Teach42

I finally read through Prenskey’s latest offering, Adopt and Adapt, which discusses how (and when) schools adopt new technologies.

He argues that it’s a four step process:

1. Dabbling.
2. Doing old things in old ways.
3. Doing old things in new ways.
4. Doing new things in new ways.

He makes some great points, but I think his ‘barriers to technological adoption’ are really worth mentioning.

The first key is true one-to-one computing. I do believe that there’s a ton you can do without 1:1, but he makes a great point when he says, “For true technological advance to occur, the computers must be personal to each learner. When used properly and well for education, these computers become extensions of the students’ personal self and brain. They must have each student’s stuff and each student’s style all over them (in case you haven’t noticed, kids love to customize and make technology personal), and that is something sharing just doesn’t allow.” It’s a fundamental difference between digital natives and digital immigrants. Digital natives customize everything and are used to having their files, their settings, their bookmarks and their IM lists at their fingertips. It’s more than just personal preference, it’s a learning style.

The second barrier he discusses is digital immigrants themselves (yes, most of us are actually the problem). In a nutshell, many people in the school system fear change. And that fear is impeding the evolution of education.

Though some observers, including multiple-intelligences guru Howard Gardner, point to schools as the “conservators” of our culture, and therefore instinctively conservative in what they do, the resistance comes more from the fact that our public school system has evolved an extremely delicate balance between many sets of pressures — political, parental, social, organizational, supervisory, and financial — that any technological change is bound to disrupt. For example, such shifting certainly initially means more work and pressure on educators, who already feel overburdened.

But resisting today’s digital technology will be truly lethal to our children’s education. They live in an incredibly fast-moving world significantly different than the one we grew up in. The number-one technology request of today’s students is to have email and instant messaging always available and part of school. They not only need things faster than their teachers are used to providing them, they also have many other new learning needs as well, such as random access to information and multiple data streams.

Chew on that and be sure to read the article for yourself.

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