I just came back from lunch and a trip around the exhibit hall. And thought I’d get some thoughts down while I am waiting for the next session to begin. After meeting a bunch of people I had an interesting thought. Many of us sort of have an identity crisis. Most people here when describing what they do have trouble, they give a long list that might include any of the following… I am the computer teacher, a technology integration specialist, I teach kids and adults, I am responsible for professional development, care and management of hardware, networks, web pages, web services, data, I work in one building, I work in 11, and the list goes on. Why is this? Is it because others are not comfortable with technology so ANYTHING tech related gets directed our way? Why are teachers who teach “computer” also given additional tech responsibilities, do core subject teachers get these additional responsibilities such as the school web page, fixing printers and/or computers.

This lead to another thought, the people here know a little bit about everything tech related. They are very good at multitasking – this may be why they understand the multitasking skills of the “digital native”. It may also be why they have trouble convincing administrators and school committees of the need to integrate technology and welcome web 2.0 tools into the curriculum. Who we are and what we do is little understood by us let alone our administrators, many of us are pretty well assimilated digital immigrants. Maybe we are having trouble speaking across the cultural divide.
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