Ben Stern, TeachBoost's manger of educational partnerships, responded to a recent EdSurge piece penned by Jin-Soo Huh about an administrator's return to teaching. Jin-Soo is KIPP Chicago's director of technology, and he put his teaching hat back on for a middle school math class.
In addition to Ben's initial piece, he also wrote an EdSurge article in response to the question that closes Jin-Soo's article: “What advice would you give instructional technology specialists?”
You can read Ben's thoughts here. Here's a teaser:
Theory before practice
When you begin working with a faculty, you will need to convince many teachers that technology is worth integrating in the first place. That may seem crazy. Many of us in edtech take for granted that technology enhances teaching and learning. But poorly integrated technology can distract from learning objectives rather than help teachers meet them. Many teachers are right to be skeptical of instructional technology; we all should be! We’re dealing with kids’ education. There’s a bit more at stake than there might be if you were introducing the latest infinite runner game. Educators need a good reason to do whatever they do, with or without technology.