There has been a lot of talk about change recently. Of course, we see the presidential candidates (especially the Democrats) calling for change, but sometimes it seems to me that people are calling for change everywhere, including money. Did we really need a redesign for paper money to inhibit counterfeiting or was someone at the mint just tired of seeing the same five dollar bill all the time?
Education as we know changes slowly. I recently watched an old black and white film explaining that classrooms were changing to reflect the latest research. The theory (based on experiments with lab rats) was that not everyone learned the same way. Some of us are visual learners, some of us are auditory learners, and some of us are tactile learners. Now this seems common sense to anyone in education, but at the time (1950s) it was revolutionary thinking.
I think it is time for some revolutionary thinking on how best to use technology in education. Our focus has been on integrating technology in education, but now it is time to change our focus. It is time to no longer think of education as “just another tool” for teachers. Susan Patrick, the President and CEO of the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) stated at a conference in 2005 that, “The ed-tech community loves the term ‘integration.’ But our schools need transformation, not integration.” This means to me that all curriculum needs to be written around the technology, rather than technology being just one more way to deliver the lesson.
So what does this have to do with volunteers? In a sense, all revolutions begin with volunteers. Revolutionaries rarely get paid. If you believe that educational technology can really be the way we should teach future generations, you need to volunteer to change. Change your teaching, change your thought processes, and change your actions to reflect your beliefs.
To paraphrase the Serenity Prayer, “God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me (Author Unknown).”