Week Five: Post 1 - Working Smarter not Harder

Working Smarter not Harder

Technology and Standards, is it the technology that drives the project or the project that drives the technology? Use the "Tool it is collaboration PDF" above to help with this post.

Imagine building a house using only a hammer and nails.  No saws, levels, measurement devices or other tools.  Tools were invented to make our lives easier; to help us work smarter, not harder.  I can no longer imagine using a traditional screwdriver to drive those three-inch deck screws.  In fact, I wait until the battery is recharged before resuming a project requiring........wait.....stop....did I really write “requiring?”  New awareness, my schema of what hand tools and building are has moved into a nonnegotiable stance about battery powered assist when designing or constructing.  

Capelle is getting at this in his article, It’s Not About the Tool: Why Online Student Collaboration Should Focus on State Standards “Too often it seems that a blossoming educator ready to explore the new frontier of Web 2.0 says, [I want to make a blog,] or [My class should use a wiki.] While this willingness to explore technology is admirable, it is also a case of focusing on the tool, and not on what the educator intends to do with it.“

I think one of the larger issues facing less technologically able educators, is finding that balance between curricula and technology.  As educators we are faced with the pressing demands of high-stakes testing and the reactive stance that happens under the pressures of making, “Annual Yearly Progress, (AYP)”  Unfortunately, I am generalizing here, it has been my experience that school leadership have a hard time seeing the gestalt of how it all can work together, how to facilitate all areas in working together.  AYP is a by-product of a well designed and supported education system, not the goal of Math, Science, English and Social Studies.

How can technology help us to work smarter not harder?  Time!!!!! Time to explore. Time to understand.  Time to apply.  Time to reflect.  Time to adjust.........and repeat.  This impacts first, the individuals, then a small group then a system.  

Question.......Is it possible to shift an educational system in regards to technology, standards and assessment in the time that technology is relevant to current user abilities and the ever shifting educational initiatives?  Is there research around this?  I am also surprised how quickly the “Connected Educator: Chapter Five” and some of the articles seem less relevant.

As a problems / performance-based educator in visual arts and music, I have been wrestling with the same topic as Capelle.  Going back to an earlier blog and reframing Capelle’s quote.  “Too often it seems that a blossoming educator ready to explore the Arts says, [I want to make Art or Music,] or [My class should use the Arts.] While this willingness to explore the Arts is admirable, it is also a case of focusing on the methods and tools, and not on what the educator intends to do with it.“.......

“It is our differences that make us strong” --Jean-Luc Picard