Mr Bass Online

Over the last week, a common theme has emerged in some of my readings and the podcasts I’ve listened to. It started last week when I read a post by David Warlick entitled, Teachers and Technology — A Rant on his 2 cents worth blog. The most recent event that brought my attention to this theme was this morning when I was listening to Buzz Out Loud, a podcast published by CNET.

In Buzz Out Loud episode 550, Molly Wood and Tom Merritt (both tech journalists), discuss a proposal by proponents for 802.11n wireless networking to replace wired networks with this faster wireless technology. From my own networking experience, wireless is significantly slower than it’s wired, ethernet, counterpart. On my own network at home, if I need to move files, I don’t use wireless… it’s painfully slow. Imagine doing this in the workplace where you might be sharing files with a number of people. The reasoning behind this was that people won’t notice. There’s not enough of a difference between the two for people to complain… it’s “Good Enough”.

(Back to education) In David Warlick’s post he wrote about how, many times, teachers will not use technology because they are afraid of failure and they don’t have time to learn “another new thing.” I understand how overwhelming it is to be a teacher. The hat rack is full. But when I have teachers tell me that what they have been doing for the last thirty years is “Good Enough” for the students, I tend to lose my mind. Is there such a thing as “good enough” when it comes to teaching someone’s children? I know that technology is scary sometimes, I know that there are problems and that teachers don’t want to be in front of their students without a clue as to what went wrong. I get that. That’s why I’m in the position that I’m in, so I can help teachers to plan lessons and assist them with their technology.

I, personally, want the best for my kids and the best from their teachers… not just good enough.