by Terry Heick
Digital and social media have replaced the education landscape. This is not a case of mere impact or transformation: everything is different now. Everything: the tools, the audiences, the access to content, the data, the opportunity.
And this is a displacement and replacement that will only accelerate as the reconceptualization of the craft of teaching increases in light of emerging technologies and global distinctions. This does not mean that all classrooms, schools, and districts are suddenly forward-thinking, but rather that education – and most importantly, its students – have already changed, forever altering the tone and context of that education.
Over time, education systems will catch up to this change: they will realize that the world has already changed and that no matter how iconic ‘School’ is, nothing awaits change. It’s like an old episode of Looney Tunes, where Wile E. Coyote runs off the cliff and keeps running until he looks down and realizes that he’s running in the air and the ground is no longer under his feet. Full of enthusiasm, he is lighter than air; his understanding makes him fall.
Teachers as drivers of change
One of the main drivers of the new educational context is technology and the human element behind the technology that is behind the new context? Teachers.
When teachers connect, many things happen, subtle and overt. New pressures. New enthusiasm. New workflows. New challenges. In physics, one thing affects the other. when one stuff connects with another stuff, something happens. In chemistry, this can be even more spectacular. Baking soda and vinegar. Effervescence.
When people go online, there are effects too, and while they aren’t always positive, they make the alternative (not going online) seem like a ridiculous possibility.
What happens when teachers connect?
They consider new ideas.
What is that teacher doing? What are they using? Why do you believe this? Why do they use that? What can I learn from there? What can they learn from me? What do we have in common?
They have to understand.
When one teacher meets another, your brain can’t help but make sense of this person and their approach, their tools, and their way of thinking. Comparing and finding common ground and learning new things is almost automatic. These artifacts may or may not become part of your own teaching, but observation and analysis are inevitable conclusions.
Plus, connecting with other teachers also keeps you honest. You may be able to fool some teachers by telling them that their students are practicing digital citizenship, self-directing their own learning, or doing amazing projects in the community. But you can’t fool them. A connected teacher has to understand, has to follow the path or be very good at pretending.
They are forced to confront the limits of their own knowledge.
A teacher might think they understand project-based learning, but a single tweet or a 3-minute YouTube video could help them see that “doing projects” and learning through projects are two completely different things. When teachers practice in isolation, this type of self-criticism is rarely necessary.
They can learn from people with specialized knowledge.
You may be a mobile technology expert or inquiry-based learning in your building, but then you meet Jamie Casap or realize you know less than you thought. Which is good. Now you can grow.
They can choose the terms of the connection.
Is it permanent? Online only? Friendly? Dialogic? Self-service? Whimsical? When teachers connect, it makes sense that they can control the terms of the nature of that connection.
They can practice empathy.
Connected teachers can benefit from empathy for the same reasons as students: making sense of another human being can only happen when you give up your own agenda and sit alongside and through another person and their thinking.
They can give back.
Ideally, connections go both ways; distribute and accept. A connected teacher can give back, and the more powerful their connections and networks, the more powerful their ability to help other teachers.
They have fewer excuses not to change.
A connected teacher cannot say they “didn’t know” or “wasn’t aware” of a trend, tool, or idea. (If they do, they may need to reevaluate the quality of their connectivity.) They may or may not be more willing to rethink their own practice, but ignorance is harder to overcome.
They have new demands for knowledge.
When teachers go online, their ability to survey, evaluate, select and use that information is tested. Your ability to establish an online identity is focused. The tools and practices necessary to establish and grow your professional learning network Suddenly they are as important as making phone calls to parents or rating parents.
They learn to socialize their thinking.
Or at least see and hear others do it. Connected teachers have an immediate need to socialize their thinking to different audiences for different reasons. Interactions become less about convincing members of your department about a new idea to improve digital literacy and more about joining an ongoing conversation that never ends.
They will have forced your thinking.
They may experience peer pressure to adapt their thinking to the “status quo.” This is neither good nor bad in itself (it depends on what you are thinking and how the “status quo” impacts you). But this is a kind of ideological peer pressure, where, at the very least, teachers have to think carefully about what they believe and why they believe it.
They adapt, assimilate, reject or absorb a constant flow of perceptions and possibilities.
Your classrooms can become learning laboratories.
Where else are all these new ideas going?
