Description
You are up to date with the all of the latest, flashiest, and coolest of the “cool tools” – gadgets, devices, apps, programs, plug-ins, widgets, websites, and educational technology. When other teachers are having problems with their technology or looking for new ideas for websites, they might turn to you first. The potential to engage students with the technology tools they love and use in their everyday lives—cell phones, tablets, and iPods—excites you, but you also love the tools yourself. You’re a tester and a fiddler. You love to geek out, learning new skills and new technologies with a passionate sense of discovery.
Protect
- Teaching students to use technology tools safely and responsibly.
- Gatekeeping or providing `quality control` to students` access of websites and other digital resources.
- Using educational technology tools in the classroom yourself to both streamline and spice up your lesson plans.
Empower
- Giving students the power of using new technologies firsthand to make their own work.
- Engaging in students` interests of new technologies like smart phones and mobile devices.
- Acting as an advocate in your school for the use of educational technology in other classrooms and for other students.
Strengths
Techies have a 'finger on the pulse' of rapid technological change. They engage student interests around new and emerging platforms, programs, and technologies that they also love to use in their own teaching of classroom content.
Challenges
Techies sometimes find it difficult to engage teachers and students who do not share their enthusiasm for or confidence in using new technology. Techies need to make sure that they think beyond simple engagement in flashy technology and ask key questions about why and how technology functions, for better and for worse, in our everyday lives.