Removing barriers to MEANINGFUL technology use!
Episode 10: Collaboration is Invigorating
Recently I finished my first attempt at teaching a masters level course in the use of multimedia in teaching and learning. It was truly a great experience and the students were engaging, accepting, open-minded, and thought provoking in their response to the technology that was introduced throughout the class.
The letdown at the end of the class, however, is that the collaborative energy that is generated as we work with other motivated professionals has also come to an end. This got me thinking: how can we sustain this important energy and enthusiasm in our professional lives without having to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to colleges and programs? The reality is that it isn't as tough as it seems, but it takes a commitment to making it happen. Listen to the podcast to hear just some of my ideas about how you can practically make it happen.
Just a suggestion: DO IT NOW! Now most educators have a moment to breathe. Set up your collaboration teams early in the summer! Wait too long and summer will pass before your eyes. Wait until fall and it will likely not happen. How quickly we forget that the second that first bell rings we hold our breath and wait for a chance to breathe again; that next breath is generally not available until summer.
As always, we would love to hear from you. Find us on Twitter, @brianyearling, and email us at gettingtechintoed@gmail.com .
Thanks for visiting and listening.
Brian
Adopting educational technology: The journey to full integration
What I love most about my professional learning network (PLN) is the continuous opportunities it has provided me for reflection on my professional practice. It never fails to inspire me when I'm in a funk, teach me something new when I least expect it, or provide insight that I would not have come to on my own. My PLN has been particularly helpful lately as I've experienced incredible frustration with the sluggish pace of educational reform.
Recently while fumbling between an Ed Tech Talk podcast, reviewing some of the recent Tweets I missed, and I was thinking about comments I heard a recent tech committee meeting at our school. I was specifically stuck on a comment made by one person that suggested that the district needed to provide both quality educational experiences and experiences utilizing technology. The suggestion that the two could not work in tandem reminded me that everyone at the table was at a very different place regarding their conceptual understanding of the role technology could play in changing the way we teach students.
Through the combination of it all I was reminded of just how much I've grown in my understanding of the ways that technology can transform and enhance educational delivery and instructional practice for educators willing to embrace it. It wasn't really so long ago when I was the one scoffing at some of the very same ideas I now promote in these meetings. I, too, probably wondered how we could find enough time in the day to teach all of the regular curriculum and then add new "technology specific skills" to the list. The epiphany that technology can alter what education looks like probably never struck me when I was just beginning to grasp the concepts I fully accept now. That is a realization one has to come to as we allow these concepts to roll around for a while.
This strikes me as an important revelation to hold on to when I experience the frustration that comes with trying to move the juggernaut of education at anything faster than a snail's pace.
While seeing can be believing within the world of educational technology (and thus doing is adopting???), there is no substitute for the time needed to allow the innovative ideas of this movement/pedagogy/practice to really take hold and transform the thoughts/beliefs/practices of those on the journey to adoption and integration of instructional technology principles. Those of us that have made a habit of drinking the koolaid have to remember that. Most of us needed that time to adjust as well. It just happened that so many of us, as early adopters, were so far ahead of the wave that there was no pressure to adopt these ideas overnight. Too often I find myself wanting to push the masses of educators just arriving to these concepts in a direction that they are not mentally prepared to accept. I feel like that little kid who has been in the cave hundreds of times; now I just need my friends to trust me enough to follow me blindly into the darkness. Fortunately, these professionals value their students and their profession enough to step cautiously when entering the darkness. They are not going to follow blindly. The result: I'm left to search for new and better ways to urge these educators along on the path to adoption and integration of educational technology more quickly than I came to the same full acceptance I want them to achieve.
One of the best ways that I can think of to help them achieve this growth and adoption more quickly is to take full advantage of something I was skeptical of during my journey: developing a high quality PLN. For me my Twitter, Teachers 2.0, podcast, and personal networks serve as an ongoing source of ideas that help me to uncover new ideas, explore new terrain, and reflect on my practice.(you see, of course, the circular reasoning of this post...I end in the same place that I started). My PLN serves as the ongoing backdrop of professional conversations that keep me focused on the areas of interest to me. If I had the benefit of these conversations earlier in my educational technology adoption journey, perhaps I would have started to accept these ideas/practices more quickly.
Therefore, I'm going to begin suggesting to those that I would like to see move along more quickly in their instructional technology adoption that they form a network of influential thinkers that may help keep them focused on the task at hand: using technology to transform education. Of course, this suggesting will best be served with a side of mentoring as to how to actually achieve this(do you remember how hard it was to start developing a high quality PLN?). By the way, this is a heck of a way to start gaining even more followers and growing my virtual ego to an even greater extent.
Getting Tech Into Ed - The Podcast Returns
What has changed? Well, to begin with, our family has welcomed another member: Sophie Grace. With our oldest daughter Ella keeping us constantly on our toes, and our bubbly little Sophia biding for our attention, that has been the primary change that has filled our lives.
However, passion is a tough element to suppress.  Educational technology has truly become a passion and a mission for me over the past few years, and I truly enjoy the opportunity to share new ideas and thoughts with you.
Another new element has been added to the show. My wife, Stacy, has agreed to step into the world of Getting Tech Into Ed. Stacy is a marvelous school psychologist with an upbeat, energetic passion for her work, a solid understanding and focus on literacy, experience with K-8 students/teachers, a limitless well of innovative ideas, and a wide array of interventions and techniques to help struggling and special education students. Having her to assist me as we explore technological innovation and share our findings with you will certainly increase the depth and bredth of the topics we cover in the show.
Also, mobile podcasting has finally found GTIE. I am now using an iPod Touch to record some of my podcasts. One of the primary hang-ups for me is finding the time to get in the studio and record and edit new material. Using the iPod Touch and an app called iPodcaStudio to record shows while on the go, I am able to overcome that issue. One of the hangups at this point is a drop in sound quality, but I'm exploring ways to fix that with a new cable and a lapelle microphone. I'll let you know how that experiment goes for me. I am doing my best to take some of the road noise and "tininess" out of the mobile recordings, but that is definitely a work in progress.
What's in this episode?
In this episode I am recording in the car. I have been eagerly anticipating attending the WEMTA conference for quite some time. However, I began to think about the irony of my growing enthusiasm for attending this conference. What is most exhilarating about attending a conference is sharing your ideas and taking new ideas from people at the conference. However, these people are often complete strangers that we do not work with. I questioned why I don't find this same enthusiasm to share ideas with my colleagues in my own department/building/district.
This show is my rambling thoughts on that issue. It does provide some motivation and some ideas as to why I don't feel excited to share with my colleagues on a daily basis. Perhaps in identifying why I do not attempt to share often (and I am as honest as I can be about the issue), I can begin to change that pattern to allow my closest colleagues to become a trusted part of my personal/professional learning network. As I conclude in the show, in doing so, maybe I will find even greater satistfaction daily if I can begin to count on the people I work with to actively participate in the journey of integrating technology into their/our classroom instruction together.
Sign off
I want to thank you for your time in reading/listening and sharing this site/podcast with others. I also want to encourage you to share your own ideas and reflections with Stacy and I. Please email comments, show ideas, or feedback to gettingtechintoed@gmail.com.
Here's to being back in the podcasting game! You'll hear from us again soon.
Brian and Stacy Yearling
Getting Tech Into Ed co-hosts