Real world, digital world, same world.

Comic by xkcd

Whether you're reading the public comments on a reputable news site, blog, or beneath your favourite videos on youtube, scroll too far into that section and you're likely to start asking yourself the question "Who wrote this junk?!"

The question I am asking is can we, as educators and members of an international community, start replacing junk with quality discourse, respectful decorum, and perhaps a more balanced use of CaPsLoCk?

Not overnight. But our chance to improve the web for everyone starts with educating children how to responsibly use it from the beginning.

As most students eagerly leap into the world of email, blogging, creating and sharing online, their lives are becoming even more integrated with technology tools. They may be more excited to try new things than their parents and teachers, and although that's not necessarily a bad thing it does burden us with the responsibility of keeping up. We may love to throw around terms like "real world" and "digital" or "online world" to differentiate between the types of activities we are doing on computers and those with our physical selves, but the difference between them is less obvious with each new collaborative tool we adopt. The decisions we make and the actions we take are not limited to a single environment, and that is a lesson for all to take very seriously.

Teaching young people to be principled, responsible users of technology is no different and no less important than teaching them to be principled, responsible human beings. It may be more difficult if you lack technical expertise, but I want to help you develop and understand the implications of the use of technology while we can make a difference. We can make the internet a better place. We want to make the world a better place. These students can do both.

Click here for a brief overview on digital citizenship initiatives at ISPP, and feel free to contact me for sessions on this important topic or help integrating these principles into classroom and homework activities.

"NEW", The Terrifying Technology Term

Why hello there!
Fancy that, you dropping by to read about how scary new technology can be.

Here at ISPP we've been adopting all kinds of amazing tech at light-speed. In the past year we've unleashed an army of google apps marching into our classrooms, an airforce from apple and a navy of websites keeping us afloat. Our joint task force of teachers are deploying enough blogs to create our own internet! And while I think that this is just fantastic, to some people this can be absolutely terrifying.

Now where did that file go. I hit enter and now I'm renaming, not opening! The printer doesn't print, no wait, now it's printing four thousand copies of the same butterfly! I THINK I DELETED MY MEMORY. AHHHHH......hhh...hhh.....

Take a deep breath. Count to five. Let it out.

Computers are not smart. They are plastic and metal and silicon and electricity that have been designed and built by humans. They can make our jobs easier, but they are only as clever and fast as we are capable in their conduction. As people's expectations of productivity rise and the skills of the brilliant young minds in our classrooms develop, it can get very frustrating when things don't work (quickly) and very intimidating to try new things in case of undesired or...gulp... even indeterminable results. And for those of us who are teachers, you know we're always on a tight schedule.

You are not alone. We understand. There is no mistake with new technology that is embarrassing to ask for help with; half of these things have only been invented since you ate breakfast, figuratively speaking of course.

I always tell my colleagues that patience is the ultimate technology skill. Another important one is to face your fears. With the advent of things like cloud storage, backups and detailed revision histories,  there is very little we can't recover from. Take chances. Be open minded, be risk takers, and try it out. You might just surprise yourself with what you can learn by experimentation. And when you get stuck, I'm here to have your back. So are your colleagues. So are our students.

What can we learn this week?
-M

Welcome to ISPP Elementary Tech!

Why hello there!

Welcome to Tech O'Clock, the ISPP Elementary Technology Coach blog and the home of yours truly, Mr. Matt.

Hiya!

I'll be using this space to discuss some of the technology initiatives taking place here at ISPP Elementary, and to highlight interesting articles and resources that may be useful for parents and teachers integrating technology into children's learning experiences. Awesome! Right? .....riiiiight??

Yup, I thought so too. See you again soon!

-M