Technology As A Journey, Not a Destination

Over the past two weeks, my team and I have had the opportunity to get some training using Apple’s professional development program.  We have one more two-day session next week.  This is an excellent resource and I cannot speak highly enough about Apple’s Professional Development program.  It’s not cheap, but it’s well worth the money. For us, we are wrapping up some spending of technology training dollars that was part of a grant I obtained.  Initially, I had wanted to include several teachers in this training to increase the amount of people to help build a training program.  However, I ran into the same problem I have had for most of the year: getting time to get teachers in a training environment is all but impossible.  I understand the difficulty in taking teachers out of the classroom.  For these two sessions, there simply weren’t enough substitutes to go around.  This time of year is busy with other training throughout the district.

My team and I have all of this valuable information, resources that would really help teachers in their classrooms.  All we would need is an hour here or there to be effective.  Besides money, time is the other scarce resource.  Earlier in the year, I provided some after hours training opportunities for our staff.  It was a total of 8 hours, two hours per evening and we provided recertification credit.  We did not have many takers, and the second round of classes, we only had one or two people enrolled.  I opted to take a different approach and create some video tutorials and post them in our district Moodle.  If a person went through all of the material I created, they would be able to get the same information as we covered in the class, possibly even more.

It occurred to me that these video tutorials were a very powerful medium.  I was able to obtain some video equipment so we can produce some high quality professional videos.  Now the hard part is getting people to find time to watch them.  It is especially difficult this time of year as the weather warms up.  When my day is done, all I want to do is work on my new blog, so I completely understand.  Lately, my interest in technology in my downtime has faded significantly.  I know it’s because it’s beginning to warm up, the days are longer, and my passion for growing food is renewed by the time of year.

A couple of weeks ago we took a little camping trip, the first one of the season.  It was a little chilly and just a crazy trip from start to finish, but I really enjoyed the disconnect when it finally all came together.   Sure, we used the Droid to check weather, and even e-mail a time or two.  However, as we sat around the fire roasting marshmallows, I realized that the last thing on my mind was e-mail or computers.

In this connected world we live in, I think it’s important to turn off the “stuff” from time to time and just learn to enjoy the world.  There is not much I enjoy more than sitting around a campfire with my family, and enjoying peace from everything.  When you sleep in a tent, on the ground, you connect with the world around you.

All night I heard the sounds of the world – coyotes in the distance, undetermined rustling, and owls just to name a few.  These are things we don’t hear when we’re connected to our iPods and the home theatre is blasting.  Don’t get me wrong, I love those things too.  But I think it’s important to have that balance, of nature and technology.

I know some people that feel uneasy when they’re in nature and apart from the comfort of our homes. One of the things about living in eastern Colorado is the sheer unending horizons.  Out here on the prairie, the world seems to go on forever, and you feel tiny and insignificant in the middle of it all.  For some, that is overwhelming out here.  For me, I find it comforting and helps me re-align myself in the world.

So the next time you’re upset at all the technology and it seem overwhelming.  Go find a state park, pitch a tent and enjoy a campfire with your family or friends.  It’s therapeutic.