Today I did the BYOC (Build Your Own Conference) option at the ICE conference. I saw the morning session by Tony Vincent and Angela Maier's second and third sessions. This was my first experience with ICE, and I was very pleased with what I experienced. Both presenters embodied the dual, often-conflicting nature of being involved in educational technology- working with people vs. working with machines. My impression was that they were both approaching the same message from two different angles: while machines (hardware and software, specifically mobile devices) used to be things that people worked with during the day and separated themselves from at night, we now live in a world where people and machines have a symbiotic relationship. In other words, the separation between people and machines is gone, and people view their technology as extensions of themselves Consequently, it is time for the world to embrace this point.
Tony Vincent's session on Project Based learning was more machine oriented (and by "machine," I mean hardware and software) a very practical, easy to understand (to the extent that is possible with PBL) guide for teachers to do PBL in classrooms, discussing and demonstrating many of the apps and technologies that engage students and ultimately making the point that the learning landscape has changed, that our students speak a new (different?) language in school (that language being digital) than what they once did, and that the way we teach needs to change to embrace that. He offered a very practical, 3-step process to help focus students' energies (through guiding question) so that they can create products that are meaningful to them.
Angela Maiers' two presentations (one on social media, the other on school leadership in a digital world), looked more at the world in which our students live and the things that humans are capable of now that we are all so connected. She argued, and I think Mr. Vincent would agree, that humans have an unprecedented ability to maximize our potential due to digital tools. Her sessions focused more on the human aspects of social media being able to connect people and (to borrow her phrase) "amplify our genius."
(Note: I'm sure my phrasing does not do either of them justice. Please do not think of the previous two paragraphs as trite reviews. They were both awesome, and I'm still processing both of them. ICE is one of those "you had to be there" sort of things.)
Both sessions were as inspirational as they were puzzling. I always come away from great sessions like these (or great Twitter chats, or great blog posts, articles, etc.) with a rush of energy, but always with nagging voice of conflict: "Where do I begin? Is it more valuable to get teachers able to use the machines with the hope they'll be able to use them properly someday, or do I try to lay the groundwork with people first, to make them ravenous for the machines?" Or, are these even separate questions?
As the tech guy, it's hard to strike a balance between always wanting to help teachers learn how to use technology (in and out of the classroom), while knowing full well that it's even more important that we move beyond "integration" and work toward shifting perceptions of what goes on in schools now that real-time access to information has changed so much of what we can do.
The sign of a good learning experience is the ability of that experience to inject a healthy dose of inspiration and confusion in the learner. By that measure, today was an excellent day of learning for me. I look forward to what sparks tomorrow will produce as I bash these approaches together in my mind.
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