THIS Changes Everything?

Are you a techno-constructivist? How do you envision and implement the use of technology? Scott Noon originally asked this question some ten years ago. Are you a techno-traditionalist? And should you be? I’m still asking the question today.

Techno-traditionalists use technology to complete tasks we have always done, but more efficiently and with more convenience. Crafting lesson plans, managing grades and sharing files are all good examples. It is couched in our Industrial-aged comfort zone; completing tasks at the knowledge, comprehension, application and analysis levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. Looking at the summer night sky, studying human body systems and playing a virtual guitar all on your tablet are techno-traditionalist tasks. These things are okay as interim steps, moving towards new ways of creating, producing and problem-solving…as long as we’re pushing the boundaries on technology use. We all begin the journey as techno-traditionalists, but there is a need to grow. We’re not tapping into the power and promise of technology if we are satisfied playing notes on a touch screen piano interface.

Techno-constructivists push boundaries to find new ways to work and play…ways in which we could not imagine innovating in the past. Like all constructivist theory it is based on acquiring and building new understandings at Bloom’s levels of synthesis and evaluation. But how do we begin to even imagine innovating in ways in which we have no experience? By pushing ourselves into wholly new experiences that over time lead to new understandings. It is unfamiliar, uncomfortable and altogether necessary. A paradigm shift is not a destination…it’s the process we work through to reach our destination. Too many of us offer lip service about making this paradigm shift while continuing to settle for being techno-traditionalists. If you want to be part of the future, look past your comfort zone and push yourself to prepare for a world we cannot yet fully see.

Moving from techno-traditionalism to techno-constructivism is a journey that never ends. Fifteen years ago being able to use technology to break down the boundaries of time and space was revolutionary, as students for the first time took virtual field trips and collaborated with partners online from around the world. But these things are now commonplace…and human aspiration is to always go above and beyond the status quo. This I not the only contradiction in which we find ourselves:

• Consumers get caught up in technology’s coolness factor: “Look what I can do on my computing device that mimics what I used to have to do in more cumbersome, time-consuming ways!”

• Private commercial interests need to continue to feed their bottom line, so they work to reinforce and meet consumer expectations rather than push their boundaries

• Society is in freefall; our shifting paradigm will not allow us to go back to the Industrial Age but we have not fully-realized the promise of the Information Age

Many challenges. Many opportunities. Yet, while we are talking the talk of some brave new world, we are comfortably walking the walk of the world we know. We need to more thoughtfully, more strategically push the boundaries of educational technology use.

In a recent television commercial, a confident voice says, “Now we can watch a newspaper…listen to a magazine…curl up with a movie…and see a phone call. Now we can take a classroom anywhere…hold an entire bookstore...and touch the stars….because now there’s this…” as the ad closes with the logo of the product proudly touting itself as the path to these amazing claims. The accompanying images are inspiring and inviting. The background music is simple yet full of promise. This changes everything….right?