newly ancient

I’m going to be in Boston (with questionable internet access) for the next 3 days, so I wanted to get some thoughts out of my head. Consider this my personal Pensieve post.

Fearful? Stupid? Blind? Egotistical?

We really have a problem with perception in education. Technology is perceived too much as invasive to the learning and thinking structures. Technology is seen as basically a virtual reference book and type writer - no social aspects to it. Technology in school is something that is called upon when needed - to look something up or write a “final draft.” Instead, it should be seen as a constant companion, always there to socialize, share, research, and learn. Unfortunately, we are a long way from that. Before we even start leverage the possibilities of the web, teachers need to be comfortable with technology in the class room.

A prime example of teachers being afraid of technology was this Wednesday. We were going to be watching In The Time of the Butterflies as a collaborative project between social studies and history. At the end of the day, we were supposed to have notes about what we saw. Naturally, I took out the laptop to take my notes. The second the facilitator saw a laptop he screamed across the room, put it away right now. Afterwards, he went into a lengthly rant about how this movie should be regarded as the same thing as class - no technology. At the end of his self-centered rant, he asked me this rhetorical question: would you have a laptop in class? (He thought the answer was no) Well, yes I would. Besides proving beyond a doubt (and confirmed by other students) that this teacher is a jerk, this shows the problem with education today. Traditional teachers think that it could never possibly be used in the classroom for any purpose besides mischief. They never pause to think computers could (or should) be used to facilitate learning, understanding, or even note taking. Hopefully, we can change that - but it is going to be a slow process.

Talk, Talk, Talk

Over the last couple of days, there has been a flurry of activity in the edutech community. K12Online is in full steam. There are interesting conversations in EdTechTalk almost every night. I have also been interviewed a couple of times. First, informally on Kristin Hokanson’s show. I also got a few minutes in EdTechWeekly. Finally, Steve Hargadon asked some great questions in my interview with him. Definitely a very productive week!

Gutsy Guy

I’m upgrading my old boxes to Ubuntu Gutsy. In addition, I’m hoping to convert my parents to Linux. I’ll also be upgrading my MacBook Pro to Mac OS X on October 26th. Lots of new technology in the world!

Conference Planning

I’m hoping to attend an education conference or two in 2008. I might even be running a student strand at EduCon 2.0 or NECC. If you’d be interested, please add your name to this list. However, none of this will be cheap. (Even if I can secure a scholarship) Therefore, I am now accepting donations on my blog. If I don’t get enough, I may have to integrate ads into my feed and/or the next reboot. If you can spare a few dollars and you support education, teens, free WordPress plugins, or random charity please use the button below to donate to a worthy cause - namely, me.

Now I’m off to Boston! I’ll hopefully be able to tweet this weekend though.