Technology Boot Camp

This is week three of Technology Boot Camp, an effort by the community college system to offer technology training to educators. This is a six week program of distance ed funded by a grant from AT&T and hosted by the Center for Organizational Research and Development. Even though I have a foundational background in the topics they are discussing, it has been both demanding and interesting.

There are 28 of us in the class, but based on this week's discussion posts (or lack thereof) I'm wondering if we haven't lost some folks. Through my library training, I've been reading about, and to a degree, using the web 2.0 technologies the class is reviewing. I can see their applications in other libraries and have worked with a couple of instructors on campus to explore their use in the classroom.

Apparently, some of my class members have not had such exposure. Some of the feedback from the class is beginning to sound a lot like overwhelm. "How am I going to use This?! in my class??" A few folks already have been implementing what we've discussed and have examples to share, but they are the minority.

The Internet as we know it is less than 20 years old, but the exposure to all the new technology it has spawned may actually have physically changed the brains of the students now flooding our schools. Those of us whose education predates the 'net are now forced to learn to teach in new ways. And while I, too, am struggling to determine just what use some specific applications, like Twitter, have in the classroom, it strikes me that the time for reluctance is over.

I turned 55 a week or so ago, so the brain is not young. I don't expect ever to be fluid with this stuff. But I'm doing my best to jump to the seargent's call. I do want to be effective. And that means I have to learn the turf and the language. I just hope they make earbuds that will fit around my hearing aids . . .