Would teachers rather do Web 2.0 or drink a bucket of monkey snot?

[Mark Oehrlein]

I'm looking for some insight into why teachers, even tech comfortable teachers, don't use new technology. I run a blog and a website and a Ning. I spend tons of time promoting them, but 95% of the time it gets ignored. It's not just the stuff I do either. It seems like anything new has some unseen barrier that prevents success.

Is it fear? Time? Firewalls? Past failures?

Any thoughts?

[Amanda Peters]

LOL, Mark. I'm not sure what Monkey Snot tastes like, but I understand the sentiment. I think it comes down to time and being intimidated by something new that will take them some time to figure out. My experience has been that most teachers are so thinnly spread that to do one more thing just doesn't feel possible. All we can do is keep promoting and keep searching for great success stories about how the tools impact students and how they can actually make a teacher's life easier not harder.

[Terri Grundy]

Mark, I think it may be easier to procure monkey snot and bring it into the classroom than it is to gain access to some of the web 2.0 tools from a classroom! Seriously, I believe the issue has multiple facets
I think there are a lot of individuals who just can't see the possibilities... "Why would I post a question to a group of strangers when I can just go down the hall and ask Ms. Jones?"

These tools are delived through a medium they don't trust or understand. They're afraid they might mess up the computer and then how will attendance get entered? One of my favorite sayings is "...just try it, I promise you won't blow up the computer." For so long they've been told don't download anything...we don't even trust them to update thier browser.

My observations also include a personality component. There are many teachers who just aren't explorers or risk takers. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just part of who they are. We need to meet them where they are at and guide them through this playground we find so exciting.

And finally access. I can't tell you how many times I was inspired by something written on a list serve only to discover I couldn't access the information from work. Instead, I have to email it to myself at home so I can look at it later and sometimes later doesn't come. (I'm over 40, it's a memory thing ;> )

[Brian Wojcik]

I concur with many of the things the Terri has already stated. I would go further in saying that there may be a couple more reasons as well. The media, to an extent, spent many years warning of the dangers of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. These services were painted as full of nefarious creatures whose sole purpose was to usurp your identity or to harm you in other ways. While Facebook and Twitter are gaining positive attention in the media, I have to wonder the extent to which the evils of services that allow a person to put oneself 'out there' have been tarnished.

Another reason is that we are battling tradition. I was speaking to a colleague of mine the other day who is responsible for providing professional development. One of the groups with whom she works concentrates on delivering online instruction. In talking with the group about their professional development needs, the group provided a number of great topics but wanted all of the professional development (regarding teaching online) to occur in face to face workshops. A little conflicting? Teaching also has long been about ownership - my classroom, my materials, etc. The thought of letting down the walls and pouring forth content that is 'mine', can be a bit intimidating.

I have the privelage of working with a number of teachers in training and new teachers to the field. Many are avid social networkers, bloggers, microbloggers, and even, podcasters. However, when asked to apply these very technologies (technologies that one student told me she 'couldn't live without' and other students tell me they access multiple times throughout the day) within their instructional planning for students with whom they work, they find themselves in a quandary. Many are comfortable using these tool but resist allowing these tools to spill over into their professional life (maintaining a separation between the personal and professional persona).

This is a systems change issue...one that will need to occur at multiple levels over multiple years. I am so appreciative to those of us who are serving as the pioneers and are 'pushing the envelope' and taking people out of their comfort zone to realize this change.