It's the Teaching, not the Tech v.2
It's with a dizzying level of excitement that I embark upon my new role in digital learning tomorrow and I venture outside the classroom for the first time in almost eleven years. There's so much flying through my mind about what I hope to be able to do; from supporting teachers with practical and quality EdTech solutions and ideas for real kids in real classrooms, to being able to access the bathroom without waiting for some sort of deafening and obnoxious siren.
If you are lucky enough to work in a 1:1 classroom environment, and not all of us are, it does not immediately follow that success, improved learning or higher student achievement will automatically flow as if the device physically leaked knowledge. Owning a set of brightly coloured pencils certainly does not make me an artist, nor does the existence of technology in classrooms make learning happen by itself. The direction, problem solving, organisation and innovation of the teacher and the students with the use of the devices has massive potential though. Learning to drive a car is less about the instructor and more about the novice driver. So too, with the use and implementation of teacher and student devices. There is no app for Maths. You don't learn concepts, capabilities and understandings by consuming a times table app. You can, however, use a variety of digital tools in lots of ways to build learning experiences and attract a high level of student engagement. I recently tweeted this article: iPad teaching is NOT about iPads and am in agreement, particularly with their 5 points on 'what really matters'. Go check it out, it's a short article.
So as I look forward to jumping into the world of consulting, I hope that what I was able to inspire in my students, I will be able to achieve with educators. Here's to the next chapter!
JS
