I was cleaning out my father-in-law’s house the other day and noted
that he had at least 3 book shelves full of manuals – how to do, how to fix,
etc. He also had quite a collection of
“____________ for Dummies” books (DOS
for dummies, Windows for Dummies, Lotus 123 for Dummies). He is no dummy. I marveled at all of the stuff that he wanted
to learn (and at how much stuff we had to dispose of). There was even a two inch thick, three ring
binder that was just a manual for Eudora email!
Can you imagine? Hard to believe
that: 1. It was needed and 2. It existed! He recently downloaded and printed the manual
for his Samsung Galaxy Tablet. At 85
years old, this is just the way he is comfortable learning.
Where’s the Manual?
Perhaps that is one of the problems with teacher’s being
comfortable with using new technology with students. There is a disconnect in the way that the
generations have to learn it (or want to learn it). In education there is a wide spectrum of
generations of educators on any given staff.
One thing is for sure; most of our students are not looking for the
manuals! In fact, there are very few
manual readers left anymore (my husband is one- he once brought me a car manual
to read while I was in the hospital, but I digress) and since they are on DVD’s
or online, you still have to know tech to get to them!
The Power of Video
Twenty years ago, I facilitated a revolutionary modular learning
system called Synergistics from PITSCO. Since each pair of students had
different curriculum and activities, they had video tapes that showed them “how
to” do the activities of the day. I saw
then the power of video for learning. It
allowed for individualized instruction, students could work at their own pace
and they caught on quickly. I used to
make “how to sheets” complete with screen shots for my students and fellow
teachers. Youtube has virtually made
them unnecessary. The most recent group
of students I worked with, wanted the “how to” for completing the project, but
definitely did not need or want the “how to” for learning the technology. They just chose it from a list of links of
cool tools and took it from there!
The Continuum of
Learning
I think the generation we are teaching now is perfectly
comfortable learning by doing, and are certainly adept at finding a video that
will teach them if they need it. I often
forget that I have the answers at my finger tips (which my own children are
quick to point out when I call for help, duh!). The next group will have had iPads in their
hands since they were very young. Their
technology may be built right into their glasses. There is a great continuum of learning styles
and comfort levels in teaching staffs that should be addressed in professional
development. We strive to individualize
learning for our students – do we need to individualize learning for our
staff? How would that look?
