Excuses, excuses...

A blog post from Chris Betcher (@betchaboy on Twitter) is currently doing the rounds. Entitled You don't have to like it, the post is a no-holds barred indictment of teachers who find ways to avoid the use of new technologies in the classroom. Here's an excerpt from Chris's post:

I just cannot accept excuses about technology being optional, whether it's from someone who is new to teaching or others who are close to retirement. There are children in those classrooms every day who deserve the best education we can offer them, and it is completely unfair if that education is less than it should be because someone wants to pick and choose which aspects of their job they feel are important. No child should have to put up with out of date learning experience just because their close-to-retirement teacher is "taxiing to the hangar".

One of the most important things Chris says in his post is that technology is not a new thing. I would add to this that opposition to new technology in the classroom is also not a new thing. I gave a keynote presentation in Christchurch last year in which I showed quotations from those who had opposed the introduction of slates, the pencil, the ink pen and a whole host of other 'new technologies'. In each case, the arguments were superficially about the perceived adverse effects of the technology - 'the kids won't be able to write properly', 'what if they break the slate - it's expensive to replace', and 'The costs of these new writing implements could have been spent more wisely elsewhere.' Sound familiar? The same excuses and opposition is still being trotted out today by those who are opposed to the use of mobile phones in classrooms. 'Txting is dumbing down literacy', or 'the expense of buying and upgrading computers cannot be justified.'

I'm with Chris on this one. Teachers who avoid the use of technology in classrooms because they feel uncomfortable or out of their depth should probably reconsider their careers. It's not about comfort zones - it's about children's education. No excuses. If we deprive children of the best possible conditions for learning, we betray their future.

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Excuses, excuses... by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.