Cardio-techno Conditioning on a Steep Learning Curve

     A few short weeks ago, I light heartedly created this blog with the tongue in cheek name that it bears.  Little did I know, or perhaps in my heart of hearts I did know, I just didn't want to give into the fear that the title would be a harbinger of what challenges lie in store for me as a learner.  It has been in a sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy. In his book, Blogs Wikis, and Podcasts,  Will Richardson suggests that in order for teachers to be able to prepare students for a future that will most assuredly be full of technology and networked spaces, then we must  experience these environments for ourselves. He prescribes to the notion that if we are to understand HOW to use these tools to teach our students then we must become engaged and connected with these tools personally.  Well personally, I must confess that I have indeed “experienced” them but I am far from experienced IN them.

     Wikis, pods and blogs sound like they could be nick names for sweets or the small, precocious children of pop stars, but they are not sweet and they are not adorable.  They have been agents of discord and frustration.  Under the guise of creating, publishing and networking with the aforementioned tools my computer has heard words that I would dare not type.  I have lost hours of valuable sleep and forgone meals and social outings trying to embrace this beast called technology that will not go away. To say that I was frustrated is an understatement equivalent to reminding someone that rain is wet.  I had placated myself with the thought and hope that maybe the technology would change so quickly that the world would forgive my apparent inability to grasp today’s bees’ knees.A quick glimpse of sanity from Dr. David Thornburg insisting that students need to be taught basic intuitive 21^st century skills such as cooperative learning, critical thinking and communication reminded me that not all learning had to take place via a tweet or a mouse. 

     Trilling further built my case for allowing some quarter when it comes to using technology by admitting that there are some challenges with using information and communication technology information and communication technology. Here I thought that everyone in the world had read the manual except me.  He writes of a new learning curve and encourages society to shift from learning from and about technology to learning with technology. It was encouraging to feel the shift in my own paradigm from feeling like I didn't know anything about these new technology tools to that of realizing that I am at least on the spectrum of learning.  Technology is not an all or nothing endeavor. Trilling outlines stages from disconnected to majority to innovators and finally mavericks.  I think perhaps I was seeing the world around me being in the final stage of Trilling’s curve feeling as if I could never bridge that gap so how could I ever lead my students there?  

     In addition to teaching, I am a dairy farmer. As dairy farmers in an increasingly global and technological venue we are constantly being badgered to implement new and improved technologies.  We decided that we would not necessarily be the first to adopt the new but would also not be the last to set the old aside.  I am adopting that mindset for my class room as well.   Being able to look at the distance I have traveled rather than that of what is left to traverse, has given me the confidence and will to accomplish more.  I now realize though that I must commit to practicing using these technologies myself and need to seek out colleagues and resources that can provide a safety net until I can navigate them successfully. If I am comfortable with the mechanics of using the tools of technology then I can more effectively apply learning through them. These two goals go hand in hand with each other.Surely there will still be a few choice words and episodes of high blood pressure but I am a little further along the curve than when I started.

Invasion of the Pod (Cast) People

Does anyone remember the cheesy horror flicks that had aliens duplicating themselves into human persona via a POD? Well the new Pod people are among us and I am the one that feels like screaming. These pods though are in a different form than the 1956 version of gelatinous pods found in Invasion of the Body Snatchers. These pods are PODCASTS and I believe that after struggling with multiple files of unknown extensions these past two weeks that I have entered a new and strange world.  Like it or not I have crossed to the geek side....I have pod casted.  It's true. I have joined the ranks of the wired multitudes and published a brief response to an impromptu survey about the use of technology in schools and whether or not students feel that schools are current with incorporating that technology. I don't want to ruin the surprise ending, but guess what? They are not. I am coming to the slow realization that perhaps Alan November is on to something when he speaks of the disconnect that is occurring with students and schools because they cannot use the "containers" or digital tools that they are so comfortable with to create and learn.  Trust me, I understand that it is ultimately about the content and I will stand hard and fast that there are some things that students just HAVE to know, but I am starting to wiggle a little uncomfortably with the idea that maybe educators, me included, do need to look at some other ways to allow students to construct their own meanings about that content and where it fits in the world.  Meanwhile I will not numbly follow the technology simply because it is there.  I will use my own brain to construct my own meaning and let's hope that podcast people and pod people do not become one and the same or  I may be that person standing in the center of the road screaming at cars passing by to wake up and not let the aliens (or technology) take over our individual thoughts.