I was recently given a book from my nephew, who is a
current special forces leader, prompted by The Mission, the Men, and Me written
by a former special ops soldier by the name of Pete Blaber. I mention
this book because it has so many parallels to the work we do in dealing with
complex tasks and assignments.
The most significant parallel from the book related to our
work in education and the effective integration of technology in particular. The "aha" comes from the author's view of how military leadership viewed the work on the ground in
light of armed services technology. His point is made in his description
of how leadership would make decisions in remote places even as far away as a
1000 miles from the point of operation with little consideration of input from the people closest to the area of focus. His idea struck a nerve on two
points:
1. Leadership saw technology as almost the end all/be
all. In other words, they relied on the satellite imagery, the laser
guided weapons, the communication technology, etc. depending on the power of
these tools to accomplish the mission. This appeared to be almost to the
exclusion of the people in the theatre.
2. The admonition from the author to always "listen to the guy on the
ground." In order to attack a complex problem (in this case chasing down
bad guys in Afghanistan), context has to be built and that requires time and a
mindset to get as much relevant information as possible. The author
mentions having a common sense approach to "develop the situation,"
unlike traditional planning procedures. (This reminds me to not to assume anything because something worked well for
The art and science of teaching has a complexity that seems
to be unappreciated because of the subtleties of our work. I have heard
experts compare this complexity to that of a brain surgeon, and this is
affirmed when we consider all of the elements of teaching and learning on a
minute-by-minute basis. One author went so far as to call teachers
"brain changers" (Pillars 2011). Now add the use of technology
to this complexity, and we have a challenge that demands the investment in
thought, resources and planning that are equal to the task. Our tendency
is to forego building context when it comes to inserting technology in the
classroom. A failure to develop a relevant understanding of what it takes
to meet the needs of staff members to support the role of technology in the needed instructional shift makes it that much more
difficult to change the teaching and learning dynamics required to create a 21st Century
Learning Environment.
As leaders, we tend to oversimplify the mission of
integrating technology in our classrooms with much the same approach as the
military and intelligence leadership mentioned in this book. Technology
is powerful, and if we insert that technology in the classroom, everybody takes
off to greater academic learning and success, right? (Wrong!) We make the
assumption the technology will "do the trick." The reality is
without developing the situation and without "listening to the guy on the
ground,” we just insert technology into a system and a situation that has not
been prepared to adapt to the desired teaching and learning. The optimal conditions required to launch
these tools to be used effectively and powerfully does not occur naturally and seamlessly. We take a formulaic
approach to a complex and dynamic situation that has several moving parts.
A few lessons learned from this thinking can be applied to
what we do on a daily basis:
- We can never stop working with everyone involved in teaching and learning. Listening to the input from the people who witness teaching and learning challenges on a daily basis is essential.
- Develop the context of our challenges and the complexities that exist with teaching and learning with the use of technology for learning in mind.
- Keep technology in perspective: It brings powerful learning opportunities and conditions that do great things for kids only if teachers act purposely to create those conditions and opportunities. The more effective the teacher is in this area, the more effective the use of the technology.
- Teachers can also "listen to the guy on the ground" (students) and go through the same process of developing the situation and determine context to be innovative and solve complex student learning problems in light of the innovative use of technology tools.
Pillars, W. (2011, December 20). Teachers as Brain-Changers: Neuroscience and Learning. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
