Teachnology Statements: Traditional and Remixed

If writing is hard work as so many, from Ernest Hemingway to E.B. White, say it is, then the teaching of writing is equally hard. When you add the swelling current of technology and consider the new forms writing can take, the task becomes if not harder, certainly more complex. It's in these times that it becomes imperative to have one finger on the pulse of students and another tracing technology. That said, I am committed to using technologies in ways that promote core teaching principles such as:

1. promoting collaboration and social learning
2. encouraging individuality and identity
3. facilitating rich and dynamic relationships between participants
4. providing clear learning outcomes and strategies for reaching those outcomes
5. anticipating and addressing current trends in writing and communication


Addressing these five goals is a matter of using technology responsibly by keeping in mind that technologies:

1. should be viewed and considered locally and seen as an exercise in literacy, beckoning questions like "What's the value of this literacy to these people at this time?"
2. should be viewed in terms of their usefulness and not in terms of their release dates - occasionally analog tools may be the most appropriate in a given moment
3. should not be used as a way of simply spicing up a curriculum; technology, instead, should be used to allow for new or better learning opportunities
5. should never serve as gate-keeping device to important information (i.e. equal access to materials) which prevents certain people from performing certain tasks

It's my hope that by staying true to these core beliefs that students will:

1. See the value of technology in enriching writing tasks
2. Learn to use different media to communicate messages
3. Become dexterous in their use of technology (i.e. see and understand the affordances and value of different technologies)
4. Feel comfortable with the technologies in use and find ways to use them as tools in their personal and professional lives

remix

Here's my teachnology remix which focuses on using technologies for their usefulness and affordances rather than their release dates or popularity. It's a satirical infomercial for the fictitious SmartBored6000 which hopes to take the "teacher out of teaching" and eliminate all the menial tasks of education. Hope you enjoy (disclaimer: I'm not a videographer).