I may not be a software engineer, but I most certainly can tell one what I would like to happen in my classroom, for my students. Teachers are by nature, dreamers and creators. Free thinkers and problem solvers. If we're going to "Be The Change," we need someone to ask what that change might be and help us with it.
Last year, I participated in Digital Promise's Pilot to Purchase Program at the Ed-Tech Industry Network Summit in San Francisco. This was an open conversation between School Districts, Administration, Teachers, and Ed-Tech companies. Our focus was on how to improve piloting technology in our classrooms. By gathering all of the stakeholders in a space to discuss what is working and what is not was wonderful. We need more conversations like this-up front.
asking them for ideas? Why isn't there a hub of savvy app builders willing to listen to a teacher pitch their idea and make it happen? A couple years ago, May 2014 in fact, I sent a message to a techy friend of mine asking if he could help me face my LCD projector downward 90 degrees and set up my interactive whiteboard on the floor so my squirmy little kiddos could actually get down and dirty. He told me this was not possible. I moved on. Now, I see videos about interactive fitness gyms and wonder why couldn't this have been done in my classroom? Maybe I didn't know the right people.
Organizations like 4.0 Schools appear to be moving in the right direction, offering a space and collaboration around an idea or concept. We need more. We can't wait for policy to catch up with the modern demands of education. I have another idea. As do other educators. Where do we go to bring them into reality? Open collaboration between Educators and IT. It shouldn't be this difficult.
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