On 2022/01/09 at 07:30pm, Richard Boyum via TESOL International Association wrote:
> Thanks for your post! ?I followed the link to your book. ?Very
> interesting.
> I also appreciate your intro remarks and clarifications as to purpose
> and audience.
> Yes - ?the Pandemic was a wake-up call for use of technology in the
> classroom. ?Many teachers already with expertise hit the road
> running. ?For others it was a steep learning curve. ?And some continue
> to struggle. ?
> Your book covers a broad range of topics and will be especially fine
> for filling in the gaps for those of us with moderate or average
> knowledge or and use of technology.?
Thank you for the kind words.
You mention the pandemic wake-up call. Two things, especially, with the
pandemic-accelerated use of technology in education that I notice / am
bothered by are:
1) educators who don't understand what they are doing and inadvertently
inconvenience their students, or worse. For example, teachers who can
use a browser add-on to record their screen, but don't understand
issues of file size and bandwidth. They end up sharing 1+ GB files of
a 20 minute lecture to students who may be using metered internet
access. My lecture shouldn't cost my student $10, for example.
2) educators who can only do what xyz website allows. Or, the reverse,
web sites that don't allow teachers the freedom to design for their
students as much as might be necessary. I've not been impressed with
the accessibility (broadly defined) features of many educational
websites. I want readings with larger fonts and wider margins (among
other "features") for some of my English Learners. Either a website
allows me to do that, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, the student is
just out of luck if the teacher doesn't know how to create an
appropriately formatted reading themselves. Of course, the web sites
themselves also have responsibility for how they don't accommodate
students' learning.
I think we are a long ways from actually using technology, directly with
students, in ways that significantly enhance instruction. I could be
wrong of course, but I feel like too many teachers don't even understand
what is possible with technology, much less how they could use it to
revolutionize their instruction. This is partly the fault of web sites /
tech companies, and even teacher training courses. If someone can get
their teacher license without using anything other than MS Word or
Google Docs, it isn't their fault that they don't know how to set up a
wiki and have students practice their English by creating their own
anime fan site. Or even just MS Publisher (or other DTP software) to
create a class newsletter.
Someone (sorry, don't remember who) once pointed out that at the iphone
debut in 2007, people realized this was something special, but no one -
not one person - realized that this new phone meant that taxi companies
were in big trouble. Yet, in 2009, Uber was formed and traditional taxi
companies soon had some serious competition. Because of a new type of
phone!
Perhaps we need an "iphone" moment where a company, or other
institution, puts some tech together in an amazing new way and brings
out an educational resource that truly can revolutionize education.
Sorry. This got long. Rant mode off.
Thanks for downloading "Every Teacher's Guide to Technology*". Please
feel free to share widely. Also feel free to suggest additions for the
second addition.
--
Chris Spackman (he / him)
chris@osugisakae.comESL Coordinator The Graham Family of Schools
ESL Educator Columbus State Community College
Japan Exchange and Teaching Program Wajima, Ishikawa 1995-1998
Linux user since 1998 Linux User #137532
Original Message:
Sent: 1/9/2022 2:30:00 PM
From: Richard Boyum
Subject: RE: free / open "technology for teachers" book
Hey Chris -
Thanks for your post! I followed the link to your book. Very interesting.
I also appreciate your intro remarks and clarifications as to purpose and audience.
Yes - the Pandemic was a wake-up call for use of technology in the classroom. Many teachers already with expertise hit the road running. For others it was a steep learning curve. And some continue to struggle.
Your book covers a broad range of topics and will be especially fine for filling in the gaps for those of us with moderate or average knowledge or and use of technology.
Hope others find it useful
Richard
------------------------------
Richard Boyum
TESOL Membership Professional Council
Washington DC
United States
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 08-01-2022 08:46 PM
From: Chris Spackman
Subject: free / open "technology for teachers" book
All,
I have published a book "Every Teachers Guide to Technology*" under a
Creative Commons license. The first part is about choosing the right
tool (word processor, spreadsheet, graphics program, etc.) for the
job. The second part covers a range of topics of importance to teachers,
including accessibility, copyright (mainly focused on the USA),
translating documents, dealing with PDFs, basic computer security, among
other things. Those two parts are the meat of the book.
Because I am an ESOL teacher, I approach much of the content of the book
from the ESOL lens - how to translate documents, how to make enhanced
readings for English Learners, what to do about subtitles for videos,
and so on. So, I think / hope it might be especially helpful for TESOL
members.
PDF is available from this direct link:
https://www.chrisspackman.com/technology/every-sentient-beings-guide/every-teachers-guide-to-technology-e01.0.1.pdf
It is published under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The original files, as well as HTML, epub, and word processing documents
are also available so teachers can easily use or modify in whatever way
works best for their needs.
Those files are available at:
https://www.chrisspackman.com/technology/every-sentient-beings-guide/index.html
Thanks.
--
Chris Spackman (he / him) chris@osugisakae.com
chris@chrisspackman.com
ESL Coordinator The Graham Family of Schools
ESL Educator Columbus State Community College
Japan Exchange and Teaching Program Wajima, Ishikawa 1995-1998
Linux user since 1998 Linux User #137532