C4T #1 Blog Post

Comments for Teachers:
By: Heather Smith

Liz Davis' Blog "The Power of Educational Technology" is very informative and inspiring!

I read her post titled: "Resistance is Futile... Managing Resistance to Change", written on August 1st, 2013. Basically, she writes about change being hard, fearful, and uncomfortable. She helps faculty and students at Belmont Hill School, of Boston, Maryland, to work through the discomfort of change and view the benefits. She writes three ways to implement success to the notion of change:

1. Celebrate small victories and know that theory doesn't always work in practice,
2. Empathize with difficulties and help to find ways to balance both sides, and
3. Understand not all change is effective, question change thoughtfully.

She believes that, ultimately, good pedagogy is at the core of change and educators will accept it over time if there is enough support for new ideas.


A summary of my comments on this post:
I told my name, school, course, links to all, etc. I then began by thanking her for her informative post. I continued that I have given myself a bit of a self-diagnosis of being unable to easily accept change. I just do not like it, even if I know deep down that it is for the best- I would rather be miserable in a situation rather than having to face a new one. Her ideas have really inspired me to face my demons (so to speak). I find that there have been a few times I have been against or undecided of a change but did not verbalize my thoughts/feelings due to not knowing how to. I like how she worded "I encourage faculty and students to question change as long as they do so thoughtfully." This is an important point that I do not think some people realize: It is alright to question something as long as you are respectful and actually think and try to understand something before being irrational. I ended by asking her a question: advice to respectfully debate change, answered her closing question, and added a thoughtful quote:

"I accept chaos. I am not sure whether it accepts me."

-Bob Dylan

Liz Davis' Blog Post "BYOD vs BYO iPad" was written on May 11, 2013. She began the iPad pilot expecting to eventually become an iPad school. During her experience, she has shifted her opinion considerably. She lists three reasons she thought an iPad would be the best device for her school, and how her thoughts soon changed:


1. All have common apps the students could use for projects:
-This was her biggest shift in thinking because she THOUGHT iPad was getting ahead, learning should come first, projects are defined by the tool.
-Now she thinks projects should be defined by the goals and students should find the best tool for that. This also frees those technologically uncomfortable faculty from having to know all the tools. Because each device has different options, students choices will be more varied, and perhaps even more interesting and creative.

2. The iPad has a low profile, making it less of a barrier to class discussions around a table.
-She states that almost 75% of her students purchased a keyboard for their iPad, therefore they still get in the way.

3.The iPad touchscreen and size allows for reading and annotating books/articles.
-According to Mrs. Davis, the iPad is better for reading and annotating but really, two devices are needed: the iPad and an e-reader.
-She realizes now, though, that some students prefer to read the "old-fashioned way"- using a pen and a highlighter.


A summary of my comments on this post:
I told her I enjoyed reading her post. I then wrote: "I have a Samsung tablet, and absolutely love it, but it has a few quirks that I just don't care for at all! I really believe that students should be given the option of which tablet to use. If you force a student to do everything your way, their creativity and individuality goes out the window. I love the idea of BYOD, though. My daughter's school was the elementary school chosen in our county for the pilot program. This is the second year and they are still working MANY kinks out, but I (personally) believe this is a great resource and tool for educators to get students more involved and use technology and things they enjoy (computers, apps, pretty much anything to do with technology) to better their education and knowledge. Hopefully your program will work all the issues out and the faculty will be able to find that happy medium!"