Steve Kinney

I don’t envy anyone trying to integrate technology in their classrooms; it’s difficult. Aside from the maintenance and upkeep required keep everything running smoothly (if it doesn’t work well, then teacher’s won’t even bother), instructional technology requires a total shift in our thinking about education.

We’ve all been there: “Rather than give them a reading, I’ll fire up a website on.”

There is no point in employing traditional methods on a glowing screen. There’s nothing wrong with the traditional methods, but books, paper, and scripting tools (pens and pencils) have been around for thousands of years and they’re relatively good at what they do. The computer is not going to beat them at their own game – and that’s okay. The web is a different game and you need to play by different rules to get the most from it.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times (and I’ve said it at least a dozen times): the web is about collaboration. The web is about interaction. If you put your pen and paper lessons on the computer, you’ll be sorely disappointed. If you embrace the nature of the web and design new lessons around these principals, then the sky is the limit.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.