Why walk when you can drive?

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I'm in an online doctoral program with a cohort of educators from my district.  Strictly speaking, you could call it a blended program, as we take two classes online per semester, but each semester we meet face to face three times for all-day sessions.  Today was our first session, our first F2F, of this term.

In advance of today's meeting, we were asked by one of the professors to print out several powerpoints that had been posted to the website, and to bring those with us to the class. We were also given a number of handouts - printouts of the course syllabus, and of several newspaper articles about a school issue. We were assigned to groups for a major project, and several groups then worked to identify times they could get together, to meet, to work on the project.  One of the professors said that we've "moved past" the age of technology - now it's all about relationships.

Certainly, I don't think online work can, should, or will ever completely replace face to face interaction.  And some people deal better with hard-copy text in front of them than computer-based text.  And yes, relationships are more vital than ever.  But here are the thoughts racing through my brain as I sit here processing today's class session:

• Old habits, and traditional ways of thinking, change very, very slowly.  In the same way that I, too, have not always naturally or automatically turned to computer-based tools to meet my needs, neither did our class, in some cases going straight to that which we've known forever (handouts, printouts, etc.)
• It *is* about relationships - it *shouldn't* be about the technology... but the technology can and should help facilitate those relationships - that is, after all, "the whole point" of web 2.0/read-write technologies/the interactive web... whatever you want to call it. 

None of this is meant to be an insult to the program or professors - we're also going to be participating in online discussion forums, and working with Elluminate, and generating videos with iMovie/MovieMaker, so the technology is certainly there, and the professors are challenging us with it, and in those ways it's technology doing exactly what it ought to be doing:  serving as a tool to meet our learning and communication needs. 

Instead, my observations are meant as a comment on how hard it can be to get our minds around just how much these tools can change things for us.  Even if we are ones who use the tools, their full value may not be instinctively known to us. So the fact that we used a bunch of printed documents when we had access to them online is not my concern - it's a perfectly natural stage in the process of embedding these tools in our lives, I think.

What does concern me, however, is the impact some of this can have on people who aren't yet embedding the tools into their work.  When I hear someone say "it's not about the technology, it's about the relationships", what that means to me is that technology is of course not replacing relationships, but I also know that technology is powerful in helping to build relationships. 

But so many people still caught in the cycle of thinking of technology as an add-on, as somehow something separate, may not interpret it the same way - some of those people may say, "yeah, see, there's no reason to get into all this technology stuff, because relationships are what's important."  And it becomes one more validation of the idea of rejecting technology, as if somehow technology = depersonalization.  For some, it can become one more validation of the idea that it's okay for an educator to be technologically illiterate. 

Part of what makes 'this whole technology thing' hard is that, when you're first learning to use these tools, it is about the technology, because it has to be - but you don't want to get stuck in that mode. Nor should you think that you don't need to learn, just because you don't value technology as an end in itself... of course it's not an end in itself.

When you're learning to drive a car, it's about the car - the steering wheel, the brakes, the accelerator, the rear view mirrors. But once you learn how to drive at a certain level of proficiency, then it's no longer about the car - it's about getting from one place to another. When you get a new microwave, you have to learn which buttons to push to do what - but once you do, it's no longer about the microwave, it's about cooking your food.

Cars aren't the only way to get from one place to another; microwave ovens aren't the only way to cook food; technology isn't the only way to learn or to build relationships. But we don't just walk everywhere when cars are available to us, and we don't settle for cooking over open flames when we have microwaves. Don't we want to be able to use every tool at our disposal to learn, and to connect?

Comments

[diane]

Jeanette,

I'm an older learner, still happiest in a face to face relationship.

But increasingly, it's the acquaintances that I've made online who are the ones I hope to meet and greet in person.

As the only Librarian in my district, and one of only a handful of K-12 Librarians in our BOCES, I would have few opportunities for professional interaction in my region. I now have literally hundreds of members in my Personal Learning Network via Google Reader and Twitter.

My knowledge of technology is growing daily, mainly due to the efforts of my online mentors, coaches, and fellow teachers.

I can't imagine being cut off from this enriched environment.

If you professors aren't conveying this sense of connectedness and collegiality, they are doing their students and themselves a grave disservice.

diane

[Steve]

What university are you getting your doctorate through? It sounds interesting!

[TheGilch]

Ooooohh... great analogy with the microwave and the car! Also very insightful.

[Dana Huff]

Amen, amen, amen. First, let me say I love to see a principal blogging. Second, I have to say that you are dead-on about using technology as a tool. I become very frustrated with colleagues who see it as an unnecessary and totally optional add-on. One need only read The World is Flat to see which way the wind is blowing, and if we ignore technology, we are crippling our students. You are going in my blogroll!