Deep Blue? Sad or Mad or Glad...

It's a beautiful day this Easter -- sunny and warm!  And I finally feel that I am grabbing hold of the hardware aspects of technology.  Amidst the nice weather, I am acclimating myself to my new iPhone, which I have tethered as a "hot spot" to my new Mac Pro, and which I can now use for the purpose I bought it for, what, two months ago:  to access the Internet.  And, yes, I have busied myself downloading new Apps (I never thought I'd do that) and all that other rigamarole.  Pretty cool.  I know, for many of you this is not-too-new.  Let me enjoy my epiphany and the excitement.  I casually Skyped with cohort Sue the other day -- I've never held a conversation with my computer screen before (my family thought I had finally and truly lost it) -- at least where it talked back to me.  (My other conversations were monologues directed one-way with a varied sort of profanity during "trying moments."  Anyway, just as a plane needs speed to create "lift" to fly, I feel that I am slowly getting up to speed in my own sweet time.  As I've said, pretty cool.
I've included a link to Deep Blue's victory over chess master Gary Kasparov.  I think of it as a son finally beating his dad at a game of hoops in the driveway -- the moment when the created defeats the creator.  There is something disturbing about a competitor you, for all intents and purposes, cannot see.  Anyway, Kasparov held up well given the massive computing power of Deep Blue, though he did seem fairly steamed and frustrated after conceding defeat.  Nevertheless, I thought it important that they stressed that Kasparov was really competing against of team -- comprised of some of the most brilliant minds, that being the team of programmers and designers of Deep Blue.  As we journey into our exploration of Instructional Technology, I feel it is important that we are mindful that with all of this theory and technology that has emerged and will continue to emerge, we have to keep in mind that it all boils down to what we do with it, how we employ usefully and artfully, and that pivots largely upon one important factor:  teachers.

The Road Not Taken

My path down Instructional Technology Lane brings to mind Robert Frost's classic poem "The Road Not Taken," in which two roads diverge in a yellow wood and the narrator must choose between them.  My decision to join MAITS was a last minute one -- I tend to get bogged down with schoolwork during the school year -- and I nearly opted out; however, I "hopped aboard as the doors were closing," and I'm glad to being "going for the ride."  I just finished reading and teaching Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and one of the more important underlying themes in the story is how small events and seemingly meaningless decisions and actions can alter one's life significantly and even the future, too.  This seems to be the case here, as well, with my going back to school.  My instruction will be revitalized, I think, and made current, perhaps even leading edge.  ( I can hope, at least.) Some educators may fear change; I embrace it, as long as I feel it benefits my teaching.  That decision to take the path less traveled was a last minute one, but, as Frost says in his poem, "that has made all the difference." (You can click on the picture to see the poem!)

Just follow the yellow brick road...

When I decided to join the MAITS graduate program and continue my education by learning about instructional technology, I soon realized that "continuing" was not the most accurate word, maybe not even in-the-ballpark accurate to describe what I would be learning.  When I was asked that first day of class what Web 2.0 tools I was familiar with, I answered, "Absolutely none," and I soon realized that what I was learning was, indeed, all new to me.  Simply said, I was learning in the fullest and most genuine sense of the word.  And it occurred to me that, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz who remarks in wonder to her new, colorful world, "We're not in Kansas anymore," the virtual world beyond my classroom was wide and wonderful and a tad bit overwhelming, too.  However, with that worry comes wonder, and, despite being a little overwhelmed with trying to absorb new knowledge and pondering what else is out there in cyber-land, I was able to acquire proficiency with some new Web 2.0 tools and even incorporate several of these into my present teaching -- for the betterment of both teacher and students.  I was a student again, and learning.  And learning is cool -- even for old teachers!  Our first day of our next class was, perhaps, deja-vu.  What is this?  I don't know that.  How can I do that if I don't know what this or that is?  The answer is simple:  I'll learn.  So, let's get started!  (And by the way, I am on vacation and in New Orleans right now -- did I mention how the world has changed?!)