Cornerstones of Integration

Last month, Frank Rudnesky had the first part of an article out on Tech Learning about the cornerstones of technology integration. The second part of that article is out now and it’s certainly worth a read. And as always, my take (not being a classroom teacher, but an instructional designer working to help classroom instructors in higher ed) follows.

The first part of the article talks about modeling, if you are not the change that you want to see, then you can’t really stand for much right? I certainly agree, but what if, like me, you can’t or don’t have classroom time? What happens if you have to integrate by proxy? Well, then Frank’s suggestion about being passionate still applies, but I would say even more so. You have to fly the flags of what you want your instructional staff to do very high and be able to step into their classroom (with permission of course) show them how easy it is. But as many instructors are not keen on that, I think the shortcut there is to have the means of integrating new technologies or processes so easy to implement, that it seems to the instructor that it should have been there all along. Sometimes that will mean scrambling after you meet with them to match the tool with what they want it to do, but that is the way that it should be. We should not be limited to doing what the tools available say that we can do. That same passion will also mean that you never relly fall so far behind that you can’t catch up.

The second part deals with training and mentoring. While this has been mentioned around the ‘sphere a few times as being essential to the integration process, it is certainly the most overlooked. I don’t have much to say on that, other than if you are ever in the position to purchase technology, please ensure that support is available. The University has finally started figuring this out in bits and pieces with faculties starting ID units in addition to IT, but penny pinching schools are likely not going to be moving as fast. So if you find yourself with tools, but no mentors or training look outside your own group and there are likely many places (like the Apple Learning Exchange) that have people willing to help, but failing that, check out the blogs…