301 – Assigment 2.1

It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. –Isaac Asimov

Your heart pounds. Beads rolling off your forehead. Butterflies are floating in your stomach. Your muscles are tense. These might be signs of anxiety you feel all caused by the thought of having to change. Albeit, some of these might be extreme depending on the amount of change we are enduring. All of us go through change on a daily basis. Some change affects us differently than other types.

As a technology trainer working with teachers of an older generation, I see change dealt with on many different levels. Some embrace the changes technology doles upon them at increasing speeds as they know the importance of teaching students how to learn in this environment. Some take the challenge on reluctantly. They are usually resistant to learn a new skill knowing is it just going to be outdated in another year/month/week.  Then there are those that won’t embrace the change at all. They don’t even know where the power button is on their computer!

In reviewing the questions for the assignment, I had to see where I fit in this spectrum. In working with technology, I deal with change on seemingly hyperspeed. I love things coming at me as fast as they can. I would have to say, if I fear anything, it would be a lack of change. My greatest fear is that I become stagnant. That I might become unuseful. That is why I strive to enhance my knowledge and skills so that I might share them with others and help them be productive in the 21st century. So to answer what would I do if I weren’t afraid, I would say I would relax and take more time just doing nothing! I would slow down and just let life happen instead of always trying to push the envelope. In a healthy environment, there is a good balance of relaxation and pushing forward. This is something I try to accomplish but lean toward the push.

The anticipation of change can be stated in so many ways. “Get on the train or be left at the station” is one of my favorites. I’m not one to watch the train go by. I would rather jump on and see where it takes me. I love the adventure of something new. Something unknown. But I realize not all people enjoy this same enthusiasm and so I do have to throttle down at times. This enthusiasm has helped in the past when trying to inspire a group to a new challenge but when working with a new project that requires their involvement, gearing down and making them feel comfortable with the change is most important.

When working with others in a situation that requires change, I feel the single most important technique we can provide is to let them know well in advance that something is going to happen. Then, letting them be a part of the change process so that it does get carried through is essential.

I have two recent examples I’ll share. The first is a change we are implementing at ESU 10 replacing the software teachers use for their web presence. In the past we have used a package called Manila. We trained on this for nearly 6 years and have had probably 3000 teachers go through training and get accounts. Many advances have taken place in these six years and so we started the process to find something more relevant to todays technological pace. In doing so, we did surveys of our teachers to find out what they wanted and needed from their web presence software. We then found several software packages that we felt we could train on and support. At that point, we shared our findings and had them tell us what they felt would best suit their needs from the list we provided. After installing the solution and working out the initial bugs, we started training users and are up over 500 teachers using the new solution after only several months. We plan on getting them all moved over within the year and I feel it has been successful because they helped provided the direction and path knowing we had to move to something different.

My next example is of a school going to a one to one environment. This is a laptop for every student. The school is normally one for much controversy and dragging of feet and so I had a particular challenge in getting them ready for this change. I used a process I learned from Microsoft’s “School Leader Development: Building 21st Century Schools” initiative. The process goes something like this: 1) Pose a Challenge, 2) Record Initial Thoughts, 3) Review select material to learn more, 4) Record Revised Thinking, 5) Discussion among group with sharing and group goals.

I was totally amazed at how the results turned out. The hardest part for me was coming up with a challenge and collecting relevant materials for them to review. My challenge to this group was “How can you use new technologies now available in your district to enhance learning and engage students, specifically in regard to using online collaborative environments?” At that point they wrote their initial thoughts on a discussion site. Then they were instructed to look up several resources from a list provided to them on learning and using online collaborative environments. After reflecting on their initial thinking, they posted their revised thinking on the discussion board again. At this point, they started group discussion and their assignment was to, by the end of the time I had with them, come up with at least two goals for the next year in regards to the challenge. I was amazed at not only the goals they were coming up with but the plan to implement and make sure it was a success. This was a great example of how one can facilitate change having the right tools.

To sum up my assignment, I believe if we simply follow Gandi’s example, we can make an impact on adult learners. Follow his advice and become the change you want to see. Put yourself in your students shoes, change along with them. Grow and be inspired as you journey down the path of life.