The end and a new start

Well, that was quite the class!

First, here is the URL for the website that I presented in class.

http://villatop10.pbworks.com/

When I read the description 4 months ago I thought that this class would be about using technology tools in the class. I had to get permission to join (I am a lowly post-bac student, not a masters student) from Denis (thank you again Denis for allowing me to join). Denis called me before we started and, almost warningly, said that this was not a "hands on" class. We would be looking into the history and theory of educational technology, and that there would be a lot of heavy reading. For a guy that was really just looking to get that silly piece of paper that gives me a raise, I was not so sure. I am really happy that I stayed. Not only did I find our class very enjoyable, but I feel that I got something very valuable from it as well.

I want to return to one of the first items we visited. The Cave. Entering the class, my reality was that technology was a tool. I was confident in my belief (personal reality) that individuals could use this in a variety of ways, or not at all, and still be great teachers. But it was still just a tool. I could put it in my lesson and wow my students and co-workers, or I could leave it out and do something else. I could use the overhead, or the white board, or any other tool at my disposal and make a lesson. Technology was just something that I used. It is something that anyone could try and use. Good teachers integrated it well, and for bad teachers it really didn't matter.

At my school there is the push for teachers to "use" this tool. "We have so much technology, why are you not using it?" lament our administration. The tech committee plans days for our staff to learn how to use and integrate the technology into their classrooms. I joined because I felt that, even though a person could be a great teacher without using it, technology was such a valuable tool that I should be promoting it.

After taking this class a part of me still feels that a part of technology is a tool. This reality of mine is so ingrained I don't know if anything will change that. It also is the comfortable starting point for so many teachers that offering the alternative will just be too much to process. However, another part of me, the part that has been pulled up to the light, sees that technology is so much more. It is a process, a way of life, freeing and binding at the same time. It makes us more efficient, but steals our time. It is fun and frustrating and scary and intriguing. It lets us be creative by making us like everyone else. It connects us and puts up electronic walls between us. My head is spinning with all the wonderful and terrifying possibilities. I want to try a dozen different things, but I am also questioning more closely why I want to use them and what the benefit for all players involved is.

When Julye presented the Cuban book and there were the stats on how very little has changed, I posed the question "What were they looking for?" We seemed to agree that the goal was to get the content online or digital. This would supposedly allow students to go at their own pace and learn the content. Fine, but how is this any different then a textbook and VHS tapes? Or just a textbook? Even now, with all of the Web 2.0 possibilities, what would be the huge, amazing shift in teaching style that couldn't be accomplished in another format without technology? Many of the common ones that I think of have an old low tech alternative. Again, the new reality seeps in, and I look at my own practice with a more critical eye.

I am not anti-tech now, despite the tone of my last couple of posts. I am just looking at it more critically. My new reality has to incorporate this experience. I like that we have looked at the history, developments, and reasons for technology. I feel more confident in the decisions that I make with regard to technology now that I have looked beyond the surface, at the rest of the iceberg.

Thank you all, it has been a blast. Please keep in touch, I know whom I will be turning to if I have any tech questions.

James