Becoming a Connoisseur of Technology Integration

Michael Simkins, Ed.D.Co-Director, TICAL

Santa Cruz County Office of Education

Technology Information Center for

Administrative Leadership

TICAL is…

• State-wide Professional development resource

• Provided by Santa Cruz COE

• Funded by CDE

TICAL’s Mission

To help K-12 administrators provide informed and effective leadership in the use of technology to improve education.

TICAL’s Focus Area

• technology planning• integrating technology

in standards-based curriculum

• data-driven decision-making

• professional development• financial planning• operations and

maintenance

Being a connoisseur

“To be a connoisseur is to know how to look, to see, and to appreciate.”

—Elliott Eisner in The Educational Imagination

Connoisseurship

“Connoisseurship, generally defined, is the art of appreciation…(it) is a private act; it consists of recognizing and appreciating the qualities of a particular.”

Appreciate

To judge with heightened perception or understanding

– to be critically and emotionally aware of delicate subtle aesthetic or artistic values

– to be fully sensible of, often through or as if through, personal experience

"appreciate." Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com ( 14 Mar. 2007).

Developing connoisseurship

• Opportunity to observe in a focused, sensitive, and conscious way

• Opportunity to compare, discuss, integrate and appraise what has been observed

Looking vs. Seeing

“Looking is a necessary condition, but looking is essentially a task one undertakes; it is seeing that is an achievement.”

—Elliott Eisner

Along came a spider

Alice Christie Quote“I’ve never seen a really good example of technology integration that was not done by a really good teacher.”

—Dr. Alice Christie, ASUWest (my best paraphrase; forgive me!)

But it isn’t enough.

Education Technology Expert Panel

US Department of Education Educational Technology Expert Panel

In Education

Technology affords new ways of teaching established disciplines that are likely to be more effective for more students…

In Education

…equally important, technology can inspire teachers and students alike to move beyond conventional content and deepen the process of learning in various disciplines.

Technology Expert Panel

How does the technology add value?

…in terms of efficiency?

…in terms of possibility?

10 Questions

1. What are the students supposed to be learning?

2. What do they need to do in order to learn it?

3. How did students learn this in the past?

10 Questions

4. What technology is being used by students?

5. How is the technology being used by students?

10 Questions

6. How does the technology add value in terms of efficiency?

7. How does the technology add value in terms of possibility?

10 Questions

8. What new problems does the technology present?

9. Is it worth it—why or why not?10.How might technology be used

differently to increase its value?

The English Teacher

To be or not to be…

World Cultures

The Paperless Classroom

The Interwrite™ Classroom

Geometry All Around Us

Novel to Soundtrack

Energy Awareness

A Product of Learning

Handouts?

• www.portical.org/connoisseur• msimkins@portical.org• (831) 477-5501• Leave a business card.

Thank you!