20 Technology Skills Every Educator Should Have (Via Technorati Search for: “Educational Technology”.) This list captures a sentiment that is still prevailing in educational technologists… and it represents what we might call Ed Tech 1.0. This list would have impressed me in 2000, but in 2006 there are some glaring omissions (and some items we could probably do without now). Office and the Internet (wordprocessing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, email, and searches) might have defined technology proficiency for teachers in 2000, but in 2006, proficiecy doesn’t seem complete without what might be called “iLife” and the Internet (photo editing, audio editing, and movie editing, with their read/write web counterparts, photocasting and podcasting). Most importantly, Ed Tech 2.0 is not complete without a “deep knowledge” of the read/write web, espcially blogs, wikis, and RSS. (These have been things I have wanted to implement into the OCDE Teacher Technology Proficiency program for some time, and thankfully I may have finally found the right people to help.)
Sadly, there are still educational technologists fighting for these competencies at their site or district… or county or state for that matter (California never even got around to adopting the NETS), and perhaps more sadly, they are fighting for these ed tech 1.0 skills for a reason: the teachers aren’t there yet.
Now, can we skip the 1.0 skills in our efforts to get teachers to 2.0 skills? Or do we need to patiently help our faculties progress through the same changes the technologies and our field have gone through?
Are PowerPoint Skills not quite so important if teachers’ students are doing the “heavy lifting” in writing their blogs and wikis… and producing their podcasts?