Deja Vu or What Goes Around Comes Around
I have been thinking about this question of providing videos to help parents get into the use of technology for teaching and learning purposes. The more I think about it, the more I wonder where to even start. I think parents today are not much further ahead than the teachers I worked with a decade or more ago. The technology has advanced for sure, but essentially, I think most people still only use their phones for pictures and email and to search for information. They have no idea of the world that exists out there for the use of technology to create or display or probe or research. When I first started to work with teachers, I remember so well having to teach them the parts of the computer and how to navigate Windows 95. I found it incomprehensible that they needed that help and yet they were in a profession that was advocating for the use of the computer in the classroom. I suppose for most people, what happens is a mystery and before they can start to use the technology appropriately, they need to take away the mystery. I've had this conversation with a friend of mine who now that he is home has to work at getting into his computer at the office and I tried years ago to get him to buy the technology for a home office and set it up so that he could dial into his home office to access his files at work. He's no dummy either and yet he just didn't do it. So, there is a matter of inertia. I have to figure out how to get the beyond the inertia and into the learning mode themselves. There is also the question of being afraid to appear dumber than their kids. Most parents know that their kids can do just about anything with the computer but they are not happy about having to ask them. it needs to be suggested to them. It came naturally to me and I suppose that is another reason why I have to figure out an appropriate approach. Parents need to turn for help to their kids and yet they want to show that they know a lot too. Go figure!
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