Where Old Meets Now

I first must admit that at this point in early July I have done little to no actual reading provided by the CCK08 Course Blog. Yes I am lazy, but I am doing everything I can to enjoy my ever growing family. However I will admit that I have skimmed some of the articles and have a growing sense of the need of connectivism (below explains my opinions).

Many teachers feel overwhelmed by the pace of technology, and even when find time to explore a new or established piece of hardware/software, and learn how to effectively use it within their classroom its most likely obsolete. This never ending spiral of technology advancements (And no, Dennis Duffy The Pager King is wrong, technology is not circular) eventually causes many teachers to abandon all hope of staying on top of the technology pile yelling at the top of their lungs “I AM THE KING OF THE CASTLE, AND YOUR THE DIRTY RASCAL…”. Does this mean we should look down on those less technologically advanced NO, should we pity them NO, should we understand that they have their own unique skill set that we can use to better the educational environment for all YES.

With the advent of wiki’s teachers now have the capability of true collaboration. Yes I admit I still e-mail around a document for everyone’s approval, simply because wiki is a word our district has yet to learn, but we just bought a new dictionary this year. With the wiki, all members of a project can contribute their own unique skill set to the project. Many have come the the conclusion that educators are now facilitators of knowledge, they cannot possibly know everything our students need. So why do many still hold the belief that educators should know how everything should operate within their classroom.

I see an interesting shift in the development of the school environment. I hope the CCK08 course can provide myself more insight into what I think Connectivism and Collective Knowledge actually is. And if this blog post is nothing more than smoke and mirrors because of my previously mentioned lack of reading, I will hope to rectify the matter in a postflection blog.

Filed under: CCK08 and tagged CCKO8, Educators, Instructional Technology, University of Manitoba