and with people?
Thoughts anyone?
If you want to read more, here’s a better summary of the presentation from David Warlick’s blog.
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One non-techie thing Vicky and Constance and I were talking about is design.
I’m reading a great book Dale Baker recommended, called Whole New Mind, and it talks about future skills students will need.
One of them that he talks about in the book is design. This is a “skill” that we can teach in so many ways, and it helps their technology skills but we don’t have to teach it with technology.
When we talk with kids about what good design is, be it the design of the Featherduster, or a magazine, or a website, or their own Powerpoints, then we are helping them be more observant of their own design in the future.
Since their world is likely to be much more “visual” than ours, this skill is likely to be extremely important.
Just one non-tech idea we had….
I would love to see WHS faculty and students have a regular (face-to-face) exchange of ideas about new tech stuff! We are on the right track with the Wednesday library moments, and time is our biggest challenge. What I’ve noticed in technology education, is that intimidation prevails if you don’t stay abreast of innovations. But it takes much effort. Like the premise of the Homebrew Computer Club years ago, interested students and faculty could share with each other how to do something within an application or platform, or how you could use a technology tool. This interaction would be welcome vs. reading more on the computer in solitude. Also, short inservice moments filled with new software features or what’s coming down the pike are of great interest.
Vicky,
Tell us more about the Computer club…
And I do agree that face to face is helpful, and a lot of times, easier!
Really enjoyed reading this blog. Thanks
Vicky had brought up a great idea at the workshop on Friday – on hosting a technology showcase for students and the community. I think these ideas are great and would love to see them in place at our campus!
The problem is finding the people to do it. I think there is a lot of fear in hosting this type of club because you feel you have to know everything about technology! David Warlick really summed it up by saying that “we are all just winging it!” as this develops around us.
I have to teach myself how to use an Ipod. I had to teach myself a new code method for the webpage recently. I have had to “wing-it” since my education was to train me to be an English teacher!
I definitely would like to see more staff try out technology and start some of these clubs especially teachers who don’t know it all! What a blessed and a refreshing outlook!!
When I first taught Webmastering, I told the classes “I don’t know what I am doing!”. It was the best experience!! They taught me and we worked together to make it a successful class. Sure, they asked me questions that I didn’t know the answer to and that was crazy; but we looked for the answers together!!
I say, “Wing it”!!