Room With A View

I attended the EARCOS Teachers’ Conference in Manila a few weeks ago. I was struck by the fact that most (though not all) of the technology sessions offered focused on the technology and not on the learning that is enhanced through the technology. They focused on learning the software rather than applying the software to teaching or the underlying thinking that could be taught by using the software. Perhaps that’s the way it has to be. Perhaps that’s how we learn. In other words, we must first learn how to use the nuts and bolts of a piece of software or hardware before we can apply it to a learning environment. Perhaps only once we know a piece of software and use it in a familiar way can we then innovate and begin to apply it to new situations and fundamentally change teaching and learning. If this is true, then when do we take the focus off the wires–the software or hardware–and put it on the learning and thinking? Too often we explicitly teach how to use a new piece of technology or software and just expect teachers to figure out how to apply it in a learning situation. Educators should be explicitly taught how to use new software as well as why and when to use it.