C. Marcellus Griffin- Blogpost 6-Using New Technology

C. Marcellus Griffin- Blogpost 6-  Using New Technology

I created my very first hyperlink a few days ago, so I want to offer some advice to educators who are intimidated by the thought of infusing technology into their daily lives.  When getting ready to take on a new technological concept, there are a couple things that you will want to remember:

1.  Take Baby Steps

Consider the technological advances that you have made in your career thus far.  Once upon a time, using new technology meant broaching the world of "PowerPoints".  It was truly scary for most of us, but because most of us recognized that PowerPoints represented the wave of the future, we went to professional development trainings; we had the necessary conversations with our colleagues and supervisors; and eventually we got the job done.  In other words, we made baby steps until we could comfortably use technology in our daily lives.  This is the same attitude that we must keep with other forms of technology until it becomes second nature.

2.  Use the help of students and other savvy users.

Let's face it.  Our students/children are oftentimes more tech-savvy than are we.  However, we should not be embarrassed or shy away from this fact.  Instead, we would do well to embrace it and emulate the enthusiasm that our youth have for technology.  In short,  we need to use our youth as resources, because it simply is easier to teach with technology once we understand how to use.  And if we must solicit help from people half our age, so be it.

In sum, educators would do well to have a positive attitude about the influx of new technology into education, because it is never going away.  Moreover, if we have a healthy attitude toward new technology and take baby steps while incorporating it into our daily work, we might find that we have more resources than we had ever thought, such as that which we could get from our students.  Case in point, last week, I created my very first hyperlink by using my student resources.  As a result, today I feel much more confident that I can do it again without their assistance.

Until next week, keep your head together and be prepared to embraced all new challenges- even the technological ones!

C. Marcellus Griffin