Image by tempusfugate via FlickrOK. I’m officially ‘old.’

I’ve been participating in the EduBlogger conference at NECC, and the NECC-UnPlugged event starts tomorrow.  Yesterday, we began the meeting by voting on-line for the proposed sessions we wanted — and they started up 15 min. after the vote!  EVERYONE is ‘twittering’ like mad, and following those twitters though ‘Summize.’  Many of the attendees are blogging live, vpoding and pod-casting.

And ME?  Took me a while just to set up my Twitter account, find a picture small enough to load, and customize my page enough to disguise my ‘newbie-twitterer-ness.’  And I had to have help finding the summize site, and getting my twits to post there!

But, even with my advanced ‘unkoolness’ relative to plugging into this constant communication mode, it occurs to me that much of the conversation and discussion is not unlike the chatter we had 20 years ago at NECC!

To wit —-

•Teachers still face obstacles of TIME to learn to teach differently, learn how to use the tools, create content.

•The bureaucracy of education, driven primarily by FEAR of test score data, is the biggest prohibition to real innovation.

•A very small number of highly qualified teachers are willing to learn how to integrate new technologies into the teaching and learning process.

•There is a big gap between what students know and do versus what teachers know and do — relative to technology integration in life and work.

•Everyone seems to agree that it’s the teaching methodology that needs to be the focus, not the technology — though there is a steep learning/courage curve to learn to use these tools.

But I am hopeful —-

First, the ‘bleeding edge‘ teachers still exist, and their enthusiasm and hope has not diminished.  I continue to be amazed that so many teachers — who as a group are pegged as ‘conservative’ –  still show up as risk-taking, ‘geekie,’ and excited.  God bless ‘em, every one.  The world needs these ‘out there’ folks to move the needle forward.

Second — the discussion always comes back to the passion and commitment to help learners learn, and to make that learning relevant and meaningful.  REAL examples of REAL students’ experiences are always the most engaging and important discussions.

And finally — There seems to be a real desire to keep learning.  While some teachers clearly want to maintain the status quo and get by from summer vacation to retirement — this  tech-oriented  crowd is committed to life-long learning, and that’s the secret sauce that makes them great.  They see themselves as students, not just teachers — and there in lies the magic.