[][]

![Creative Commons License][] credit: javYliz

In the technology world it seems we’re continually confronted with new
products, services, software, hardware, etc. And for those of us who
have a tough time focusing on one thing at a time, this dizzying array
of choices can easily distract us or keep us from finishing previous
tasks.

In The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz it
describes why this is a problem:

“We normally assume in America that more options (“easy fit” or
“relaxed fit”?) will make us happier, but Schwartz shows the opposite
is true, arguing that having all these choices actually goes so far as
to erode our psychological well-being.”

As a technology coordinator, I’m constantly trying out new things, and
it’s very hard to decide whether to actually implement something. Will
this new product be easy enough for staff and students to use? Is the
learning curve mild enough that my users will learn this product and use
it?

When you ask others in the educational technology community what’s the
best wiki, blogging software, operating system, etc. you’ll get a ton of
choices. So many choices may ultimately lead you to either never be
satisfied with your final choice, or worse, never make a decision.

In this blog I am going to try to only give one or two choices for
solutions to specific problems. They may not be the best choice, but in
the long run, they will be good enough to be of use (I hope).

[]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8104466@N08/2339107459/
“day 65”

This is an eight station computer setup in one of our middle school
classrooms. Five of the machines are Linux terminals, booting over the
network.

(* I’m also trying a test post of a picture sent from my phone to
Flickr. *)

[]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15076398@N00/2363091899/
“photo sharing”

I was thinking about my blog post from last week, contemplating on
how I should be more positive. People using technology in schools are
already facing enough of an uphill battle without me picking on them.
🙂

Stealing Alvin’s Efficiency Tips idea, I want to post little tips,
tricks, ideas to help the technology support staff in the education
sector. Some of my ideas may seem to be esoteric (such as learning vi),
but others should have more common appeal (imaging machings). There are
conversations that happen on the Technology Coordinator’s listserv that
also need to be condensed and posted.

Does this seem like a good idea? What about also creating handout sheets
to help with professional development?

Tags: RCTips

I’ve been playing around with Twitter for a little while (and if you’re
really bored, you can follow me). A very cool feature is tracking.
It works when you link your Twitter account with your instant messenger
of choice. I’m currently tracking the following terms:

• education
• ed tech
• ipod touch
• educational technology

I then see any tweet posted with those terms. It’s a great way to find
sites that you didn’t even know you needed. Just this week I found
Glossy – MoLeNet:

“The Glossy project will undertake a large-scale development and
implementation of mobile learning across Gloucestershire College
utilising the mobile devices that learners already own. A comparative
study will be made by providing a range of mobile devices for learners
in excluded groups at Gloucestershire College and learners with learning
difficulties and disabilities at National Star College. The project will
put in place an infrastructure that will allow learners using devices
which they already own to access learning activities and content through
a mobile learning portal in conjunction with the college VLE.”

This is a very interesting project, to utilize mobile devices that
students already have. I plan on following their blog and am very
interested in their findings.

Tags: twitter, mobile devices, education

Will
Richardson sums it up so eloquently for me:

…which is how in god’s name can we talk seriously about 21st Century
skills for kids if we’re not talking 21st Century skills for educators
first? The more I listened, the less I heard in terms of how we make
the teaching profession as a whole even capable of teaching these
“skills” to kids. Sure, there were mentions of upgrading teacher
preparation programs and giving teachers additional time in the school
day to collaborate, etc. But the URGENCY was all around the kids.
Shouldn’t the URGENCY be all about the teachers right now?

I am absolutely shocked at the lack of technology use by
teachers and
technology coordinators. I’ve
been to several technology coordinator meetings, there will usually be
30 or 40 tech coordinators in the room, and as I scan the audience,
there are only a handful taking notes into their computer. Most are
writing on yellow legal pads! Maybe I’m using technology for
technology’s sake, but I respectfully disagree in this example. By
putting my notes in electronic format I’m already going to be able to
easily file and more importantly find this information at a later date.

This extends to the eTech Ohio Conference this past February. It seems
that most teachers and
technology staff, while promoting
the virtues of technology integration, don’t use it themselves. When you
start mentioning RSS, Twitter, Wikis, a lot don’t have any clue what
you’re talking about. At least most know what blogging is now.

What’s the solution? Teachers
need to be shown how, at the very least, technology can save them time.
If technology can save a teacher 10 minutes a day, that 1,830 minutes of
the course of the school year, or 30.5 hours. Even if they need a 4 hour
training on how to save those ten minutes, they still come out ahead! I
believe that once they see that the computer is supposed to save them
time as opposed to taking more time, it will ease further staff
development.

Technology Coordinators, you need
to be guiding the administrators and teachers in your district. If you
don’t use technology, then there is less incentive for anyone else to
use it. Automate repetitive tasks. Use RSS. Setup a blog. Subscribe to a
podcast.

You need to lead.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: 21stcentury skills, professional development