I came across a challenge laid down at NECC in June this year where ISTE President Trina J. Davis challenged attendees to really transform education through the use of technology, not just implement small changes. It was a message repeated at ACEC2008 and which I blogged about earlier but I think today, on World Teachers’ Day, it is a message that bears repeating, a challenge worth throwing down again.
Five Ways, according to Trina Davis to make a difference (with slight editing for our local circumstances).
1. Become powerful advocates for change. …. educational technology must play a more prominent role in our national education policy, Davis said–and educators should do everything they can to ensure that it does.
2. Share your knowledge and your passion. Help others take steps to ensure their growth as teachers, Davis said–so they can help students grow as learners.
3. Showcase your work, and students’ work, in innovative ways. Invite parents and community leaders into your schools, Davis said–or take students’ projects to them with the help of podcasts and other technologies.
4. Dream big. Have high expectations for your students, Davis said, because the possibilities that educational technology offers are “endless.”
5. Use all of the resources available to you as you try to effect change.
“Collectively, we can have a real impact around the globe and be effective change agents,” Davis concluded.
So are you an agent for change? The message that change has to happen is coming clearly at educators, not just in schools, but in all education sectors in Australia. It’s how we manage change that’s important. You can sit and wait for it to be done to you, to be dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age (and I don’t think that’s you because after all you are reading my blog posting), or you can be an agent for change, which is what I like to think I am.
I’ll be honest here. I’m a true baby boomer, born in the year after the war, and in some ways we are often reactive rather than proactive, at least that’s how those around may see us. We like to assess whether the change is necessary before we take the leap. So there is a danger that we are seen as a bit curmudgeonly or even stick-in-the-mud. But here at education.au we have the opportunity often to work at the cutting edge of technology in education. In our edna workshops we try to show educators what is possible, and how a little change may make a really big difference. So, despite the white hair, and elderly body, I see myself as an agent for change.
So here’s my challenge. Are you an agent for change? What have you done recently that fits into one of the 5 things that Trina Davis has talked about? We are not talking about change for its own sake, but change to ensure better teaching and learning. I invite you to comment and tell me where you stand, what you’ve done, changes you’ve adopted.
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