The final session at this year’s TNT Conference is a keynote by Craig Nansen, Technology Coordinator for Minot Public Schools. Here’s my best attempt to capture his talk. Craig has published much of the materials from his talk today at his homepage.
Learn technology on your own time by personalizing it and by having fun, taking risks (don’t be afraid to be embarrassed), and learning from kids. Too many teachers feel like they have to wait until they understand the technology completely before they use it with their students. Give up! Embrace the opportunity to empower students to be teachers. Be willing to laugh at yourself.
Craig’s talking about digital natives and how they think differently. He told a story about his son who got home from hockey practice and called his buddy’s pager. His friend was out riding his snowmobile, got the page, and called him back on his cellphone. Craig’s son took off on his snowmobile and met him out in the country. What an amazing change from just a few years ago.
“Just in time” training is more important than ever. Teach just enough so the teachers can get the job done. They are most engaged in learning when they see the immediate use. You can engage with those teachers later and teach more as they see more and more uses. (We’re hoping to use some more online learning resources for this in Hopkins.)
There was a ton of other information, but there’s no way I can type fast enough to capture it all. Craig’s talk was a wild ride through some of the best materials he’s collected over many years of leading the technology charge in Minot.