Do we need to be experts?

At yesterday's curriculum development day, I shared my changing paradigm related to the importance of expertise in technology. In the sciences, experts are highly regarded with an authority that is earned through study and experience. As an educator, I will never have this type of expertise in technology because it plays a secondary role to my focus on education. Furthermore, is it necessary to set this level of understanding as my goal? Do educators need to be experts in technology?

I challenge us to re frame our thinking away from the idea of gaining expertise toward the goal of developing skills and strategies for using technology to improve our practice. This opens up many more possibilities for us. It accounts for why the least experienced person can contribute to the discussion and empowers each of us to help a colleague. It opens new doors for learning and reaching our students. I might not be an expert, but I have enough understanding to know that technology can improve our instruction. Isn't that what is more important?

Google Goodies

I just learned about a lot of exciting tools in Google. It will take some time for me to fool around with all of them, but do you know about....
Google Earth?
Google Calendar?
Google Advanced Search?
Google Custom Search?
Using * for a "fill in the blank" function?
Google Calculator?
Sketch Up?
1-800-GOOG-411?

Let me know what you think.

Networking on the Web

Since the start of EETT and our last session on blogging, I have been pushing myself to venture more into cyberworld. The main area of focus for me has been on networking. I started a goodreads account and joined linkedin. In both cases, I was invited to join, but just never did because I didn't see the purpose. Now that I have done it, I'm starting to understand.

Goodreads allows me to get recommendations for books from people I know and it provides some accountability for my reading (If you don't add anything for a while, it tells you to Get Reading!). It can also serve as a bibliography of my reading with summaries and comments. LinkedIn helps me find former colleagues and classmates and forms a professional network.

I'm starting to understand why people spend hours on the computer during their leisure time.... Anyone else have a suggestion for a site I should try?

Historical Moment

Sometimes we learn new things out of natural curiosity. Sometimes out of necessity. Creating my first blog is both. Yes, I read my brother's blog and my cousin's family page. But I was a consumer, not a source. Here's my chance to try out the other side.