ProfessorTOSA Blog

It seems that many think I have a passion for technology, and in a manner I suppose this is true. I do like to use my computer, however, my interest began and continues to find it’s impetus from how efficient and creative it allows my instruction and life to be. I do like my laptop and my “wired-world”, but I would likely NOT use compluters or technology if it didn’t add bliss to my life or make my instruction more useful to my students. In short, I have a talent in tech because it behooves me to practice and improve so that I can go home to my family and my hobbies.

Having said this, I find that it is important for me to remind myself of my circumstances and the terms of my tech “passion” – to create ease in my life. I use my cell, my DVR, iCal, email, and internet and I demand that the world sync with my needs. I require convenience in order to best block my daylight and most adequately schedule my waking moments. And so I feel that requiring my students to live under different rules or without ample consideration for my expectations of the world – of my technological niceities – is naive and likely outdated. A flat world is a good analogy for my thoughts on tech in education. I believe that we can flatten our instructional walls and empower or children to approach learning through the avenues we paroose and through the experts of our world, not only our textbooks and teachers. Video conferencing, internet research, online literary discussion, blogging, these are tools that powerfully enable students to learn and demonstrate their learning in our techsavvy world. By utilizing technology and imagining what might be possible, we teach our kids to be creative and forward thinking and we step outside of our class and broaden our own professional limits.