Educator or Technologist?

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on April 28, 2008 at 7:43pm

@John: You have a point that some teachers are not going to be able to learn how to do these things... but I see a tie-in that illustrates what I am trying to communicate.

You are an EMT and likely, based on your age, have seen multiple methods for CPR. If you had an older EMT on your squad who refused to learn the newest, and best, method for CPR what would happen to them? What would happen to them if they wanted to learn, but just 'didn't get it'?

I am not saying that HTML or CSS are equivalent to CPR, because they are not...

To get back to the example... as an EMT do you have some basic knowledge on how the new portable defib units work? Do you as an EMT have more knowledge than an ordinary citizen? Do you as an EMT have more knowledge than the engineer who designed the device?

My guess is that you have more knowledge than the average citizen, but there is an overlap. I would think that the engineer has more knowledge than you, but there is an overlap.

My opinion is that HMTL and CSS is an overlap area that teachers should know if they want to use the web as a teaching / learning tool. I do not want them to know how the web server (IIS, Apache or other http server) works, but I do expect them to have more knowledge than the average user would have. They don't have to be an expert in CSS or HTML, but they should have some knowledge of it.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Whyte on April 28, 2008 at 8:13pm

Very similar discussion to my too far too fast thread awhile ago. I guess it depends on opinion, what is the role of an edtech. If there role is to develop lessons that can be used with the new tech, they need to know the new tech and how it can be easily and properly used in todays classroom. However they also need to know good design, plus proper integration of curriculum standards. An edtech's job is way more than tech.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on April 29, 2008 at 4:34am

I agree with the edtech roll being way more than tech. They need to know some 'code', some 'troubleshooting, some 'curriculum design' and some 'general pedagogy' IMHO. This will enable them to truly know if implementation is easy or not. It will allow them to know if product A is really a good one or not. It will allow them to 'connect' with teachers in a way that most technicians can not.

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Permalink Reply by John Peters on April 29, 2008 at 6:09pm

I do have to agree with your point of view with respect to teachers learning HTML & CSS. But where and more importantly when will they learn them?

I would love to be more proficient in these areas but how do I learn that. As I have previously stated I teach Health Science Technology, not Computer Technology. I would love to learn more but how would one accomplish this?

With respect your analogy about knowledge of the current state of CPR and bi-phasic defibrillators you are correct. I do understand the science and evidence based case studies which support their use, but I am of course, not as knowledgeable as the engineer who designed the darned thing.

I enjoyed reading your comments.

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Permalink Reply by Stu on April 29, 2008 at 4:39am

Being a former elementary teacher ( I guess "former" is relevant) I know the pain of being confused as a "Techie". My job is to help teachers use technology to better educate their students. Therefore, I am an educator. However, this doesn't mean that you don't need to know the background of how things work. I cannot write code, nor will most teachers need to know this. But the background knowledge of how code and other more technical things work is something I should know at least the basics about. This helps me troubleshoot if I'm working with teachers, not that I am a fixer, but you will soon find that technology in schools is less than perfect. At the end of the day, I still consider myself a teacher, but more than that, I am an advocate for teachers and technology use in our district. It may seem your class isn't pertinent, but you never know when that info might help you as a Educator/Technologist.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Whyte on April 29, 2008 at 5:09am

I agree with your statement however I think the problem is people's definition of the term mentioned in the original post. I still stand by that a person considered to be an educational technologist needs their hands in all the pots. However a technology coach would be some one who helps teachers with the basics, accessing their e-mail, setting up google reader and such.

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Permalink Reply by Brian on April 29, 2008 at 5:14am

Stu--well put. We're required to know some techie stuff, so while we're in the trenches and something breaks, we can start troubleshooting until our heroes (translation: engineers) arrive on the scene. However, the mantra is that instruction will always come first because that is why we're here in the first place. I remember one lesson we were having grinded to a halt because something didn't work right. I was able to troubleshoot and get the lesson back on gear. The engineer was out of the building and wouldn't have been able to help us.

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Permalink Reply by Goodreau on April 29, 2008 at 8:38am

Hi Cory,

I think one of the biggest issues that tends to happen more in education with regards to naming positions is that there is little standardization of what job titles imply. Part of that is due to necessity and part of that is the way technology has been adopted into the school environment. In the corporate world, the name "database administrator" means a certain skillset and job responsibility. Same goes for "network administrator", "CIO", etc. There is standardization in naming.

In education, it's quite a bit different. As schools have adopted technology, the talent pool available is quite varied and schools (many who had little knowledge of what they were looking for) had to come up with a title that best tried to describe what they thought they wanted. Rather than specialize on one particular area, most people in EdTech have to know about a lot of different things. In my experience, only in very large districts does one have the specailized role like "database administrator". In EdTech, we wear many different hats. In fact, at a recent conference I attended, it was really funny to read all the various job titles on the nametags of people present...and as you talked to them, the job title reflected only a portion of what they did on a daily basis.

My official title is "Director of Technology"....pretty heavy sounding, isn't it? What do I do? I make sure the computers work, the network and servers function, I teach classes to students, I work with teachers on integrating tech into their classroom, I provide a vision for technology for the school.....I'm also the head ice hockey coach and conduct the orchestra for the school musicals. I don't think that's entirely uncommon for most of us. We do what needs to be done with what we are passionate about. I choose to work in education with my skillset, even though it doesn't pay as well as corporate, because I like the variety of what I do.

In the end, I'd say try to enoy the skills that you are learning in the class. If nothing else, they will provide you with a certain amount of problem solving skills and a mental hueristic database to do other things. As we all here know, what you're probably learning in your class right now, will change tenfold by the time you're done. Look at your program as a whole...do you feel that all the classes collectively are preparing you for the challenges you will face in the school? If your real passion is "educator" then after you are done, you will probably naturally drift to those jobs. If you like the "technologist" side..you will probably drift to those activities. If you choose education, you will probably do a little bit of both no matter where you go.

I guess I've said enough (too much?). I'll shut up now :)

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Permalink Reply by Cory Plough on April 29, 2008 at 9:57am

Im a teacher at an online school and very active in helping teachers with their computer problems as well as modeling the use of emerging technologies. I joined the Master's Program in case I wanted to go into a job that helped educators use the effective and engaging tools that are now available for teachers and students. My main goal is to help kids. As an edtech specialist the route to do that would be through educating the teachers on whats available. Of course I would need to know html and css for my own use, for troubleshooting, and for answering basic problems that teachers might have about that, but as a tool for educating students I can't really see the upside. At least not the upside of spending 15 weeks learning those languages. Maybe half the course learning those and half the course learning emerging technologies? I've been helping teachers with edtech problems for 4 years, the only html question they have ever asked me is about embedding Youtube into their online courses.

While I agree with you that standardized naming would help this conversation, its not completely essential. There are tech people at my school who are like IT guys in the corporate world, then there are the tech people who help teachers with developing curriculum and course design. I would certainly not be interested in job that entails the IT side of things because that doesn't help teachers become better educators for their students. It does help keep the school running which is important, but not my interest. Thanks for differentiating.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on April 29, 2008 at 3:00pm

"I would certainly not be interested in job that entails the IT side of things because that doesn't help teachers become better educators for their students."

That would depend on what you are teaching. If you were teaching a Java programming class, as many schools offer, you would be a poor teacher if you did not know how to program Java.

What I have been trying to communicate is that certain skills are 'cross-over' skills; in other words they 'leak' in to an area that they would not traditionally be considered part of.

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Permalink Reply by Cory Plough on April 29, 2008 at 7:44pm

You have made really good points throughout this discussion and I apologize for not addressing them sooner. I think there are some distinctions to clarify. When we are talking about teaching a class, of course you have to know the content. However, I'm talking about teaching educators. Would an edtech specialist ever go into a school and teach the average secondary ed teacher how to use Java? Or work on servers? Or set up networks? I think that is a different job all together and doesn't usually involve teaching.

I think that one of the fundamental points I have been thinking about might not have come out clearly. The system has to change and that change has to focus on making classes more relevant to students. One of the best ways to do that is to move the classrooms into this century. Fill them with tools that students find interesting and applicable to their lives. In order to do that, the teachers have to get training in those tools. That is going to come from the edtech people who train the teachers or the pre-service teacher training programs in college. Until universities start moving away from old practices and begin updating their courses to fit what the world is using, the teachers won't systematically get to benefit from these applications. If the teachers aren't trained properly then they won't be able to share these tools with their students.

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Permalink Reply by indigo196 on April 29, 2008 at 8:03pm

"Would an edtech specialist ever go into a school and teach the average secondary ed teacher how to use Java?"

ans: Maybe, but doubtful. Though I would expect the edtech specialist to know at least the basics of how it works and what using a java program would require.

"Or work on servers? Or set up networks? I think that is a different job all together and doesn't usually involve teaching."

No again... but I do expect that teachers should know about file rights, SMB, AFP and other parts of file servers that they will need to know to use those resources. I also expect them to tell if they have a network connection issue or if just the internet is down.

Again, it is the cross sections that I see as an issue.

It is like people who drive cars needing to know about gears, brakes, gas, wiper blades. They do not need to know as much as the engineer or mechanic, but they need to know some of the basiscs.

I understand that in your case they might be going a little deep.

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