This could very easily turn into a rambling concerning technology, however, I will attempt to make this a productive post. I suppose my best hope is that this post is thought provoking. Hopefully it will encourage people (that work with technology) to take an honest look at how they use technology in their job. I also hope it encourages technology users to ask some important questions (and hopefully get honest answers). Such as:
- Is technology actually helping me in my job?
- Am I using technology correctly?
- Am I using technology just for the sake of "using technology"?
- Am I "in charge" or am I a "slave" to technology?
- Do I take time to understand what I am actually doing?
- Am I using the correct tools for the job?
I have had the opportunity to see literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people use (or attempt to use) technology going all the way back to the early '80's. This includes everyone from attorneys, paralegals, military personnel, support personnel, medical staff, regular office personnel (group 1), and educators (group 2). Without a doubt, the most interesting of these has been the educator. I have a few theories as to why the educators have been, and continue to be, the most interesting technology users. Before I get into an explanation of my theory of why educators excel in the coveted position I place them in, we need to examine why those other groups DO NOT fall into the same category.
Group One Category
Generally, people that fall in the group 1 category learn specific skills pertaining to specific software applications that are directly related to their job. It might be a spreadsheet that they have to populate on a regular basis, or a database that list products, services, or inventory items. It could also be a publishing program to create flyers, programs, or handouts. A very popular software application is a word processor. In a general office environment, it goes without saying that you have basic word processing skills, many companies require a certain WPM level. So, in working with these specific applications, they use the basic skills to perform their job duties. In most instances, they learn their basic skills from a co-worker (or the retiring person they are replacing), from their boss, or in some cases they take a short class to learn the basic skills. As time goes on, they become even more familiar with these applications, and with familiarity they become more proficient. They might even buy a book or take a class on this application because a large portion of their job depends on it. Rarely do they stray from the instructions given them from their trainer, that is, until they need to do something new that they weren't taught. At that point, they will try to figure out how to perform the new function, many times by asking friends and/or coworkers. The truly industrious ones will seek an answer on a forum or by using a general Google search. But generally speaking, these people (group 1) learn and execute tasks that are a part of their everyday job, and they do so repeatedly every day. The applications, entries and associated peripherals do not change often, which is a good thing, because these people do not like change and do not have time for change.
Group Two Category
This takes us to the group 2 category, the educator. For the most part, the educators we are referencing are teachers. This category does not include most central office employees, since they would fall in the group 1 category. Let's take a moment to define a teachers profession. In the most basic terms, they have the primary responsibility of teaching/educating youth. For (hopefully) twelve years students are molded by the work and efforts of the teacher. Teachers go to school to receive training for their respective courses and are equipped with textbooks specifically created for these courses. In my day, the ingredients for education included:
- A teacher
- A classroom
- Students
- Pencil and paper
- Textbooks
- A chalkboard
Enter Technology! Although computers started showing up in the late '70's through the early '80's (mostly used by hobbyist, business and colleges), we really didn't see technology seriously hit public schools until the '90's. These dates are generalizations. You can certainly find exceptions to the above dates. By the mid '90's the new "thing" in education was TECHNOLOGY! A push was made to put computers in schools, and in many instances in the classroom. Some schools even had a technology lab. This was a slow process that is still evolving today. At first it was a computer with some educational software or a typing tutor. As time went on, more hardware and software was introduced to the educational world. Literally hundreds of specialized software packages have been created for education. And just as many hardware devices have be manufactured as well. Hundreds of companies were created just to address educational technology. I have seen many "fads" come and go throughout the years. And that is part of the problem. It seems that in education we jump at every little shiny thing that is dangled in front of us.
OK, so we have technology deeply entrenched in education. So why are educators different from other technology users? Good question!
(This next section is strictly my opinion. It is based on years of being around educators, teaching technology courses, assisting educational consultants in their quest to help teachers and helping many, many educators utilize technology in their environment.)
In the race to introduce technology in education, we left out one important ingredient: proper training! There, I said it. I have been saying it for years, but now it is official. We have yet to address consistent, proper education. Sure, there has been various training for educators and application courses are available, but a good, solid training foundation has never been made available to our teachers. Even when we had a big push to train teachers in technology, we forgot the foundation. It was (and still is) assumed that they understood the basics.
Even with the fact that many of these teachers do not have a solid technology foundation, they actually do a good job utilizing technology in their curriculum. They put in the time to figure out stuff, they research and actually use the technology. I always wonder how much better these people would be if they had the proper training and a firm technology foundation to build on.
What do I mean by proper training? Every time I have a training session with teachers, I always mention file maintenance, file extensions and proper procedures for working with your files. It is unfortunate that I have to take time to do this, but in order for the participants to understand the subject matter, I need to go over it to some extent. The majority of the times, the participants have never heard of file maintenance. They do not understand that technology is built around files. Everything pertaining to computers and the Internet is dependent on files. A blog is a compilation of files (data). A podcast is a file (audio). A web page is a collection of files. All of these files have two defining components: a filename and an extension. The extension allows the file to be associated with an application so you can easily edit and/or use the file. For instance, an audio file might have an extension of "mp3" or "wav". Without these extensions, your computer (or device) would not know how to deal with these files. This is just one example of the type of training that I feel is missing from our educators resources. It's really a struggle to be truly proficient and confident working with technology without this training!
Another example that I see all too often that is a result of bad training is, users saving files on their devices desktop. This is a no-no! We should never do this, however people have not been trained to "not do it" or given the reason why.
OK, I believe I stated my case on the importance of proper training. BUT there is another problem that has plagued our educators since the introduction of technology in education. Here is the way I see it:
Teachers have been bombarded with "the latest, greatest" software applications or devices from day one! But they have never been given time or training to properly implement these wonderful tools. Before they have time to fully comprehend this software or hardware, someone hits them with another product that is the end all, be all of educational technology. Think back over the last twenty years at all of the products (both hardware and software) that has been introduced to school systems. It's enough to make you dizzy! Now, consider that all of these products have been heaved on users without the proper training in the first place. I would also ask you to keep in mind that these lofty expectations have been placed on folks who have a primary responsibility to actually educate our children. So, we want you to educate your students, while integrating all of this wonderful technology into the lesson plan, while conforming to State/Federal standards! Really?
I almost feel guilty adding this, but while all of the above is going on, we are neglecting proper technology training for our students. Every student in the United States, should have proper technology training before graduating. This training should include more that just keyboarding. They will be expected to utilize technology in today's workforce, so why shouldn't they be properly trained? Now, for the person that would offer the argument that everyone will not enter the conventional workforce, I would offer this rebuttal; even in the arts, you are surrounded by technology. Photography is now a digital environment, which requires a digital camera, a computer (for file maintenance), and a web presence to display your work. In many bands today, you find people using computers to create digital files of music scores. This digital sheet music is displayed on a tablet device instead of a conventional music book containing printed charts. Technology is a part of our everyday life.
The above statements are only addressing issues with technology. We won't even go into all of the ever-changing state and federal initiatives that educators are expected to comply with on top of everything else.
Whew, I realize that I might have jumped up on the soapbox a little. I also realize that this has been a concern of mine ever since I stepped into the educational world, and that I have been harping on it since I saw the stark contrast from the business/military world. But we are dealing with something very, very important. The education of our children, our future. Do overs are hard to come by in our life. We should be doing it right the first time. We shouldn't be expecting teachers to use technology in education by the seat of their pants. I realize we are caught in a vicious cycle and it is going to be difficult to stop the cycle and address the issues. It must be addressed.
The longer we ignore it, the worse it will get!
OK, so we have technology deeply entrenched in education. So why are educators different from other technology users? Good question!
(This next section is strictly my opinion. It is based on years of being around educators, teaching technology courses, assisting educational consultants in their quest to help teachers and helping many, many educators utilize technology in their environment.)
In the race to introduce technology in education, we left out one important ingredient: proper training! There, I said it. I have been saying it for years, but now it is official. We have yet to address consistent, proper education. Sure, there has been various training for educators and application courses are available, but a good, solid training foundation has never been made available to our teachers. Even when we had a big push to train teachers in technology, we forgot the foundation. It was (and still is) assumed that they understood the basics.
Even with the fact that many of these teachers do not have a solid technology foundation, they actually do a good job utilizing technology in their curriculum. They put in the time to figure out stuff, they research and actually use the technology. I always wonder how much better these people would be if they had the proper training and a firm technology foundation to build on.
What do I mean by proper training? Every time I have a training session with teachers, I always mention file maintenance, file extensions and proper procedures for working with your files. It is unfortunate that I have to take time to do this, but in order for the participants to understand the subject matter, I need to go over it to some extent. The majority of the times, the participants have never heard of file maintenance. They do not understand that technology is built around files. Everything pertaining to computers and the Internet is dependent on files. A blog is a compilation of files (data). A podcast is a file (audio). A web page is a collection of files. All of these files have two defining components: a filename and an extension. The extension allows the file to be associated with an application so you can easily edit and/or use the file. For instance, an audio file might have an extension of "mp3" or "wav". Without these extensions, your computer (or device) would not know how to deal with these files. This is just one example of the type of training that I feel is missing from our educators resources. It's really a struggle to be truly proficient and confident working with technology without this training!
Another example that I see all too often that is a result of bad training is, users saving files on their devices desktop. This is a no-no! We should never do this, however people have not been trained to "not do it" or given the reason why.
OK, I believe I stated my case on the importance of proper training. BUT there is another problem that has plagued our educators since the introduction of technology in education. Here is the way I see it:
Teachers have been bombarded with "the latest, greatest" software applications or devices from day one! But they have never been given time or training to properly implement these wonderful tools. Before they have time to fully comprehend this software or hardware, someone hits them with another product that is the end all, be all of educational technology. Think back over the last twenty years at all of the products (both hardware and software) that has been introduced to school systems. It's enough to make you dizzy! Now, consider that all of these products have been heaved on users without the proper training in the first place. I would also ask you to keep in mind that these lofty expectations have been placed on folks who have a primary responsibility to actually educate our children. So, we want you to educate your students, while integrating all of this wonderful technology into the lesson plan, while conforming to State/Federal standards! Really?
I almost feel guilty adding this, but while all of the above is going on, we are neglecting proper technology training for our students. Every student in the United States, should have proper technology training before graduating. This training should include more that just keyboarding. They will be expected to utilize technology in today's workforce, so why shouldn't they be properly trained? Now, for the person that would offer the argument that everyone will not enter the conventional workforce, I would offer this rebuttal; even in the arts, you are surrounded by technology. Photography is now a digital environment, which requires a digital camera, a computer (for file maintenance), and a web presence to display your work. In many bands today, you find people using computers to create digital files of music scores. This digital sheet music is displayed on a tablet device instead of a conventional music book containing printed charts. Technology is a part of our everyday life.
The above statements are only addressing issues with technology. We won't even go into all of the ever-changing state and federal initiatives that educators are expected to comply with on top of everything else.
Whew, I realize that I might have jumped up on the soapbox a little. I also realize that this has been a concern of mine ever since I stepped into the educational world, and that I have been harping on it since I saw the stark contrast from the business/military world. But we are dealing with something very, very important. The education of our children, our future. Do overs are hard to come by in our life. We should be doing it right the first time. We shouldn't be expecting teachers to use technology in education by the seat of their pants. I realize we are caught in a vicious cycle and it is going to be difficult to stop the cycle and address the issues. It must be addressed.
The longer we ignore it, the worse it will get!
