As we head into the home stretch of Course 3 this coming week, I am slowly making my way through all your blog posts and a theme keeps emerging…..it’s the same theme that comes up every course 3 and each time it makes me smile. There is a reason we force (many of) you to create a presentation and video and think about infographics in this course. I do find it interesting how many of you chose to create an infographic rather than just find one on the web you could use with students. In the creative mood are ya?
Time
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Back to the topic at hand…the theme that continues to emerge is the theme of time. Time is precious to us all in both our personal lives and our professional ones. Here’s the thing….creating something worth sharing takes time. It’s not easy. It’s not easy to create a really good presentation, it’s not easy to create a really good video and it’s not easy to create a good infographic…basically….it’s not easy to create something worth sharing.
Skill vs Content
Here’s the thing…why do we see less creating and more content in the classroom? Because content takes less time. In the primary grades we focus a huge amount of time on the skill of reading, writing and math basics. Because skills take time. The skill of reading, the skill of writing, the skill of basic math. Those skills are the foundation in the early years….I would add a couple others of my own (search, typing, Internet basics) that I think should be skills we focus on.
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When we try to learn a (tech) skill and create content at the same time that equals frustration. Example: learn iMovie while trying to create a video worth sharing or create a presentation while learning to search for CC licensed images. When we try to do both at the same time, the time it takes doubles…..triples what we originally thought (reminds me of our house remodel……time and money were twice what we thought it would be). When you try to do both at the same time……time is huge, the task becomes frustrating and in the end you wonder if it was worth it.
I think about the times we do this to students. This idea that “students know technology” so they can learn stuff on their own. That they can learn on their own is true…that it doesn’t take time is false. Time to learn a skill……is time. What I love about this course is (I hope) that you have a better understanding of the time it take to create something worth sharing.
Time = Knowledge
Here’s the thing….many of you talk about the time it took to make the movie or the presentation…or both. Yet in creating these products you gained knowledge of the program. Therefore the next time you use the program things will go faster…..I promise….they will. You do it again and it gets faster yet. Many times I hear teachers say “I’ll never do that again it took too much time.” without realizing that the knowledge they gained will reduce the time it took to do the lesson or teach the skill for the next time.
If you are a teacher who teaches the same lesson more than once a day you know what I mean. The first lesson takes me 50 minutes. The next time I teach it takes me 40 to cover the same material and then 30 the last class. I get better at giving the lesson, the knowledge I have gained allows me to be more precise, better and faster.
The same is true for technology. Your first couple of blog posts took you longer. The first time you embedded an image took you longer. Now those things are easier. Creating the content isn’t easier, the reflection is still time consuming, however the skill of actually writing it is easier. We call this practice. 
What’s wrong with education
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Now I’m a couple of glasses into a wonderful cabernet sauvignon tonight, feeling the need to vent. What frustrates me with education at this moment in time is that teachers do not feel they have the time to allow students to truly create. I cannot count the number of times that teachers have told me “I would love to do X….but I just don’t have the time.” So instead we march on delivering content rather than allowing inquiry, creating, and questioning to be the center of our learning. Why…because all of that takes time and we have so much content that we have to cover that we don’t have time to allow the creation to happen. “I don’t have time for students to make a movie/infographic/presentation.” Is something I have heard and still hear consistently.
So here’s my question to you….how do we make the time? Where do we find this time to allow true creation? When do we give the time for student to learn these skills? Skills and knowledge that in this day and age is knowledge worth having. What needs to change? What needs to be removed so that the space and time can be given for creation?
