August 21, 2008
TECHNOS QUARTERLY Summer 2001 Vol. 10 No. 2
Commentary:
Looking in the Mirror—An Educator's Thoughts on Education
by James Cisek
As
the story goes, the farmer was invited to attend a free workshop explaining
the newest farming techniques and methods to increase production. After thinking
about it, he politely declined. “Why?” the disbelieving farm bureau
agent asked. “You know it is free, and it can be very helpful in showing
you how to use the latest farming equipment and technology.” “Well,
you see,” the farmer said, “truth be known, I don't use half of
what I know right now!”
That is, of course, an old joke — but today it has a modern version. I find myself wondering if we in education can come up with our own joke about using the latest technology. All we would have to do is replace the farmer with a school administrator, and farming equipment with the Internet. Are we in education using the Internet for all that we know it is capable of?
The question before us is simple. What do school administrators use the Internet for, other than email, stock quotes, and weather reports — what is occasionally referred to as the “look-up” level of use? The “look-up” level is the most basic and the most superficial. And it certainly isn't worth the nearly 100 billion dollars that has been spent over the past 15 years for educational technology.
I can't help wondering just how many administrators are using the Internet for the next level — the “learn-from” level. That level includes participating in chat rooms, listservs, real-time chats or conferences, online learning courses, streaming video, and streaming audio. My own very unscientific research suggests the only answer to the question of how many administrators use the Internet past the first level is, “not many.” Or better yet, “not enough to provide leadership.”
Certainly, they are not involved in educational chats. A national principals' organization (which will want to be nameless) can only get three to five principals to participate in its monthly online chats — that, out of 40,000 members. Few take advantage of educational streaming audio and streaming video on educational Web sites. (The most frequently downloaded videos on Apple's educational Web site are movie trailers.) Most professional development programs admit (off the record) that few, if any, administrators sign up for any of their online courses — certainly not enough to make it worthwhile to target them. And they also acknowledge that an online course on leadership or administration rarely can pay for itself.
As a result, there is, I believe, an interesting paradox here: there are few significant professional development learning opportunities specifically for administrators on the Internet, and there are few administrators looking for significant professional development learning opportunities on the Internet. It is a classic “which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” dilemma. But if the demand isn't there, the supply won't be either.
Unlike the nonsensical chicken-or-egg conundrum, this paradox has much more potentially serious consequences. If administrators don't begin to fully use the technology available to them, why should the teachers? Why shouldn't the teachers be satisfied with instructing students how to use email and providing them with a list of cool links? That only takes one lesson, and then we can get back to the serious debates, like if dodge ball is promoting aggression in kids.
So, I believe very strongly in developing technology standards for school administrators. I understand that several major professional organizations are involved in just such an effort as I am writing this. I applaud the effort to codify what administrators should know about technology, especially since they are charged with the responsibility of “selling” the benefits to the teachers. Yet, we should not for a minute accept “knowing” as a substitute for “using” or “modeling” — or leadership.
The farmer in the beginning of this commentary knew that he could be more productive. He just wasn't all that interested. And as I see it, he isn't the only one.
Click here to access James Cisek's Audio Education On-Line:
www.audioed-online.com