In Ómarsson’s blog he is a proponent of free access to technology devices, powerful wifi connections, universal classrooms, healthy lifestyles incorporated into the school day, and he would like teachers and librarians to understand and embrace the technology movement. In a utopian society this approach would be successful, but today our schools are dealing with so many issues of personal safety, homelessness, budgets, hunger. Technology is the elephant in the room. As the need for bigger, better, faster technology the decision makers are overwhemled. Watching the Did You Know video clip it was important to realize the education board of Iowa is not going to have the think tank of technology decision makers to take them from 40th in the nation to the top 10.
Is there an answer? Maybe the designers of technology need to look at the impact they are creating and develop a smart way to implement technology in our schools. Instead of every school system developing their own technology environment, maybe it is time for collaboration of our edtech teachers where they build a universal requirement for educational technology (hardware, networks, devices) and then look at specialized requirements that meet school districts special needs. Instead of thousands of tech directors hidden in closets, as mentioned in Ómarsson’s blog, maybe it is time for a revolution of Edtech leaders to drive the requirements instead of the device company’s enticing and teasing the school boards and teachers with “latest, greatest, biggest, best” . Both McLeod and Ómarsson are right something needs to be done, but maybe a different approach in how we build our requirements is a better approach.
Ómarsson, I. (2014, February 26). 14 things that are obsolete in 21st century schools. Retrieved August 24, 2014, from http://ingvihrannar.com/14-things-that-are-obsolete-in-21st-century-schools/
McLeod, Scott. (2011, Aug. 4). Iowa: Did You Know? Retreived 28 August 2014 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1JyLYphevc