Given the learning curve associated with all things technological and the time it takes to master and effectively employ new technologies in any aspect of our lives . . .
- Where do we find the time to explore the bleeding edge, mining and mastering new technologies, and
- How do we fit teaching these new, non-subject specific skills and their attendant issues (see prompt #8) into our already overburdened instructional time?
- Finally, how do we avoid the time sinkhole computers can become?
Although I rarely get close to the "bleeding edge," my computer does become a time sinkhole for me. I love to read what other people are doing, but I don't always feel competent enough to do it. I will sit and while away hours reading blogs, articles, lesson plans, and other educational sites, instead of doing something I "should be doing." I explore lots of things, but do not always produce something for the good of my practice. I have big ideas, but do not always see them through to fruition.
I am lucky enough to teach high school students who can be somewhat self directed; for example, I teach a Composition class (two periods). They spend a lot of time on the computer composing or doing peer editing (so far still the old fashioned way with paper). I actually have a lot of free time during the class to mess about on the computer. (Sometimes I feel guilty.) I also run detention and Learning Center for a total of four hours a week and sometimes the students just need a quiet, warm place to be and don't require much from me. I often use that time to play with technology. But so far, some of it is still difficult to navigate and/or create.
My British Lit blog is fun for me, but I have not utilized it enough. I became a little frustrated because the students had some glitches and I kept having to fix things. I am not good about asking for help, so I just blundered my way about trying to do it myself. So I did fewer things than I had originally planned.
I know how lucky I am; I know my school is lucky to have all we have. I know about some of things that are out there in cyberspace, but still have not mastered them enough to do actually use them e.g., Moodle, Digital Story. I want to, but have not made the time to do practice them enough to be able to present them as a project for my students. (that's a lot of prepositions, sorry!)
Finally, #2 is one of my questions, too. Above all, I want technology to be in tandem with my curriculum. I can justify adding in blogging and digital storytelling and the like by keeping in mind that one of our goals is to graduate students who are ready for the next step--whatever that may be--and technology will be in their future no matter what.
Vicki, if I may be allowed to quote a very wise woman, "One shit at a time." A less profane wise woman chants, "Baby steps, baby steps." They both get to the same thing: if we try to do too much, we do nothing. Get good at one thing--and take as long as you need to get good--and then move on to the next. It'll all work out in the end. I promise.
Okay, this is from someone who spent an hour on www.jingproject.com learning how to create a how-to video. I had a blast! Dinner was late, and I ended up crossing only one thing off my to-do list for the entire day, and the screencast video thingie is pretty rudimentary, but I made one baby step, and I am inordinately proud. Tracy
I like the profane advice better. It somehow speaks to me more. ~Mauro
Vicki, I agree with Tracy about learning one thing well before moving on. The learning curve can be a nerve-wracking roller-coaster ride. Learning the Calibrated Peer Review program last summer was really difficult. It was quite a bit more complicated and took a lot more time for me to understand than I had imagined. Had I known that it would be so time-consuming and complicated, I might have said something profane and just given up. I love the idea of explaining something to one student and then letting other students learn from each other. Unfortunately, in my class last summer, when one student had a difficult time getting into the CPR program because she didn't follow directions, the rest of the class turned into Luddites, and I had to plead with them to keep trying. Pleading with my students was like having an out-of-body experience watching myself do something that I ordinarily never resort to. But it worked; we moved on; we got through it; and I'll never know how much the students got from the experience, if anything, but it didn't hurt them, didn't take up too much class time, and I learned a whole lot. Once you get the glitches out of your blog, you'll probably think of more things to do with it than you'll have time for.
LL
