Kathy Onarheim
Director
As we are moving towards transforming the K12 system of education many educators are grabbing onto the tools that technology provides.
- WIKIS,
- MOODLE,
- online courses,
- Web 2.o,
- Voicethread
- Glogster
- Video, video, video….
- primary sources
- many, many more….
So many tools and so much to learn and apply!
As we moved from the late 90’s to the 00’s, we have had TLCF, EETT, PT3, ERate and other grants that have focused on integration of technology into curriculum and instruction. The pioneer teacher model was successful in the early years, providing the necessary permission for innovators to use new things in classrooms.
We have now moved beyond and are in an age of identifying the learning and the expectations for our students and approach from a the few to technology as part of all of our lives, especially our students, and things need to be done differently. We are coming to the time when it is truly transparent. It is not the special thing anymore. We need to focus on learning and the global interactions that are possible. Time to move to today.
How do we move our educator culture?
How do we build the sharing and collaborative networks that allow an educator to be part of an effective environment for students without expecting them to be the experts of everything and have all the answers.
I have come across clusters of individuals who work this way. They have found the rhythm and the momentum. Yet, there are many who are stuck in old ways. They feel vulnerable and not valuable if they can not answer all the questions.
How do we bring the joy of creativity and the wonder of discovery back to our system?