The Soapbox

After scrutinising readings and posts centred on the PLE v LMS debate, my belief that the entire education system is in dire need of an overhaul, beginning with teacher pre service, has been deafeningly reinforced. Complacency is a virus that infiltrates all levels of education, with graduate and post graduate levels no exception. I was recently speaking with a friend who is in her fourth year of a business degree and she'd not heard of social bookmarking. How is this possible at University Level ?

Idealised notions of teachers infer a professionalism that may in some instances be not readily apparent. This would be the same in many careers. Teachers fall into two learner categories: lifelong learners and system learners. Lifelong learners are continually seeking professional development, system learners wait for the educational authority to provide and subsidise it. I empathise to a great extent with teachers in Australia who are overworked and struggling to juggle an overpacked, non negotiable curriculum. However teaching is one career where one individual may have an impact on thousands and I believe maintaining currency should be compulsory.

The curriculum itself has no scope of development for establishing information literacy skills, with 'computer' skills being given a tokenistic mention in the writing component of the English curriculum in NSW. I would suggest if promotion was dependent on a demonstrated high level of technological proficiency, the situation may change dramatically. Executive staff can not be expected to make informed decisions about pedagogy, school management or student safety policies when they are completely unfamiliar with either cloud applications or social media.

Unearthed a wonderful post at the Fischbowl blog (from 2007 but still unnervingly relevant) Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?