The Not So Great Room

Posted: October 26th, 2012 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »

Story from my colleague Ray. Ray is talking to teachers and leaders in blended learning schools…

One person used to teach at a “high-tech” charter school. It had a “great room.” That is, the room featured a bunch of different areas: a mini computer lab, tables for kid-created projects, cubbies. Kids were supposed to go here and work on their projects “independently.”

Eventually teachers gave it a new nickname: the “not so great room.”

Not all teachers who are skeptical of ed-tech are technophobic, or somehow reflexively “anti-change.” Some are, sure.

Others have just seen it before.

Those teachers are not looking for soothing, focus-group-tested rhetoric from ed-tech vendors.

They are looking for examples (that they trust) of how tech helped teachers “like them” with students “like theirs.”

Tomorrow he will join 150 teachers attending an event at Emmanuel College. It’s a workshop led by Khan Academy staff. The event is free for teachers, sponsored by our friends at Lynch Foundation. I’m curious what Ray will hear from the teachers in the audience.