Summer is a time for teachers to reflect, recharge, and reinvent themselves. It’s a time for educators to seek out professional development opportunities to enhance understanding of pedagogies and technologies to facilitate more meaningful learning experiences for our students. Hours this summer will be spent gaining familiarity with strategies, devices, and tools for September: GAFE, iPads, various web tools, flipped learning, etc… And while I believe this learning is important and, in and of itself, positive, I am left wondering if it only serves to widen the gap between our schools and the world.
By all accounts, the wearable technology industry is set to explode. From devices that simply monitor heart rate on our wrists, to a patch that alters mood through neurosignaling, to headphones that track sleep and improve memory, to “smart” clothes that expand and constrict to keep body temperature regulated...this is the future of technology.
Meanwhile, in education, we have just become familiar with Google Docs and Padlet.
Please don’t misinterpret my point: there is absolute value to exploring and utilizing these tools in the classroom. But the excitement teachers are feeling over collaborating on a Google Doc or embedding a screencast in Videonot.es or exploring the world with Geoguessr should instead be felt examining phenomena like ThinkMelon or ChooseMuse - cutting edge technologies that are changing our culture and our world. Excitement should be shared around the unconventional and forward thinking that made these advances possible - the kind of thinking that must be commonplace in schools.
Perhaps the time spent learning this summer for teachers ought not be devoted to what can arguably be considered the established norm, but instead be invested creating circumstances in our PreK-12 space that provide conditions for moonshot thinking and learning. A space that values the intersection of STEAM and passion and serves to awaken the curiosity and ingenuity that is inherent within children. A space that cultivates the progressive conditions that make the development and production of the wearable technology described above a reality.
Perhaps administrators ought to consider flipping the schedule, building in more time for STEAM with integrated literacy. At what point do we say students have had enough exposure to personal narratives and lessons on author’s purpose? All children (starting at the elementary level) should have experiences with new literacies, entrepreneurial endeavors, and opportunities for a larger global impact. It’s crucial these experiences mirror outside-the-classroom expectations.
Truth is, slightly modifying an existing system doesn’t foster true change; it only serves to reaffirm and enable the glacial pace at which education evolves. If we are constantly a step behind, how will we ever deliver on our moral obligation to provide children the opportunity to leave our schools a leap ahead? Collectively, this begins with being at the forefront of the revolution, technology or otherwise. It’s about being proactive for our future, as opposed to reactive based on our past. I just wonder how long we can keep playing catch up in education…
Please share thoughts and ideas. I’d love to hear your perspective.
