EduBlog Insights

Today I was looking for something else and came across this list. Isn’t that often the case? I wrote these in December of 2001, shortly before coming to Georgia State. I was talking to my former faculty at an elementary school. Hmmm, it could be a depressing thought to think how many still apply. On the other hand, many of these issues are being addressed through blogs and at least the conversations are being held. Some of my thinking has changed as this list was made before I even knew blogs existed. Some I still firmly believe.
Here’s my 2001 list:
• A huge amount of money can be wasted and minimal effects upon student learning can be achieved by simply following the trend setters and publishing companies who market their product as the answer to all our problems.

• No one technology program can meet the needs of all our students.

• There are very few experts in the field…just a whole bunch who claim to be.

• The opportunities for failure and waste are there if we do not give much thought to student learning or purpose.

• Districts try to demonstrate that they are modern, wired, and technologically advanced and not enough thought is given to how the technology is used to improve learning.

• Murphy is always going to be loose in the technology aspects of instruction as we grow, learn, and strive to keep up.

• There are very few models of good practice and almost no data or evidence to guide decision making. What little data we have is tainted by vendors and publisher’s self interests and profit motives and our desire as a system to justify what we have purchased.

• We have to ask the right questions, make right plans, reserve funds for professional development and think before we leap.

• There is a huge amount of information on the web but many times it can be an exercise in frustration as you spend an incredible amount of time searching for information.

• What is the best use of technology?

• Skill & drill vs. information power and literacy

• We want to take what we have learned in all of our staff developments and make sure that we are using technology to improve the way students think and learn.

• Technology is not an end in itself. It is just the tool to take us where we want to go. It is up to us to make the connection between our curriculum and the tool.

• We have to prepare our students for the future they will inherit. We must engage students in solving problems, making decisions and exploring though provoking questions. They have to learn to work in groups and participate in interactive learning.

• We are doing an excellent job of teaching basic skills but we need to apply these skills to issues and questions drawn from the world around them. WebQuests provide a tool to do just that.

• Process is what is important, not a perfect product.

It’s kind of neat to put this piece of the past down on my blog. I know I am going to think some more on the various points. I still love WebQuests for student activities but blogs have taken over in my world. They can have a transformative effect but we need to keep the focus on the learning. We need to keep getting more voices in the mix, especially those of the students. Get them talking and developing a “new story”.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 4th, 2006 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Reflecting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.