All of the heavy hitters in the educational technology world recommend moving slowly – taking baby steps, but what if this recommendation is as dated as Windows 95? New teachers are as frustrated as I am by having to progress at this snails pace, especially in regards to technology which changes daily. Remind me again why we have to move so slowly. Part of me thinks that this is a self serving myth, feed by people who make their living telling us how to use technology in education. What is wrong with making mistakes, and learning from them? If we are teaching people how to learn we have to teach them how to learn from their mistakes.

Technology as a tool

I like the idea of Technology as a giant tool box, and all of the different applications as individual tools in the box. Any one who has worked around the house knows that the right tool makes all the difference. This analogy is also helpful when thinking about when to use technology in education – when it is the right tool for the job.

If creating a short video documentary about a topic engages students in the learning process, and helps them take on role of instructor for their classmates, then in some cases this might be a better tool than an essay.

Technology should not be used just for the sake of using technology; it is a tool to get a job done. Students learn how to use the tools as they go, how long did you practice with a hammer before you used it, and when you did use it did you just drive nails into some random board simply for the sake of driving a nail?