So I really like what Nielsen has to say. Having been in the world of K12 before, and being aware that these types of tools exist - has been frustrating and I resonate with her quotes. The adoption of pencils and chalk didn't seem to be as difficult - and while the technologies we have today are faster than those, they're slower to be adopted. Yet that adoption is probably due in part to the fact that they're far more complex tools. Think of the pencil - a great and grand tool. Wireless, needs no batteries or peripheral attachments, and yet students could write anything they wanted to with it - appropriate and inappropriate content. Same with chalk. Now I am really blowing this out of proportion, but I think it does go back to the age old - "what are you using it for" type of premise. The technology itself is not bad, but rather it's how you use it that determines it's good or poor use in education.
Reflecting on the rest of Nielson's article, I really like the 6 steps she outlined. I could almost incorporate it into my Introduction to Educational Technology course - as a means of progress throughout the course. And in some ways, she even outlined the time-frame in which those things should happen. I really like her questions at the end, on which I could construct a rubric of sorts:
- Are you adding to the conversation?
- Are you helping open up the minds of others about technology integration?
- Are you learning new things yourself?
