Podcast Reflection #10: Moving at the Speed of Creativity

I listened to the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast titled Podcast375: Technology Leadership Advice for 60 New Oklahoma Superintendents.  Wesley Fryer, the author of Moving at the Speed of Creativity, attended a conference at the beginning of April for new superintendents in Oklahoma and spoke about how technology can be used to enhance education today. He spoke about how technology can increase students' opportunities to learn.  He discussed how technology helps us share, create, and connect in ways we really would never have imagined.  I can relate with this.  I never thought I would be blogging about educational resources and that people in other countries would be reading my blog.  It really is mind-blowing to me!  Wesley Fryer seemed to be calling the new superintendents to embrace technology in the classrooms rather than deny it.  He asked the superintendents to think about the increase of technological devices in our lives and made the conference listen to Brad Paisley's "Welcome to the Future".  The song discusses how technology has changed our lives, and the way we do everything. 

 Next, Wesley discussed how we need to move from being technology "consumers" to "creators".  He emphasized how kids need to be critical thinkers, and how he thinks technology can give them an outlet for this.  I agree, I think technology can be used to help students learn, think, and grow in new ways.  Wesley suggested for the superintendents to think of all the untold stories of veterans and other important people.  He emphasized the importance of these stories to our history and community.  He suggested students use technology to capture these stories.  This reminded of a similar such project being done in Kansas.  This project is called Celebrate Kansas Voices.  Wesley talked about how these kind of projects can get students, families, and communities excited about technology in education.  I agree with Wesley and think these sort of projects can capture some great stories and can get people excited about technology. He discussed several other ways technology can be integrated into the classroom as well.

Wesley also discussed how the superintendents can either embrace technology or stand in the way of it.  The superintendents discussed some issues they were concerned with technology.  They discussed the "digital divide" and how many teachers are fearful of technology.  Wesley seemed to enjoy the questions and told the superintendents that they are the "gatekeepers" of technology in their schools and can make it easy or difficult for teachers to use technology in their classroom.  I think it's important for superintendents to learn more about technlogy themselves before they decide how it's in their schools.  Personally, I think technology can enhance instruction because technology is the 21st century child's language.  Also, another important point of Wesley's is that teachers don't have to know everything about technology but giving students the chance to use it in the classroom enhances their learning.  Overall, I enjoyed listening to this podcast and thought it discussed several important advantages to using technology in the classroom.