Mar 12 2008
You think you know ed-tech? Prove it.
Will Richardson has done it again…he’s got me thinking and headed for my soapbox.
…how in god’s name can we talk seriously about 21st Century skills for kids if we’re not talking 21st Century skills for educators first? The more I listened, the less I heard in terms of how we make the teaching profession as a whole even capable of teaching these “skills” to kids. Sure, there were mentions of upgrading teacher preparation programs and giving teachers additional time in the school day to collaborate, etc. But the URGENCY was all around the kids. Shouldn’t the URGENCY be all about the teachers right now?
Why does it take going to a conference of over 6,000 educators to get us to come up with this? Is this a big friggin’ tree blocking the forest? There is no question in my mind the only way we will see any true shift is at the teacher level. No matter how much educational technologists (us) push administration and superintendents (them) without support and desire at the teaching level the exercise is purely academic (pun intended.) If we are to get teachers to recognize the importance of them learning these tools and then sharing with their students, they need to recognize we know what we’re talking about and we’re giving them good guidance.
Finally, I was struck by how difficult it felt to accept much of what I was hearing because, and this is something that is really concerning me (seriously), few if any of these folks had the network creds to be “trusted.” Now I know this is an admission that is going to get me in trouble, and it likely should. But it is also a consequence of being rooted so deeply in this network. It’s not that I distrust their “traditional” creds out of hand, but it’s almost like for me, these days, if you’re not doing at least a little bit of social, networked learning and publishing that I can tap into and track and engage with, I’m just not as inclined to buy in when you’re talking about reforming education with or without technology.
The credentialing of traditional academia has been the downfall of interactions with the technical community for years. If you corner a tech and ask them about “professional certifications” they will usually (if they’re worth their salt) sneer slightly and comment about “book learning versus the real world.” It’s too easy to study a guide, take a test, and be “certified.” I know…I was…a lot. I let them expire because I recognized the only thing they provided me was a measurement against a minimum standard. There’s no establishment of skill and capability tied to it. How many professors do you know with multiple degrees that deep down you think they don’t have a clue how things work in the “real world.” Now don’t get me wrong…there’s a place and a time for credentialing. I agree with Will in the respect of if you truly want to be recognized and taken seriously start putting yourself out on a limb and sharing your thoughts and experiences with the world.
Let’s face it folks. When it comes to technology the bulk of the population has no idea what it takes to be good at understanding and applying tech on a day to day basis. They have no appreciation for the number of hours put in learning about new and changing topics and concepts daily with the complete understanding that the skills and applications you learn today will most likely not be around tomorrow. Try explaining to a math teacher or a history teacher they will have to all but relearn their topic area every couple of years. No one has to deal with version 2.0.5.7b of the Gettysburg Address. Service Pack 6 for geometric proofs isn’t available for install. It’s a different world in the tech space and if you want to get people to listen you have to prove you know what you’re talking about. No piece of paper is going to do that for you.
