This wave is clearly still cresting, bud. I’m going to add a little more wind to its back by replying to Kim to say:

Another thing all tech people who are not driving these projects in a content-area classroom have to remember (and I’m not saying you don’t, Kim) is that they’re not in those other teachers’ shoes. As a classroom teacher who does drive his own geeky projects, I know how overwhelming it can get – and I have the skills to survive and troubleshoot and tolerate frustrations and “Crosbian Messiness.” To expect others to be able to handle the strain of things too ambitious, or too time-consuming relative to the rest of the teaching load on the teacher’s plate, is dangerous.

It’s much easier dreamed than done. That’s why I think George Mayo is onto something important with his Many Voices project. It’s low maintenance, fast, but still potentially high yield.

Happy surfing, dude.

I know all too well that feeling of frustration that your tech coordinator experiences. One issue that I’m really struggling with this year (eventually a post will come) is not having any of my own classes to model how these projects can work.

Leaving all the “real” work up to a classroom teacher that may not have my experience or passion for the type of learning I recommend means that there is really no one to truly model the potential of collaboration.

I’m stuck recommending, suggesting, “inspiring”, sharing, meeting – but never in control, never able to really demonstrate how this can work. So in the end you have a bunch of project ideas floating around, no one committed, no clear example of what it could look like, and no classroom teacher to take the lead.

After reading your post and Silvia’s, I’m looking for small steps, making connections with teachers here that are ready to understand and embrace these changes (not as add-ons, but as new ways to do new things), and those that are ready to make the commitment to change. Even if it’s only one teacher. That’s my resolution for this year (another post in the works).

Kim

In that case, this is the longest string of comments for any blog post I’ve ever written and I’m madly thrashing around in the shallow foam trying to eke the last part of the ride now. I’m usually a small wave rider – unlike other edubloggers like the Big Kahuna (aka Clay) where 60+ comments is possible on a throwaway blog post!

Thanks to all who’ve offered other breaks where we can enjoy the ride as others carve up this particular topic. I cannot emphasise enough how much you all should go to ken’s original post that triggered my “parable.” We do need a balance between the good news that collaborative projects can enable and the very real hassles and barriers that can thwart that success.

I’m not sure that technology coordinators need to be better salespeople – after all, successful sales in the real world are usually backed by a marketing campaign (and budget to match). In some ways, I’d prefer to think that some frustrations arise just out of some teachers being risk averse in all situations, not necessarily technology related. Technology just happens to be an obvious example. Cheers, everyone.

Kelly

He’s a cool, relaxed, open guy, so he jumped in. Then, because the Twitter homepage is uninviting without a link to a blog (I rarely follow people with no link to a blog), he understood the benefit of having a blog, and took his cool non-chalant “okay I’ll jump in” attitude to signing up on edublogs and writing a “toes in” first post.

He embedded the link in his Twitter page, and was good to go.

Then I did a shout out to my Twitterverse to welcome him in, and he got nice vibes from Jeff Utecht and others. So he’s in – and he’s blogging (tentatively) as a side-effect.

That’s my upbeat anecdotal evidence that you’re on to something, kwhobbes (is it Kevin?).

Happy New Year, all.

As always a great post. I wrote a similar parable idea a while back – you’ve generated much more feedback! Like all parables, there is truth all can find in the story. As we approach another year, many are wondering what will happen this year? Will this be the year where we finally see growth? Or, like your tech person, will we continue to struggle with implementation and lack of understanding by many? I like the “horse to water” analogy but in this case, I’m not sure the horse even realizes that it has been led to the water. On the flip-side, I’ve seen a growth in teachers using networking to build relationships and, maybe, that is something of a key that we need to develop. Once people develop relationships with others, they may be more willing to try particular ideas or put in the effort to stick with a project. Of all that has been going on in the past few years, the one thing that you cannot hasten is the building of relationships. Maybe the tools will only be as good as the relationships we have and create.
Happy New Year!