My brain feels as tired as it has in a long time, and it’s a combination of the challenging (at least for me) discussions that I’ve been having both on and off blog this week. I’m still humbled by the fact that over 40 people responded to my vent last week. In some ways it’s inspiring and overwhelming at the same time. To me, it captured very clearly the complexities of this moment we seem to be at. The ground is shifting, but it feels like we’re stuck.
Last night, I spent a most enjoyable 90 minutes or so with Nancy White and Dave Cormier here at the NYSAIS conference at Mohonk. Over the course of the last year or so, Dave has become someone who always challenges me to think about this work from outside my comfort zone. And Nancy, whose work I’ve just come to recently, is another that sees things from a perspective that challenges my own frame. It’s no surprise that the conversation last night at dinner was extremely thought-provoking and left me in some ways dazed.
We talked about the limits of “blogvangelism,” a term I’m growing less and less fond of. (Hey, I’m evolving.) And we also discussed the problems with the “natives/immigrants” discussion and how it tends to simplify what is a much more nuanced and complex relationship that kids and adults have to technology. And we talked about the myriad of issues that schools face in moving toward real change.
Nancy’s thinking of late has been focused on what she calls “Second Wave Adoption” and what the best way to support that is. The early adopters have all jumped in, but now we’re looking back at the vast middle group and wondering how best to bring them along. She’s written much about this on her blog, and I’m hoping either she or Dave decides to articulate our discussion more clearly than I’m able to right now. But the upshot for me was that this is the most important question that has no one, simple answer. And I think it’s much of what has led to my frustration of late. We live in a world and a society where we just want easy answers to very complex questions. And there are those easy answers here, too. We just know in our hearts they aren’t the best answers.
So, what do we do now?
Perhaps, as we talked about last night, we need to focus less on spray and pray and more on small group, extended practice. And that done in the context of systems, not individuals. I’ve said this before, I know, but at the end of the day, this is a discussion about culture both outside and inside the system more than a discussion about technology. And while there are an amazing group of technology professionals here this week, there needs to be curriculum directors and principals and kids and support staff and media specialists all working and talking about systemic change, not individual change. Not sure…
And I wonder, if at the end of the day, Stephen Downes isn’t right when he writes:
But again: it is not so relevant whether instructors use these tools nor whether or not they are used in the classroom; what matters is that students are using them, in or out of the classroom.
Right now, all of this is too much for my brain to keep up with. And so I feel a little break coming on. I need to get home, play with my kids, turn off the connection, and reconnect with my offline life for a bit. I’m sure the conversation will still be here when I get back.
technorati tags:education, learning, Dave_Cormier, Nancy_White, Stephen_Downes
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Will, Thanks as always for the thoughtful commentary.
There are so many technology use possibilities it is truly mind-boggling, however cliche that sounds. And so many of them have incredible applications for our students that it really does generate great excitement about the potential. I always feel like I want to share and implement everything at once and that there should be more than one of me right now.
But despite being overwhelmed and my mind buzzing constantly, I also feel incredibly motivated and enthused about the possibilities.
But I notice that what you express is sometimes how I feel and definitely is one thing teachers at my campus seem to be feeling–information overwhelm and a desire for more face-to-face contact and a little processing time.
That is not to say people aren’t enthusiastic as they try certain tools like blogging or digital video, because they are. But I feel that sense of longing on our staff and among our students for a respite once in awhile. And that respite seems more grounded in the face to face conversation or a the walk by the lake. When I was at Internet Librarian, I thought of it as time to stop and look at a tide pool….
I think your comments are also a reminder that we all need that time to reflect and so do our students sometimes in this rush for rigor and high-stakes testing and activities. I think sometimes the rush of the world now creates a sense of weariness.
Anyway, enjoy your respite and I hope you have time to “gaze into the tide pools.” You really are an inspiration to many of us in many schools.
Thanks, Carolyn
I have a work in progress… looking at the process a little differently. Instead of being an EdTech Evangelist… becoming an EdTech Guerrilla. Maybe a difference in mindset, may move things forward.
Will — Have you ever read “Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas” by Mary Lynn Manns and Linda Rising? It is an interesting book that introduces “patterns” (ala Christopher Alexanders’ “A Pattern Language”) that have proven successful as far as change is concerned. It might be worth a look as a starting point for your question about what’s next. It has been a while since I read it, but it did have some interesting ideas about moving from the early adopters to the next level.
We were just looking at this the other, examining some data from a round of surveys. Basically what we found was that if people felt they had a high skill level in an application, they wanted to learn more about lots of things. If they felt a low skill level, they didn’t want to learn more. There was a correlation between skill and desire to learn. The other thing we learned was that most people in our community didn’t have a strong desire to learn much about technology. I might have to read that book because we obviously seem to be stuck.
In the Alabama work I am helping to lead, we have something we remind each other of called the wine class metaphor (because John was looking into a wine glass when it came to him). Having 200 teachers (40 school teams) and ten 21st Century Fellows actively engaged in adoption at all different levels and stages of buy-in has its challenges. I often find myself working way to hard (dangerously close to burnout) while trying to cheer them all to the place of total immersion and seamless use with their students.
It is then that John will gently remind me of the wine glass. Which is where I pull back and concentrate my efforts on those who are ready developmentally to move forward. Year one we lit the fire and it flashed. Year two we are focusing on the teams who have still have embers burning and are hungry, concentrating heavily on making what we do team driven, learner centered, and aligned with the schools’ continous improvement model.
Technology or life for that matter…should not be taught in isolation, used(lived)in isolation, or mastered without a direct connectedness to all that is meaningful and that includes each other.
Will, I just finished your book and am working on the review and several blog posts that will come from it. All good stuff.
I wrote this on the kinds of audience there are and who we need to focus on. I think it is something that can be applied to your efforts.
http://steves2cents.blogspot.com/2006/10/fire-circle-story.html
Enjoy your break! Catch you later.
Will - As you search to find the balance between your personal and professional life, I wish you well. With regards to what do we do now? I believe that we all share one common bond as educational visionaries. With that said, let us remember that change will take an inner strength and boldness that we are not familiar with in our chosen vocation. I recall a career altering conversation we had over lunch at Ellicottville this past summer. I stated that I was an A.P. teacher and was fearful that I would not be able to divorce myself from the classroom lecture. At that point, you casually looked at me and asked, “do you really need to?” That simple question stuck with me, so much that I could not help but continuously reflect upon that statement for months. I began to envision my students ten years from now, and how what I was doing in class was going to have a positive impact upon them. It was then that I took the leap of faith, and began to completely restructure my interaction with my students. I began to see myself as an educational revolutionary, seeking to buck the system of form in order to give my students a wholesome substance that would last a lifetime. This transformation was the result of that simple question you asked over salad. I refuse to let any naysayer, institutional logjam, or technological road block stop what I believe to be the most important function I have as a 21st century educator. Simply put, I will stay the course, and develop a bold and engaging environment that will change the young men and women who pass through my classroom. Even though change often includes with it many warts and blemishes, this is the right thing to do. For this, I thank you! You and the many other individuals who have blogged their vision have become my inspiration. If nothing else, when you feel you are right, stay true to the course, and over time, all of our hard work will win the day. To check out how this vision is at work in my class, feel free to visit classroomchange.blogspot.com . There you will see firsthand, student comments that only reinforce what I have just stated. So take some time, smell the roses, enjoy your family, and re-energize. You are having a tremendous butterfly effect from where I am standing. Thanks Will.
Will, as long as schools are the worst funded part of our society, and as long as educators are the worst paid members of our society, it’s hard to envision change taking place rapidly.
I like what Kyle (fellow GCT! hi Kyle!) had to say about how we see ourselves. Part evangelist. Part guerilla. And part . . . well, sneaky geek. I, like many of my fellow geeky teachers, supply my own tech resources for the most part. And my school does have a lot of resources and a forward-looking vision. Except their vision is a bit myopic. Older administrators who, while considering technology a priority, can’t seem to handle the entire big picture of how education needs to radically change, are just taking up space until the rest of us overthrow “the Man.”
So we stare, eyes glazing over, at the screens of our laptops, and count the days until the fogeys retire and step aside. And they can take the grouchy teachers with them too. You know the ones . . . how can different be anything than “one more thing” for them to learn? How could it possibly take the place of the old-school way of doing something AND save them time and energy at the same time?
I feel their pain, but I don’t want to get all icky touching their wounds to perform first aid. Some of us just have to go about our business, offer help and professional development, and start looking for other geeks to persuade to go into teaching to take the fogeys’ places.
[...] I read with interest Will Richardson’s post tonight “So What Do We Do Now?” I think the answer to this is pretty straightforward: We continue the conversations. We continue to empower students to create digital media, to discover and share their own voices, and learn how to use digital tools to think deeply, ask and answer questions that are worth exploring. We also strive to engage leaders at all levels in discussions about what it means to teach and learn in the 21st Century. I am wanting to really work in the coming year in Oklahoma on initiatives that get our educational and political leaders to recognize the high quality, digitally powered work our students are doing and can do. Focusing on the leadership and political piece of the web 2.0 puzzle is undoubtedly challenging, but I think ultimately “the answer” lies with continued dialog and conversations with a wide variety of stakeholders. Heck, my own school district in Oklahoma still formally blocks all staff and student access to blogs by board policy. I’m hopeful that will change in the not too distant future, but if it does I’m confident it will be the result of conversations around student work and student literacy development. [...]
I love all the “wave” metaphors. It reminds me of Peter Weir’s “The Last Wave”. It also reminds of Miguel Guhlin’s article which starts off talking about thumb drives and finishes with an apocalyptic metaphor of ants and tsunamis. http://www.edsupport.cc/mguhlin/archives/2006/11/entry_2263.htm
So… what are we to do? First, convivial tools trump any firewall. Fighting them is in the same category as pushing the river. So don’t. Second, concentrate on the whitewater in front of you, but make for the eddies every once in a while, climb out on the back and up a rock to get your bearings, and make sure you make camp and rest when you get tired. Third, you will get wet so learn to love it. OK, Will, that’s about all the “cryptic” I have in me for tonight. Nice work, a job well done. Camp for awhile.
When I attended the conference in Bolton (UK) with our Year 6 children from schools in Bolton it really made me think about the terms that you introduced…Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. I’m a teacher now, but in the 70’s and 80’s I worked as a technician in state of the art analogue technology. Colour TV, Video Recorders, Radio and Hi-FI. I was brought up with the analogue technology that youngsters today have probobly never come across. The technology then was amazing to myself. So…I have called myself an ‘Analogue Native’, I was brought up in the analogue technology society. Today i’m a ‘Digital Immigrant’…I am still trying to keep up up with the technology!
The terms you used Will during the conference made me think…it had an impact…Thanks!
So what do we do now?
Well, thats simple, really. Keep walking, keep moving forward, keep exploring this digital thing. In other words, keep innovating and inventing like crazy because that’s what the digital world is all about right now. 100 years from now, they’ll look back on this decade of digital evolution as the period of unbridled innovation. In fact, its crazy right now. There are so many ideas for teaching and learning using digital technolgy and that’s where all the joy and energy is as we use our imaginations mixing, matching and inventing.
But don’t spend too much time lamenting the apathy of colleagues and administrators who lack the insight regarding the tranformative potential of the technolgy. They actually play a valid role in a society experiencing massive technological change. In fact we may even come to appreciate them as they put a brake on all this unbridled innovation. Its all part of the process of huge social change. But don’t let it get you down, otherwise, you’re going to miss the party dudes! Because, whether you realize it or not, we are the innovators in this process and we get to experience the joy of inventing and creating new things with all these cool “guttenburg” tools. This is our role in the process, to innovate, innovate, innovate.
And Will (by the way, I loved your “Secret Live of Bees” thing you did a while back. Rather innovative I’d say) you play a huge role when you showcase people’s innovations in your blog. But we need to keep things in perspective or we’ll miss the joy of living in these incredible times.
Ultimately the energy and ideas from this innovation process will manifest into further specific improvements to software, instructional delivery, content access, etc…. so that the “second stage adopters” will be compelled to participate. In the meantime, experiment with video characters and slideshow humor, embedded media, wiki community simulations, international blogging projects, online narrative settings, cross grade collaborations, mentor blogging…..Don’t get side tracked by how prehistoric things seem elsewhere, just keep innovating and releasing the energy of your imagination because that’s what will reveal the transformative potential of technlogy. I believe that’s our role in this process. And you have to admit, its an incredible time in human history to be an innovator.