Attention and the Digital Age

Technology, what a Blast!

I'm looking at and drooling over all the new technology out there. It's amazing. The one thing that still is bothering me is this and it's not what you might think.

The kids Seem to embrace it and enjoy it, but my questions is are we utilizing it to teach kids in a manner that makes sense. Many districts race to make use of new technology, but so often they are being advised by people and companies that have profit in mind. OK, I'm not exactly anti-capitalism or anti-business, but if were being driven and advised by forces that need to report a quarterly profit, what's really going on here?

Some of you may remember that there have been issues raised over such low tech items as text books. Who makes the decisions, how are they made and who really benefits from the placement of said text books. Issues have ranged from the content of the books to kickback scenarios and more. Often groups of people for one reason or the other have dictated the content more or less based on beliefs and values. I'm not going to argue that here. The problem is we have no goal, vision or plan at a national level as to what dictates a really worthwhile text. If this is the case regarding low tech items such as a text book, what is going on in the technology arena.

Many if not most schools don't have the staff or the monies to hire qualified technology consultants. Most don't really have good in house planning to deal with it. I will take this moment to say that the more schools with better educated and involved parents are a plus when setting up technology goals. Often times these parents are professionals, some who work in a technology related environment. They can be great resources as to setting a good path towards useful tech programs.

Speaking of technology, on wonders why schools don't form relationships with other schools who have tech programs that work well. It's not like a web cam, a projector and a great group "face to face," meeting isn't easy to arrange these days. With the expertise available on the web, it seems foolish to not take advantage of the people out there who would love to reach out and help if asked. Open source software developers have always embodied the desire to help out any one who is interested in the open source community. Why don't educators reach out and ask/search for good examples of technology programs that are working and embody goals that are real and well thought out. Reinventing the wheel is too much work and foolish to boot, unless of course you are part of a sales group, IT team or someone else with vested interests in keeping your job and feathering your nest.

One other thing. Many of our schools are still teaching subjects that do not take advantage of the technology to make education something students can embrace. We live in a world that s literally being reduced to bytes of information. Attentions spans are being reduced in the general population because the world is presenting it's self in smaller and smaller samples for them. How do we deal with the compression of information when we are used to one hour or one and half hour schedules for a class. Is there a more effective way to present information? If the average adult has an attention span of 20 to 40 minutes, is there a way to utilize that to make information more accessible? Lots of questions and some of the best minds on the planet are engaged in searching for answers.

Technology is still only a tool, a tool that can help us to bring dreams, concepts and successful paradigms to or students and the world around them. It will only work if we decide to work smart and look towards a future with a successful integration between the human interface and the technology that is washing over us in ever faster waves. Search for the answers and partner up with people who have the intentions and goals with our kids in mind. Software vendors, corporations and equipment sales people are not the solution. If you have a stake (and it's profit) in mind for your involvement with technology education, then you may be part of the problem, not the solution. We still have some of the worlds best minds. We need to turn to them for a little input on making technology accessible and keep in mind your doing this for your kids. Don't let people with profit as the agenda sway your common sense. Oh yeah, keep current w/ research on educational technology.
Below are some site that are useful to me:

http://thejournal.com/Home.aspx

http://www.techlearning.com/

http://www.eschoolnews.com/

I like these sites, but there are lots others. Look around, learn something, it's fun!