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Alan Levine writes about a recent presentation to teaching staff, reinforcing a thought of mine that introducing the new technologies needs to include time for use of the tools themselves as learners and then reflection about how the tools can be used in their practice.

There also seems (and others can confirm/hoot down) to be a quick move from “I heard about podcasts” to “I want to Record Podcasts” - missing completely a relevant middle ground of first surveying the exploding number of podcast sources, and perhaps start by building some activities that are built around the use of existing content.There is also the recognition that this is the technology of comfort to young people and of discomfort to the generation in the room. This was confirmed as I walked out of the front of the main college building, and passed in the lobby at least 8 students, 7 of whom were engaged/connected to a cell phone, audio device, and even one young man with a cell phone in one hand and a tiny DV camera in another.

Let’s stop this nonsense of teachers needing to master a technology and leverage the knowledge, experience, and adaptability of the students! They ought to be the creators not just consumers.