How should teachers use technology?

Bit of a trick question, actually. The proper answer is “however it works best for them”.

I’ve talked about how I see education in two interrelated spheres; administrative and pedagogical.  I don’t think there should be any question about using technology for the administrative tasks for your school. However, for pedagogical uses of technology, I believe a great deal of thought is required.

However, as I think about my three year goals for technology integration for my school, I think the question deserves a slightly more detailed answer.

Teachers should:

use technology to be organized. They should save lesson plans, websites, images, movies, and digital resources.
keep electronic records - so their schools can analyze data and make data-driven decisions.
use learning management systems.
use technology to communicate with parents, students, and other teachers - via blogs, wiki’s, email, video conferences, etc…
research and reach out so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel
save and display their student’s work.

use technology to teach - but only when it makes sense.
use presentation devices (smartboard, and projectors) when they think it will make their content clearer
ask students to create high-quality, academically rigorous multi-media presentations, and then share them
use multimedia - but only when it really strengthens their lesson

Finally, teachers should remember the sage advice that I heard from Edward Tufte. Teachers shouldn’t use a piece of technology just because it is there. They should use a piece of technology because it meaningfully deepens their lessons.

On 14 August 2009, Shelley inscribed the following thoughts about this post:

BILL!

I loved this. So pleased that I didn’t hit “mark all as read” in my RSS reader when I came back from vacation… this really hits my sweet spot and gets me excited about possibilities for the coming year. Thank you for thinking out loud here.

And I think baby teeth come in on a genetically pre-determined schedule… if your kid is your bio kid, check w/ your mom and your sweetie’s mom to see if either of you had early-sprouting chompers. Best of luck…