Lifestream summary: week 2
This week took me to the BETT Show where I was demonstrating Office 365 technologies for teachers.
Each year when I go to BETT I am struck by the disjunct between what I see at the show and what I see when I visit schools. The sheen, the shine and the promise of technologies which is on show in the vast arena of ExCeL is, in my experience, rarely successfully transferred into schools. I read Bayne on the train on the way to London and was struck by how much the message of ‘TEL’ was reiterated throughout the show – not only by exhibitors, but also by the teachers I spoke with. They talked of technology as being a ‘tool’ which could facilitate ‘more effective’ learning and teaching. This perception is a key reason why technology adoption fails: questions about how technology and practice are complexly intertwined and how technologies necessarily change, affect, and radically alter processes and behaviours are infrequently considered. Bayne’s assertion that we need to focus on networks, ecologies and sociomaterial contexts is pertinent.
In terms of managing my Lifestream this week, there is much material from the show which I still need to edit and curate; that’s an enjoyable problem to have as the process of finding new ways to collate and present information fascinating. I have made some progress with IFTTT and have ‘cooked’ a number of new recipes. I’ve also started to comment on others’ blogs: it’s brilliant to see the range of approaches, technologies, thoughts and ideas which are on display in our blogs.