One of the greatest impediments to integration is the concept that anything with computers is “hard to do” and “requires training”. Perhaps it is the long line of heavily laden store shelves, burdened with phone-books size manuals that scare many teachers. It could be that they are so dazzled by the endless stream of new gadgets and tools, they are convinced that each advance must be more complicated than the last. Because so many believe that they can’t start with anything until they receive some sort of official training, they put it off till next year, waiting for their district to provide professional development that almost always never appears.
Given that every semester that passes without integration represents two steps backward because the information and communication tools of the working world are continually developed and education stands still. And given that the Friedmans of our flat world have provided us with enough evidence that this issue will determine the future of our country’s success, we must remove each and every impediment to tech integration.
I humbly suggest this first one, language.
We need to replace the phrase “tech savvy” – with “tech literacy” or rather just plain “literacy”.
Having a library of websites accessible through an online bookmark account, creating and reading an “rss feed” newspaper of one’s own creation and communicating through online forums and blogs are not things that require a special savviness, they are basic skills. A tech-savvy person sounds like some sort of special egg-head. A pocket-protector type with skin that shows little hint of being out in the daylight. You can’t hope to be savvy until after you have attended your first couple Star Trek conventions. “Tech savvy” sounds special, and the skills we are talking about are not special, they are the skills that everyone should have.
Here’s a scary thought. How many schools in the United States brag of their “tech savvy” teacher because just becuase she uses PowerPoint?