There was a request that those of us who blog/tweet regarding educational topics should make a special effort to post something today in praise of teachers and tech. I understand that part of the focus was to bring attention to the political decision to cut targeted funds for tech in education, but there was this broader feeling that the work teachers do is under-appreciated.
My focus here will not be on politicians or parents. I complain enough about these groups. I would like to offer some observations directed at the ed tech pundits and keynoters. You know who you are. I will say upfront that I think you are part of the problem. You put down existing teaching practices and promote your own visions; “Engage me or enrage me” indeed. Mostly, you tour the country collecting speaker fees and promoting your books. You may have once been in the clasroom, but most of you have given this up for more lucrative opportunities in the public sphere. You read and quote from each others’ books and blogs, but seem unaware of the research journals that those of us who study learning in classrooms follow.
I do not like the message that learning from books and lectures is bad. I do not appreciate the implication that those who ask students to read carefully prepared materials or listen to explanations are uninformed, lazy, or uncaring. I understand the value of variety. I also understand that your anecdotes of this student or that student tend to be about individuals and not the groups that teachers must educate. Most of your examples fit the characteristics of what I call “hobby learning” – it is true that individuals can accomplish a great deal on their own or with peers when a topic strikes their fancy and resources to explore are easily accessible. Go down the list of what we ask schools to accomplish within a group context. Assume we only study those topics we can get a majority of the students to endorse. Very few topics are majority hobby choices.
Boredom is a funny thing. It is also an individual reaction that depends on many things. In some cases I find the practices you propose extremely boring. Wandering about in Second Life when I want to learn something is not only boring, but extremely frustrating and inefficient. If I can understand something in ten minutes when clearly presented, why would I want to waste an hour doing things that have little to do with the cognitive processes I use to understand and apply. When possible, I also prefer exploring the real world. When I know very little, I also find time discussing what I do not know with others who also are naive quite frustrating. A clear introduction or even a well written book would be quite helpful at this point.
The notion of when and to what extent students should be allowed to control their life experiences is also beginning to be very confusing. So, students find books and listening to an adult boring and hence games and exploration of YouTube are to be encouraged because such activities are suited to the preferences of adolescents. BUT, students prefer pizza, hamburgers and fries and in this case such choices are now on the outs and ignoring students preferences we force the consumption of salad and broccoli. Perhaps the book advocates need a spokesperson with the charisma of Jamie Oliver. Jamie claims that we can learn to like the things that are good for us. Perhaps this could be true of reading a book.
I think educators are capable of understanding nuance and balance. It makes far more sense to me to encourage educators to diversify their content and their techniques than to suggest that a whole sale shift is required. Implying that their practices are completely wrong and radical change is necessary without offering a more thoroughly evaluated alternative is inviting another wasteful pendulum swing toward categories of activities that did not work the last time they were tried.
BTW – I do support the allocation of tax money to EETT. Teachers and students need the opportunities tech already offers the wealthy.