What do you want leaders to do with technology?

Recently in a workshop, I asked the group how many people thought Twitter was “stupid”, to which had seen several hands raised.  I followed up with the question, “How many of you think it is beneficial to learn from other teachers?” This has 100% of hands up in the air.  So, if we think that learning from other teachers is beneficial, and we can use Twitter to do that, it seems like a no-brainer.

This made me think about how so many people often focus on the technology (Twitter), not the aspect of learning from others, which is so much more important. The fact of the matter is, that many educators/administrators that are labeled as being “great with technology”, are maybe not as savvy as it may seem.

I asked a colleague if they thought they were really good with technology (they knew it was a trick question), so she didn’t know how to answer.  What I said is that many educators/administrators that are deemed as very tech savvy, are really not as good with the technology as we think.  Personally, I have a minimal amount of knowledge on coding (very minimum), and if I was to take apart a computer, I would have no idea how to put it back together.  I would however know that I could look it up on YouTube, but I am not sure when I would be in that situation.  I know how to Tweet, use Google Apps, blog, and do some other things, but so does a large portion of the population.  I know it is cliche to say, “it is not about the tool”, but it isn’t; It is about something much more.

The way I look at it, is that it is more about using some of these simple technologies, to do powerful things.

Serendipitously, as I tried to put these thoughts into my head, someone shared this graphic from Bill Ferriter on, “What do you want kids to do with technology?.  I then thought, what is it that we want leaders to do with technology, and based on Bill’s original idea, I put down my own thoughts:

This post is not about measuring one’s ability with technology if they are able to use Twitter or write a blog post.  It is about something much deeper.  If the purposeful use of technology can enhance or accelerate those ideas above, shouldn’t more leaders look at how these tools can be used in their own practice?

George Couros