The sweet spot

Educational Technology blogger Will Richardson pointed me to this Washington Post op-ed written by a veteran teacher at a high school in Alexandria, VA.

Last September, we moved into a new $98 million building in Alexandria, one of the most expensive high schools ever built…

So you’d think T.C. teachers would be ecstatic. But it’s just the opposite—faculty morale is the lowest and cynicism the highest I’ve seen in years. The problem? What a former Alexandria school superintendent calls “technolust”—a disorder affecting publicity-obsessed school administrators nationwide that manifests itself in an insatiable need to acquire the latest, fastest, most exotic computer gadgets, whether teachers and students need them or want them. Technolust is in its advanced stages at T.C., where our administrators have made such a fetish of technology that some of my colleagues are referring to us as “Gizmo High.”

It’s not at all surprising that teachers are frustrated at what sounds like a pretty rigid implementation of technology for its own sake.  There are great examples of schools that are doing this much better, that are bringing their teachers along as partners in technology implementation, that are building a schoolwide culture of technology rather than just sticking devices in classrooms.

There’s always a tension in educational change - really in any kind of change.  Everyone knows that it’s only grassroots change that feels really authentic.  People come to the realization on their own that change is good, so they are fully on board and invested in the change. 

That kind of change takes a really, really long time, though.  At some point doesn’t someone have to step in to spread the benefits discovered by all those early changers?

Where is the sweet spot between waiting too long for everyone to come to a great realization on their own and forcing too many people to do something without believing in its value?

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