leverage technology… empower learning… classroom… school… challenges

I ruminated on this word leverage; I broke it down and thought about what role lever plays in its definition. I’m no scientist, but I remember that a lever is a simple tool and that simple tools are supposed to make work easier. Or so I thought. Then Wikipedia informed me that a lever is a simple machine which provides mechanical advantage (also called…leverage). Back where I started.

Then I came across this little gem surfing Pinterest one evening. (Happy was I to track the license back to Raleigh-based teacher, Bill Ferriter.) This graphic does a much better job than any of my ramblings on summarizing what it means to leverage technology to empower learning.

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Just to write this post I had between 5 and 10 different tabs open looking for information… pinterest, twitter, wikipedia, flickr, TED talks, symbaloo, reference.com…  But none of those websites were the winning run, which was communicating my ideas about the challenges of leveraging technology to empower learning. They were just the singles I was hitting to get on base.

So where’s the curve ball in leveraging technology to empower learning? For me, it’s getting the students, teachers, administration, and the district all in the same ball park. When a baseball team is on defense, they all have the same goal and they all have to work together in order to achieve that goal. The same must be true in education if we are going to empower learning through technology. We all want students to learn.

photo credit: emokr via photopin cc

I believe this is true even for students… up to the point when they learn that school isn’t for learning.  It’s for sitting quietly in your desk, completing worksheets and study guides, and taking tests that you either pass or fail with no help from the busy work you did before the test.  It is painful to watch students suffer through mind-numbing classes all in the name of “learning”. (I hesitate to even use that word because a bored mind is not a learning mind.)

Students crave technology, but even in this wireless, BYOD age too many students must leave their technology in their pockets when they enter a classroom. If teachers are not guiding students on how to use that smart phone or iTouch to take responsibility for and empower their learning, then who is?

I get that at the same time students thirst for technology-rich classrooms, many of the adults in their lives fear it. And there are some valid reasons for those fears.  Teachers worry about accessibility, time, covering the content, liability, etc.  School and district administrators have the same concerns.  But the fear of striking out shouldn’t keep us from playing the game.

Put ’em in coach!

Put students in engaging learning situations, put technology in their hands with a purpose, put skills and strategies in your own game bag, put in your pinch hitter when technology doesn’t go according to your game plan. But let’s play ball.

Here’s David Pogue’s funny 5-minute take on TED Talks on using technology to save time. David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech tips