Beyond Educational Technology: Learning Innovations in a Connected World on Vimeo on Vimeo

via Beyond Educational Technology: Learning Innovations in a Connected World on Vimeo.

Interesting.  I spent nearly 20 years involved in the development and deployment of educational technology in the academic arena – from university graduate courses on interactive videodisc to working with 3rd and 4th graders in under-served schools to create multimedia presentations on the planets of our solar system (including Pluto, at the time…).  This also included looking at all kinds of technologies to address the unique needs of people with disabilities.  However, now – years later, in the age of the iEverything and ubiquitous wi-fi; when technology and connectivity are assumed to be part of every day life – from the classroom to the boardroom to the cubicle – we still have educators who want to devote conferences to generating public-private partnerships between schools and the tech industry to figure out how to best use tech to teach?

The corporate sector is doing its best to keep up with tech; but they are much more facile in their deployment, since their profitability and livelihood actually depends on getting the best tech into the hands of those who are equipped to use it.  While that’s often younger folk (Gen Y), it’s also those of us who can order off the senior menu at Denny’s.

So, I say, stop dancing to the same old tunes with the same engineer and instructor partners, and start breaking to the beat of the Blackberry pounding, iPhone and iPad toting, texting and Tweeting generation who are absolutely motivated to live, learn, and sometimes even love using tech.  You might even learn a thing or two…