Old lesson relearned

February 21st, 2006 | by Tim Wilson |

We had a whole-district staff development day today and I had the chance to introduce about 35 teachers to Web 2.0 and some applications like Del.icio.us, Flickr (with an accompanying lesson on Creative Commons), Technorati, Bloglines, and Wikipedia. I was pleased with the results, and the experience reminded me of a lesson that I learned when I started working in technology. Simply put, here are the stages of tech integration for teachers:

  1. Teachers learn to use technology for non-work purposes. (Grandchildren are a great motivation to learn about digital photography and video.)
  2. Teachers adapt technology for their professional practice.
  3. Teachers identify ways to use technology with their students and integrate it into their curriculum.

It’s pretty easy to skip stage #1 for many teachers, but it’s a rare person indeed who can cut to the chase and go right for #3. It’s useful to remember when making professional development plans.

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  1. One Response to “Old lesson relearned”

  2. By Sean Martinson on Feb 22, 2006 | Reply

    Congratulations on making the Education Podcast list on the main ITunes podcast page!

    :-)
    Sean M.

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