The next reading I had to look at was a slide show by Tolisano (2014) and a blog post that was connected to it. In this she discusses four key ideas about the connected educator:
- Local Isolation
- Gaining Perspective
- Data Crowdsource Resources
- Model for Students
From this, I need to address a couple of questions. They are:
- How essential are the 4 ideas around being a connected educator and how do they relate to being a globally connected educator?
- How would you present this to your colleagues/staff in your school/institution?
- What reaction would you get from them? Why?
- Is there anything you could add?
From my understanding of Tolistano’s reading, the four ideas she explores relate to becoming a globally connected educator in several ways: the nature of teaching is that we are often isolated in our classrooms. This feeling can act as a catalyst to either seek out connection or not. I think for young, tech-savvy staff, reaching out online for resources at least is second nature. Collaborating through those tools may not be as common. For older staff I think this would be challenging. It would be important to try to pitch this idea as not being extra work. I’m not sure how much buy in they would have initially. I have often found though, that if you chip away and particularly if you model successful strategies and guide them through how to do it they may be able to emulate it in their classroom. There are so many demands on teachers that they need to feel like this is worthwhile. When the pressure is on to achieve results sometimes these kinds of tasks get left by the wayside for more traditional methods that will ensure they learn the content for the exam. At the same time, I think we’re losing sight of the skill set students need and as such becoming a globally connected educator and modelling some of these strategies in the classroom would be helpful to preparing them for the real world.
Hi Karla,
While I agree with much of what you say, I think there are more meaningful ways of gauging whether a new tool or method will stick than age. I’ve found that some people naturally love technology and are open to investigating further, yet others know it is now a fact of life, so only use what they have to: get in and out quickly! I agree that teachers need to feel like incorporating a new tool or method is worth their time. Taking the time to explicitly show how it is of benefit definitely increases uptake and positivity, and is a key tenet of adult education. Thanks for your comments,
Karen.