Curriculum

Ed Tech – Like the Weather, It Changes Constantly

/ Dave Eberwein / 2 Comments

With so many changes happening in educational technology, it’s particularly easy to get lost in all of the hype and hyperbole.  New technology in education really isn’t the goal — instead, technology should be the tool or innovation we might use to more fully achieve the learning potential of our students — increasing their engagement and personal empowerment.

Odd-Technology

Cool But Kind of Useless

Let’s be clear — some technology is just plain useless.  We need to be ever vigilant to not head down the rabbit hole of “shiny and new is always better”.  The tech needs to make sense.  It needs to make learning better, not just flashier.

I’m not an expert on ‘everything tech’ — probably never will be.  But, you don’t have to be an expert in technology to ask some of the important questions:

What does this technology ENABLE that wasn’t possible without it?

Does it truly INNOVATE the learning or just replace something that is ‘less-techy’?

Can it provide greater ACCESS for some students that wasn’t possible before the tech?

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Intelligent People Go to Bed Late

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

Oh, Oh — That Doesn’t Play Out Well For Me

The “science article” I just finished reading was making this claim about intelligence as part of its attention grabbing title.  So, I suppose that now means I have a new personal goal for 2018.   My new focus for professional growth is to stay awake for 2-3 more hours every night.  I’m thinking this simple change in my bedtime should boost my IQ score by at least 20-30 points. Continue reading →

Looking Ahead to 2018 – The Importance of Empathy

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

I’m a dreamer of sorts.  I believe that every day we have the potential to live in an increasingly sympathetic world — a world where we not just tolerate our differences, but a world where we accept and celebrate each other.   Some days I see progress, and other days I watch the news on TV.

I remember very few things from my teacher training in the mid-80s.   One thing I actually DO remember spending a TON of time learning and implementing was a teaching model of Science education.  The model outlined various actions to be accomplished — the ‘boxes’ that we were required to fill-in were called ‘teacher actions’ and ‘student actions’.  It was elegantly simple, but also particularly time consuming to write out for every lesson.  At the time, it seemed to make some good sense as it laid out the lesson really well — and for a newly minted teacher, I was grateful for the structure it provided me and my lesson planning.

empathy 5However, even back then I felt like it was missing the point in a big way —  it never considered the students as people with different traits, needs, emotions and perceptions.  It was completely missing the importance of empathy.

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