Season 1, Episode 2: Tech Acquisition, Integration, Transformation

Transcript:

Welcome to the 90 Second Integrationist Podcast, Episode 2.

Once upon a time, a boy turned 16. For his birthday, his loving father gave the boy a brand new car. The boy excitedly took the keys and went for a spin.

Only two blocks from home, the boy ran over three garbage cans and crashed into a tree. Assessing the wreckage, the father decided he had one course of action to fix the problem. Give his son a newer, faster car.

Absurd story? Sure. But don't we treat technology in the classroom the same way sometimes? Maybe your test scores aren't going up. Student discipline is poor. Graduation rates still aren't where we want them.

What role does technology play in those situations? Is technology a complete non-factor when it comes to student achievement? Or is the answer to academic deficiencies to be found in buying the next upgrade, the next version, the next game-changing technology?

Perhaps the answer is in neither of these approaches. Just like the young driver in our story, our students have amazing technology at their fingertips. And too often, we spend our time as educators trying to figure out ways to stop them from using it, fearing that the only other option is to turn them loose to let them crash.

When our focus is on the technology instead of the learning, our programs aren't so much technology integration initiatives as they are just technology acquisition initiatives. The best successes come when we implement our best available instructional strategies and use the tools available to support them.

That goes beyond technology acquisition and even technology integration to become technology transformation.

Join me at DesigningEducation.org.