How can we help shape teacher attitudes toward technology?

In a recent blog post I wrote that I always find it amazing (and even a little frustrating) that some teachers can't get enough technology in their classrooms and give their kids enough experiences using it, while other teachers still grumble at even having to use anything more complicated than an overhead projector. And that I don't think it breaks down neatly along generational lines.

It has to do with attitude. As Henry Ford once observed, "If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right." So I've been thinking again about how can we help shape teacher attitudes toward technology.

This has been a hot enough topic in the blogosphere lately, I thought it might be time to dust off my "If You Can Do a Thing" presentation and submit it as a session proposal for NECC. It's early enough that if it is accepted, I can revise and re-give this survey in my district. How might this tool be improved?

The last time it was given, we developed these stategies from helping shape teacher tech attitudes:

• Stress the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) reasons for computer use. Any inservice or new project should have at its heart the clear goal of making a teacher’s job easier or providing the kind of exciting learning opportunities that make teaching more enjoyable. (Examined at length in a column, too.)
• Give the end user (teacher) a voice in deciding equipment platforms, software adopted, and timelines for implementation. Everybody hates top-down edicts. Make them as seldom as possible.
• Take a hard look at your inservice times to make sure they are as convenient as possible for teachers. Consider a range of training options that suit individual teacher learning styles. While many people learn well in hands-on, face-to-face training sessions, others may prefer online or video instruction, well-written tutorials, or simply the time and peace needed to learn through experimentation.
• Adjust the attitude of the technology support staff. As all of us help teachers with computer hardware and use problems, are we doing our best in making sure they are respected for the intelligent, loveable people they really are?

Sound reasonable?

Off to Long Island to give a day of presentations for a BOCES and then a long weekend on Manhattan with the LWW. The Skunk will be silent for a few days.

When do you use?

So can someone explain when one ought to use a wiki and when one ought to use GoogleDoc? They seem to do about the same thing to me.

     

Loertscher's three spaces

In an ISTE SIGMS SecondLife presentation, school library icon, David Loertscher talked last evening about students needing three kinds of "information spaces." As he shared an excerpt (another source) from his upcoming book, In Command: Kids and Teens Build and Manage Their Own Information Spaces. Hi Willow Research & Publishing, 2007.

Loertscher's premise is neatly stated:

Suppose we turn the tables and accept the notion that the student should be in command of their own information spaces on the computing devices they have access to. And that our role as LMTs is to help students build the kind of information space that will benefit their needs rather than say to them, “You need to use the information space as we have designed it for you.” Such a switch in perspective challenges us to have a whole new view of the digital world.

He further suggests we should help students design these types of spaces: 

• Personal Information Space: Here we construct the tools, the information sources, our school or work assignments, our calendars to keep us on track, and the personal safeguards needed to function well.
• Group or Collaborative Information Space: The advent of Web 2.0 technologies allows for collaborative communication, collaborative construction, and collaborative presentation spaces.
• Outer Space: The third world on our desktop is the ability to interact with and pull from the totality of the Internet, whether open or invisible.

This is an interesting way at organizing how we all manage our "information spaces." We've talked about student
portals" in our district and we've given kids access to personal desktops and storage through Profile servers. This seems to be the next logical step.

On a side note, David Loertcher has remained a constant source of inspiration and ideas in the field of school librarianship through out my career. He's an amazing guy...