I just read a very interesting editorial in this month’s T.H.E. Journal.  Jeff Weinstock explains how “for new technologies to be successfully integrated into schools, we must first fix the users, not the tools”.  After reading his editorial, it became clear.  In education, we are so quick to ban the tools instead of doing what we are meant to do, teach the user. 

I am in the midst of taking an online course on Web 2.0 tools.  Many of the class participants are expressing frustration with many schools blocking tools for instruction, such  as wikis, blogs and social bookmarking sites.  Educators are afraid of misuse and misconduct while using any type of tool where the slightest bit of control is taken away.  Unfortunately, in the 21st Century, more and more options are readily available with electronic devices and online technologies that maintaining control is almost impossible.  If you block one aspect, students are smart enough to go around the block and find another way in.  Instead of just teaching and modeling appropriate behaviors, we are taunting the technologically savvy student to find a way around the system.  We are entering into a new realm where technology leads the way.  Educators need to focus more on teaching what is socially acceptable instead of the quick fix, which is to ban the tool.  

I read an interesting article in ReadWriteWeb today on common objections to the use of Social Media.

Link to Article 

While reading this I was constantly comparing what the author was saying to the world of education. Although the article is set up for the business world I hear many of these same objections when I try to convince teachers to use social media to enhance instruction. Below is a brief overview of the ten common objections to social media. Read through them. Do you feel they apply to education? Do you think social media is a good tool to integrate into the curriculum or is it just a waste of time?

1. I suffer from information overload already.

2. So much of what’s discussed online is meaningless. These forms of communication are shallow and make us dumber. We have real work to do

3. I don’t have the time to contribute and moderate, it looks like it takes a lot of time and energy.

4. Our customers don’t use this stuff, the learning curve limits its usefulness to geeks.

5. Communicators [bloggers, tweeters] are so fickle, better to stay unengaged than risk random brand damage. We don’t want hostile comments left about us on any forum we’ve legitimized.6. Traditional media and audiences are still bigger, we’ll do new stuff when they do.       

7. Upper management won’t support it/dedicate resources for it.

8. These startups can’t offer meaningful security, they may not even be around in a year - I’ll wait until Google or our enterprise software vendor starts offering this kind of functionality

9. There are so many tools that are similar, I can’t tell where to invest my time so I don’t use any of it at all.

10. That stuff’s fine for sexy brands, but we sell [insert boring B2B brand] and are known for stability more than chasing the flavor-of-the-month. We’re doing just fine with the tools we’ve got, thanks.