July | 2015

Archive | July, 2015

Naming Ourselves as Technology Adopters: A Nuanced Model

Preparing for classes anew brings university instructors into the realm of updating aspects of course interactions mediated by online and blended learnings space, and re-consideration of activities and assignments as new classroom technologies have become available. As teachers, technologists, instructional designers, and consultants come together for this work, Alison Link’s “Naming Ourselves as Technology Adopters” seems a timely post to re-blog.

TILT

Most of us have heard labels like innovator, early adopter, late adopter, or even laggard come up in day-to-day discussions on technology use. Your dad, for example, may seem like a perpetual laggard by refusing to update that stereo left over from his college years, or your Aunt Edna might be an early adopter because she was the first in the family to purchase a hybrid car. For most of us, it feels very natural to start separating ourselves, our families, and our colleagues into these kinds of boxes.

In higher education, discussions on educational technology are equally fraught with labels like these. Some of us have perhaps felt guilty for not being “early adopters” on things like smartboards and social networking. Others have tried the “early adopter” route and regretted it as a waste of time, money or effort:

Labels like these far from do justice…

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Tags: tech, technology

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