I Think John Finch Is Tired Of Talking About Technology

The guy has a point.

It's not that technology isn't a worthwhile thing to talk about or teach to. Far from it. Technology is one of the factors that is defining our world today, if not the primary factor. The power, potential and limitations of technology are shaping our modern age.

But a lot of the time, we just stop there. We have the workshop. It's great. We learn some cool new tricks for the classroom.

"Hey kids, we're gonna do fake Twitter profiles and updates for characters."

Is there anything wrong with this? Not at all. But sometimes, we make the critical mistake of divorcing technology from pedagogy. If we are not integrating technology into our teaching practice and putting it to work, then it really is just a trick. We're in the business of educating, not distracting or entertaining per se. It's a trap I've seen other teachers fall into and it's one that I've probably tripped over myself.

It is very, very easy to miss the forest for the trees.

It seems odd that we would have a guest speaker come in for a two hour class and spend perhaps a quarter of it actively discussing technology. Setting aside about ten percent of the time or so that was spent discussing donuts, you're left with a conversation that was mostly about pedagogy and the inquiry method of teaching.

What is the lesson to be drawn here? Here is the technology expert, talking mostly about pedagogical method and being very honest about his frustration in that there isn't more conversation about how technology and pedagogy intersect.

It's something to think about. I know I'll be doing quite a bit of thinking about it.