Chinese for Challenge?

I may be "misremembering" (to twist a term ala our Decider-in-Chief) yet when I contemplate the technology-education revolution I can't help but think about the Chinese script character that means both challenge and opportunity. (Or perhaps I've blurred a slogan from a motivational poster.) Regardless-- I am struck by the daunting nature of the challenges and opportunities that face individual educators. I'm opting to focus on individual educators since the institution of education is hard to fathom and ala the Pentagon not the most adaptable of creatures.

I've spent a bit of time "window-blogging"-- which is far less expensive and time consuming than mall crawling. I'm impressed and enthused with the quality of the edu-blogs that I've sampled and excited to delve further into the on-line activities and student examples that ed-bloggers have posted. Blogging has far more potential for teaching and learning on the secondary level than I initially gave it credit in my previous post. I'm resolutely re-evaluating my perspectives on ed-tech. change as they have been so shaped by my own educational journey that prior to 2006 was sans any hint of technology innovation or incorporation. While I've considered myself to be a creative, innovator in the chalkboard classroom, I'm realizing that I must sample other educators strategies to better understand how a 'nology could be incorporated into my history classroom or how it could broaden my teaching repertoire at the same time broadening participation venues for my students. Much less permitting my students to access experiences and perspectives previously unknown and untapped in my chalkboard classroom.

The more I explore and sample the blogging classrooms the more my Baby Boomer Brain can open itself to
taking "teaching techno-risks" and create relevant, compelling, and meaningful learning opportunities for my students!

The Chinese Challenge in the ed-tech revolution comes in the form of the sheer scope of the material and potential. My middle school niece working on a school project will suddenly have a list of published sources found at the local library jump from a decent 12-15 to hundreds maybe thousands of possible sources available on-line. This is where the crucial element of tech. literacy appears as a required learning standard for 21st century learners. Students must be savvy consumers of information as well as being able to critically evaluate information available via the W3.

The other Chinese Challenge involves the finite and unchanging 24 hour day. While educational technology does save time for teachers and students it can also be the equivalent of the La Brea Tar Pits in that a simple search can lead to multiple tangential forks in the cyber-way. Perhaps one of the National Educational Technology Standards needs to include recommending some sort of cyber chip implanted in any search engine that alerts the searcher to the number of minutes, sites, and links visited in their search so that a student or educator working under time constraints can better monitor their effectiveness and efficiency... Then again there probably is such a thing and this tech-novice is simply unaware of such! :-)