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Dec
31
Reflections of the last 365…
December 31, 2006 | Leave a Comment
I never have made resolutions, and I am not about to start now. But New Year’s does seem like an approporiate time to reflect on the past year and consider the future. And from where I sit, it looks good.
This time last year I would have had a hard time articulating any kind of personal vision for technology in education. I knew that our school had lots of technology and that it was somehow beneficial, but we had little collective vision for what we were doing. Don’t get me wrong, we did good stuff, we just had a limited idea as to the true power of the tools we had in our midst.
A year is a long time. I have had the opportunity to attend a couple of conferences and experience the vision of others. But more importantly, I have made a personal commitment to exploring the possibilities of change. I read “The World id Flat”. I inhaled several edublogs on a regular basis. Along the way, I took David Warlick’s challenge and immigrated by starting my own reflective blog (you’re reading it). I was given the opportunity to take on a leadership role as a technology mentor (coach). And it just keeps rolling…received a call a couple of weeks ago from the Faculty of Education at our local university inviting me to (re)design and teach an undergraduate course on Technology in Education starting next month. (OMG, next month is tomorrow!)
Our school is also beginning to share in the vision. Every teacher uses blogs for home/school communication, many are using student blogs for class discussions and I am now working with a few in using wikis and podcasts as we knock down their classroom walls and develop collaborative projects with other classes, schools and experts. It’s all so authentic and real.
There are still some who resist. Many are intimidated by the technology, but see value and are eager when supported. Some see it all as an extra effort they would rather avoid. A few fight change, truly believing (mostly out of ignorance to the fundamental shifts in our global environment) that the old ways are better. But, on the whole, we are making our way forward, and most teachers welcome the opportunities.
2006 was great. 2007 should be truly exciting!
Happy New Year!
