Interesting post. I tend to agree that those who jump on the new technology bandwagon fail to fully grasp how this technology can change existing teaching methods or even how to properly use the tools.

However, I would rather see adoption of new technology than an outright fear of it — which is something that I think is more likely among educators today.

Kristine

I'm certainly not suggesting (as Dan Meyer seems to think) that there's a black-and-white distinction between 'those of us who've been around a bit' and 'you lot'. Not at all.

What concerns me is the fact that instead of being driven by a notion of 'something needs to change in education' to 'right, what are the tools which will help me do this?', it seems to be 'wow! cool tool!' and then 'how can I retro-fit this to existing pedagogies?'.

I'm all for using Web 2.0 and other educational technologies in education. Even a passing glance at what I've been writing over the last 2.5 years would bear witness to that. I would hope, however, that my use of these technologies has mostly been driven by a desire to change the whole system. I think it's the case that, sometimes, people both new and old to the edublogosphere can focus on the 'coolness' of the tool rather than on the pedagogical impact it may have… :-)

Thank you for your comments. You have certainly been around and contributing much longer than I have, and I respect your ideas. However, I feel that I must insert myself into this conversation as one who is "building a network" and in the process listening in on and becoming part of "the conversation". I feel discouraged when you seem to classify those of us who are trying to change our part of the educational world in the best way that we know by suggesting that we “have no desire to transform education…” because that’s exactly what I think I’m trying to do. Granted, I may not follow someone else’s blueprint for change and I barely know how to operate my new blog – but I do have ideas for change and I do recognize that we must change our collective systems if we are to make a meaningful future for ourselves and our students.

This reminds me a little bit of a comment I overheard a few years back at a software training. There were many people at the training who had limited experience with using this software (isn’t that funny…it wasn’t that long ago, but that training was considered ‘cutting edge’ in my district) but they were there, nonetheless. One of the participants wanted to ask what I thought was a valid question, but felt afraid because – according to her – the instructor “made you feel like her knowledge only belonged to her”. At the time I remember thinking how sad that was, and this conversation makes me feel the same way.

To everyone who’s been around for awhile, I’m suggesting that you realize there are many of us who want to be part of whatever conversation is out there. The last thing we need is to feel unwelcome because we aren’t doing it “right”. I believe that we all have something to contribute and it’s okay to not be on the cutting edge as long as you are at least on the path. What do you think?

It seems to me that there are too many people saying the same thing – at least on the edutech-oriented blogs. Which is why I tend to avoid reading them with the exception of two.

I'm glad this blog (it would seem) is one of them! ;-)