Week 3, Thing 6: Blogging about Technology

As a member of our district's 21st Century Skills committee, I had the fortune of meeting with Apple execs late this summer.  Inspired by the instructional uses of tools that we normally tag as "recreational", we were encouraged to not just use technology to substitute for other formats, but let it transform our curriculum and teaching.  This paradigm shift has me really considering my approach.  Not that it is wrong to use technology as a substitution.  I know that the times that I decide to use a new technique or tool, that student interest is automatically piqued.

But what would it look like if my classroom was completely transformed by the technology I use?  Would blogs, photo sharing, social networking, iPods, podcasting, texting, etc. all become new formats for my teaching?  With students often asked to "power-down" before they come in our classrooms, what if our classrooms/libraries were just extensions of their normal tech-filled existence?  Our curriculum and delivery would change, that is guaranteed.  But maybe the change would make our classrooms more responsive to their current needs.  And I know that we often chose to keep computer use appropriate by choosing to ignore many 2.0 tools. But what if, instead of ignoring, we helped students navigate the new choices that they will have to make?  Although many of us instruct students in how to make good choices, the situations have changed.  Maybe by transforming our classroom into a context that matches their own, students will be more prepared to make better choices when they have to go it alone.