I like Scott McLeod’s thoughtful and often provocative ed tech blog Dangerously Irrelevant. But I’m a little skeptical about an idea he’s floating. He starts off a new post with two self-evident observations: 1) Most staff development is awful, and 2) Kids are often technology “experts” on technology. No argument there. But he follows those ideas off a cliff, proposing a Big Idea: Have students deliver technology-related professional development for teachers.
The kids get the learning power and social/emotional benefit of being teachers and leaders. Adults and other students learn from the true experts. All we have to do is walk away from our egos and our fear and embrace our mission statements, the ones that say that we all should be learners and say nothing about from whom we must learn. How about it? You ready to start doing this?
How about no? I applaud McLeod’s premise and agree that we should give kids every opportunity to be the experts. Letting them be responsible for classroom computer maintenance and training for parents and younger students would be useful and “authentic.” Perhaps I’m just quibbling about the what constitutes “professional development.” But training that simply tells teachers how to use tech tools doesn’t meet my definition of professional development. Good technology P.D. should be focused on effective instruction using technology — technology is a means to an end, not an end in itself – and that is (one assumes) beyond what a student can deliver. We should be past the point of thinking we’re teaching with technology because we have computers and smart boards in the classroom.
This sounds like it’s formalizing what’s been happening in schools for decades. Teachers have long relied on tech-savvy students to help them out. My youngest brother (who now gets paid very good money to be a network administrator) used to be the informal IT support for his teachers back in high school.
Just brainstorming…what if technology use for a purpose is beyond the capabilities of students because they’re not used to being taught with a specific application in mind? If our students are used to learning history without being shown how that knowledge applies to careers and everyday life, then we are modeling the exact opposite of teaching towards a purpose?
Hi Robert,
I appreciate the push-back. I always like it when folks stretch my thinking.
We have a large number of teachers who know little to nothing about these digital technologies that are revolutionizing our society. Many of those technologies could be powerful learning enablers in the K-12 classroom. Couldn’t students teach or co-teach – in perhaps a more formal, structured, purposeful setting – some of these technologies to educators? I’m not saying that we should put students in charge of PD, but it seems to me that there’s a lot of internal expertise that’s going untapped, no?
Sure, just teaching the tools isn’t effective PD by itself. But most educators would benefit from learning how to use more of these tools and it seems that’s an area where students could help.
Hi Scott,
I’m probably guilty of taking too narrow a view of PD. But since it is, as you said on your site, usually a waste of time, my preference is to increase the caloric content of PD, not turn it into a “mere” tech training session. I’m also probably underestimating the number of teachers who are raw technology neophytes.
I do agree with your larger point. We should tap student expertise. Several of my students took great pride in serving on a schoolwise “tech team” that essentially functioned as the school’s help desk, keeping PCs running in the classroom. And, given how we struggle with parent involvement in many schools, I could see creating opportunities for low-income parents to use school facilities and be taught be their children. Once you start thinking about creating ways for students to teach what they know, it’s not hard to come up with opportunities.
It sounds like we’re basically on the same page!
We should start a campaign: SAVE OUR PD! I foresee buttons, placards, sandwich boards, picket signs…
Save it? How about start it? (Sort of like Reading Recovery. How do you recover a skill you don’t possess? A subject for another day…)