by Ken Royal
(Posted today at Scholastic Administrator. I feel this one deserves to be here as well. ~KR)
At about the turn of this century, I was seeking ways to share “how
to” technology with staff. Most of my innovative tech friends were
still either in the UK, or Australia. Yeah, today, you’d call them part
of my PLN (Personal Learning Network). I remember asking for
technology professional development advice, and the voice e-mail that
made me start thinking out of the box. I can still hear his voice
saying, “Get them on a bus mate!”
Turns out, my Aussie buddy was trying to get his staff to use digital
cameras and software to enhance teaching. He actually offered
incredible professional development courses throughout the year, but
usually had difficulty filling seats. He discovered, by hiring a bus,
offering a digital camera field trip, packing away a bit of a picnic,
he had a captive audience. He could do some how to, share new tech news,
and have a good joke or two. The carrot he held out didn’t hurt either—staff would get to take a camera back to class, and he would make sure they had the appropriate software to work with it.
Now, a bus trip didn’t work with all things then, there’s no way he’d
do it with a huge desktop, and it was a time where wireless was still
pretty much two cans attached by a string. The concept, though, of
getting staff away from their usual surroundings, offering equipment
and software to take back to the classroom, having some fun learning,
and bonding as a group is what I took away then, and what I still
believe to be valuable now.
I was reminded of that Aussie tech bus trip this week, when I met educators and administrators on my trip to cover eTech 2010 in Ohio.
Offering individual educators a day at a conference makes sense, but
planning to send a larger group makes more sense. And sending more than
your favorite geek teacher makes the best sense. If that group is
diverse, with elementary, middle, high school educators, at different
levels and subject areas, joined by administrators—principals, curriculum heads, assistant superintendents and superintendent—you have the makings of a unified tech team.
All that said, I know the economic times are tough, but you need to
weigh the value gained when more than one or two excited, enthusiastic
teachers or administrators come back from a conference with ideas. What
a great and simple way to get teams of teachers working together,
rather than one rogue teacher doing the equivalent of a technological
light show in his/her classroom. The former creates a solid plan, and
the latter makes for a lonesome pioneer, sometimes seen as just the
district’s tech show off.
If you can get groups of educators to FETC, eTech, TCEA, or local conferences—wonderful, but if you can’t, think about that bus field trip idea. Create a small conference of your own, possibly teaming with other schools or districts. If possible, have teachers take away some software or tech, and don’t hold the PD in the same building where teachers work. Get them away, get them to bond, and remember to take them on a field trip mate!





