One of the podcasts I listen to each week, without fail, is The Future of Education with Steve Hargadon (@stevehargadon). At the moment, I’m behind and therefore listening to interviews that aired weeks ago. I just finished listening to Matt Levinson speak about his book “From Fear to Facebook”. You can listen in iTunes, or by clicking on this link. [openbook booknumber=”ISBN:1564842703″ templatenumber=”1″]
I enjoyed hearing what Matt and his school learned in piloting a 1-to-1 laptop program with students. His commentary really drove home to me how wide the chasm is between how students view technology and how teachers often view it. Even in a school that evidently believes in the power of technology to drive education, there were some divergent views on privacy and including students in the decision making process. One thing I really applaud is the way they chose to take a behavior problem (hacking into the administrative areas) and turned that into an opportunity to provide programming classes for students who want to learn more.
My take-away? As a teacher, I need to work to bridge the gap in how I view and approach technology, and how students do so. I am preparing them for their future, and that involves staying current and thinking ahead.
Julie A. Cunningham 