Teachers. Technology. Transformation.

Will Richardson says, "I look at my own kids and I know that technology will be a huge part of their learning lives because a) they want it to be and b) they’ll be expected to be savvy users of the devices of their day to communicate, create and collaborate (among other things.) They’re not going to be able to 'opt out.'"

I experienced that feeling on Christmas morning.

He further writes, "We may not feel comfortable in a world filled with technology. We may not like the way it’s changing things and, even more, how fast it’s changing things. We may not like the way it pushes against much of what we’ve been doing in schools for eons. But our kids don’t have a choice. And if we’re going to fulfill our roles as teachers in our kids lives, neither do we."

I look forward to teaching my sons about technology and helping them explore the vast and ever-changing resources that will be available to them. They will be digi-boys. In fact, my wife thinks that our youngest definitely inherited my iGeek gene!

I am smart enough, I think, to realize that I will never be an expert in all the hardware and software that is coming, but I can expect to manage them reasonably well. And I guess that is the lesson that I want my boys to learn because they will have no choice when it comes to using  and interacting with technology.

Dr. Scott McLeod says,

"As I’ve said many times:

If a teacher gets it, a classroom changes. If a principal gets it, the whole building begins to change. If a superintendent gets it, the whole district begins to change. [And, if state or federal policymakers get it, the statewide or nationwide climate begins to change.]

Seems obvious, right? So why are so many government / corporation / foundation educational technology reform initiatives (money, time, training, energy, vision) focused on teachers, who at best are usually informal leaders, rather than formal leaders such as principals and superintendents? Do they want systemic change or just something they can tout for public relations purposes?

I’m all for investing in students and teachers when it comes to educational technology. But if we don’t also set aside some dedicated resources for formal leaders, the kind of changes we need are never going to happen."

Is it possible to achieve systemic change without involving the formal leadership of schools? What do you think?

I am not sure how I stumbled across this resource but it is one worth sharing. The folks at makeuseof.com have created a Guidebook to Internet Searching that is worth reviewing. I am sure that there are things inside with which you are already familiar but I am willing to bet there are a lot of things you didn't know. It certainly was true for me, and I consider myself fairly competent when conducting Internet searches.

The Guidebook is easy to read and well-organized. A few categories were of special interest to me - people searches, image searches, and real-time searches. They also offer a list of other special search engines near the end.

Now that you have read the Guidebook, what did you learn?