What I really want to know, is why is technology integration and innovative teaching easy for some people to grasp and hard for others? Why does change takes so long!?!
Enter the old sayings “Well, that’s the way it’s always been” and “This is a tried and true lesson – it’s a favorite.”
Many teachers today have jumped on the bandwagon and believe that technology is an opportunity for us to do so much more in the classroom. They see it as a way to provide deep learning experiences, to amplify student voice and to include thought-provoking inquiry.
While on the other hand, some teachers see the good happening around them but they don’t jump on board. They wait, even watching from afar. Seth Godin, in his podcast Akimbo spells out this ‘slow to change’ phenomenon perfectly – so I took his ideas and put an educational twist on them here – because the ideas seem to explain why our schools are slow to change.
He starts with an interesting story about an Austrian doctor who discovered that washing hands before a delivery dramatically decreased the likelihood that women giving birth would develop a fever that might kill them.
Despite his constant pleas and the prevalence of statistical proof behind his claims, it took more than 20 years before other doctors would catch on and begin washing their hands before procedures. This simple move, ultimately saved the lives of millions of people.
Why did such a SIMPLE act of changing a routine, in this case washing hands before surgery, take two decades to experience a paradigm shift and catch on?
Does this painfully slow adoption sound familiar?
The story of washing hands before surgery, reminds me of education. Almost every school has some teacher or teachers doing really smart, successful and thoughtful curriculum upgrades with technology – yet these teachers are often in the minority
Why is innovative teaching taking so long to catch on?
Seth says what we are dealing with are two types of people and an important shift structure we need to better understand.
First there are two types of people – those with
Neophobia – fear of the new
Neophilia – people who love the new and dread the novelty and love trying new things and figuring out how they will work in their classrooms. These are the nerds and the early adopters.
Which are you? Which do the educators you work with fall under?
In schools, we need to understand that we have teachers on both spectrums and this might cause things to move slowly. If we understand the five stages of a paradigm shift we can come to the conclusion that we are close to a real shift in education – and this is exciting.
How change happens
Step one: There is NOT a paradigm yet – this is where teachers get something new like google apps – but have no idea what to do with it.
Step two: The neophiliacs start solving problems with the new thing – in the example of Google Apps this is where these teachers start using them to solve real problems. Here is where the acceptance of the ideas of Google Apps begins to happen. Teachers start solving problems within that space – i.e. people start being able to collaborate on a document, in real time and aren’t passing a version of a document back and forth via email.
Step three: This new idea starts to change the paradigm. It is where there is a distinction between what we thought was true and what is actually working. This is where I hypothesize that most teachers and schools are…we are changing the paradigm, but there has not been a complete shift yet. A shift to inquiry based learning, deep learning and learning that gets kids ready for the 21st Century.
Stage four: A Paradigm Shift happens – new ways of looking at education. While this is on the horizon – for those of us who consider ourselves neophiliacs we have to hold on…it’s coming, and for those holding out…you’re gonna have to change soon or the world will move on without you and this is the stage where you might just lose your job.
Stage five: We start the entire process again with some new idea.
This is “about the tension the innovator faces” as Seth talks about…and for many of us we are smack dab in this tension, trying hard to shed light and lead the way
For those of you who read this blog because you are neophiliacs, hold tight the shift is coming. Keep your message strong and keep letting people know what you are doing and the innovations you are making.
Our job now is to help others see the paradigm!! It’s the words of Seth – “this is what we must do to bring our culture along.”
To learn more listen to The Regular Kind on Akimbo by Seth Godin on your way to work tomorrow.