The info shared on Twitter keeps astounding me! Yes, there are lots and lots of websites shared, but there are also lots and lots of thoughts shared.
Somehow when thoughts are condensed into just 140 characters they take on a deeper meaning. While some of the thoughts shared are fleeting, others are profound.
One that struck me loud and clear in the last week and kept reverberating around and around my head was one made by Heather when she said: “Can’t believe how some people can only see “more” work for them, instead of better way to work.” Many, including myself, re-tweeted this so that others coming along would ‘hear’ the comment.
My enthusiastic ramblings which seem to be seeping through my fingertips via my keyboard also come at a rate of knots via my verbalizations in which I effuse the wonders and values of self paced online learning – an addiction to which I am unabashedly quite proud!
While friends and colleagues humour me by reading or listening to my words, the most frequent response is that there is just too much information out there, it’s too much to take on board, or as Heather so aptly summed up in her tweet – it’s just too much work!
Why is this so?! Why aren’t all of our colleagues out there in the world of education as equally mesmerized by the world of information which today is so easy for us to access? Why can’t we all feel energized by the vast array of information that’s at our fingertips? Why don’t all our colleagues realize that there is so much to be shared through reading, exploring and playing? Why? Why? Why?
For those of us working in Libraries – be they located in educational settings or in the local community – we know the power of information. We are well versed in the values of learning and knowledge. But surely this is not the mainstay of just our profession. Surely the power of knowledge is shared by … well … just … everyone!
“Information Overload!” - Yes … several people I’ve spoken too over the last few months have stuck that tag onto a range of the online experiences I’ve been talking about: Twitter, Blogs, Websites …. hec … just about the whole gamut of online materials that I’ve been exploring have been referred to as way too much to process and take on board. But hang on …. let’s look at education. What’s it all about anyway? Isn’t education and learning a long term process? How often have each of us used the term: “Independent Lifelong Learners”? Tell me … do the “Independent Lifelong Learners” we churn out of our schools stop being “Independent Lifelong Learners” once they graduate? Don’t the “Independent Lifelong Learners” of today become the “us” out there in the big wide world?!
So what is it that is happening in our schools? Why can’t we all embrace information, learning, knowledge with the same level of enthusiasm that we expect of our students?
I’m not able to come up with too many answers here. Just two spring to mind: priorities and time.
Do our schools in which teachers today are so overloaded with pressures of accountability in the form of report writing and curriculum documentation in addition to endless meeting schedules, requirements to prepare, run and participate in extra curricula activities including school wide special events such as sports days, swimming carnivals and musicals … all of which come on top of the heavy demands of teaching day in day out, being there for yard duty, bus duty and not to mention the out of work hours of marking tests, exams and essays - do our schools enable time for their teachers to explore, play and learn? Is it any surprise that our teachers feel overwhelmed, rung out, exhausted at the end of a day and just look with glazed eyes at the thought of spending more time exploring, playing and learning via the wonders that are available to them on the web? Where does one find the time let alone the energy to explore further afield?
Yes – I am no different to the vast majority out there. At the outset of my journey into this virtual world, I too wondered where I would find the time, the commitment and the energy to engage, learn, explore and discover? At first I was overwhelmed by it all. Soon I was exhausted. But gradually a strange thing happened.
I felt myself becoming addicted to the joys of engaging, learning, exploring and discovering. Suddenly I found that the time I’d previously never had to spend on this kind of activity was being generated seemingly out of nowhere. What I didn’t realize then, but do now, is that my priorities were changing. Time I spent on other activities have, for the moment been shelved, shuffled, or limited to make way for the new. By changing my priorities, I suddenly found that I had time on my hands to engage, learn, explore and discover new horizons.
Go get a life … some may say. Yes – I am! My new life has taken a turn. I’m intent to take time to engage, learn, explore and discover. With an adjusted attitude, I’m unable to regard any of this as information overload! Perhaps our schools too need to assess or reassess their priorities so as to make time for the new.
Wow Bev, you must have seen smoke on your keyboard today!
What an amazing post full of thoughts to stimulate discussion about priorities.
I have been that teacher “with glazed eyes” you describe, who can “only see more work.” By taking time off to reflect on my teaching practice I can see clearly that what we are all talking about is a “better way to work’”
I believe that change will occur, one step at a time for some, but it will when teachers can see that all the new skills they are learning will lead to a happier, more energetic, engaged and productive classroom.
I can really relate to this post! I’m often asked “where do you find the time?”…. well as you said I think it comes down to prioritising. I prioritise learning and as you said….it’s addictive!
This is a better way to work! Sharing ideas and learning with like-minded teachers is only going to have create benefits in the classroom.
Also, the great thing is – with blogs, Twitter and all the other ways you can learn online, it’s very self-paced. You can commit as much or as little time as you have on any given day.
Hopefully one day at a time, we’ll help other teachers see how green the grass is on the other side!
Thanks for a thought provoking post
I found my self thinking the very same things today! Must be the zeitgeist.
I’ve tried explaining to some staff what is so good about Twitter and 99% reply with the same answer: ‘But what’s the point?’
It stumps me every time…how do you tell a teacher that learning is the point, without sounding, well, judgmental!
Of course their real concern is the time it takes, as you point out. It can be hard to discern the usefulness of developing a PLN online when you have an unending stack of marking and parent teacher interviews et cetera. I understand why it seems pointless for them in the face of all the other challenges and burdens on our time.
But I agree with you. Twitter has made me a better teacher. Despite what any naysayers may say about how it is primarily mindless babble, Twitter is continually encouraging me to become, more importantly *want* to become, an increasingly better teacher.
Great post!
A great post Bev, I’m pleased to have inspired you!
I totally agree that schools and the education system place enormous demands on teachers but this is no excuse for continuing to do the same thing in the same way just because you always have.
I had a similar experience to you with becoming immersed/overwhelmed by the network. You reach a point of balance over time – what works for you is what works for you, the point is wanting to keep learning and being open to new things.
Great post and comments. I so agree that when some people say ‘who has time for this’ I tend to think ‘the people who see it as important are able to make time.
Please post on ning? Another extremely well written and heartfelt post!
Wow! In a Tweet you posted today Penny noting the blogpost: The top 10 things I learned going from teaching students to teaching Learning Technology (http://edutechintegration.blogspot.com/2010/08/top-10-things-i-learned-going-from.html) I was pleasantly surprised to read #5:
Twitter is a great method of Professional Development for educators and should be encouraged by teacher education programs and school administrators. We expect students to be lifelong learners, but then don’t expect it of ourselves.
These words kind of sum up my post!
I agree wholeheartedly about the self paced learning online, I just love it, you go in, have a look, then if it is all too much bookmark it and come back later. I, like you, love the twitter posts and have found time to check it each day and I really enjoy the links and thoughts!
Great blog, Bev and so well articulated! Your words have relevance for those of us not working in the education sector as well. Being a lifelong learner is the the best way of taking our place in the world and contributing to it. Keep on blogging!
[...] nearly touched on this just a couple of weeks ago in my blog about information overload. Then I was referring to us needing time to engage, learn, explore and discover – adamant [...]