Most professions have professional journals. Professional journals have long been the method by which innovations to professions have been introduced. Lengthy articles explaining the: who, what, where, when, why and how of an innovation in the profession was spelled out for all to read. Follow-up journal articles weighed the pros and cons. Journals historically have been a form of print media, but with the advent of the internet many are transitioning to a digital form in addition to the printed version.
The process for innovators to get things published in these professional journals can be long and arduous, but the pay-off is usually worth the wait. These journals have readerships of great numbers of people in the very profession that specific innovators want to reach. There are: journals for Medicine, journals for Law, and journals for Education just to name a few.
At one time, to keep up with the journals was to keep up with the profession. That was true when change came slowly and people were able to adjust to change over longer periods of time. With the advance of technology, things began to happen more quickly. Innovation began to explode. The process and the trappings of the print media began to fall behind. More and more innovators took to the digital alternative of websites and blogs for their; who, what, where, when, why and how of an innovation in the profession. The professional journals began playing catch up. Innovation exploded in every profession and the print media has proved to have many more limitations than digital publishing. Why struggle with the Readers Guide to Periodical Literature when Google is at hand?
Now, let us go onto education and its professional journals and their impact on teachers. Contrary to what is often said about education, currently, there are many innovations affecting the education profession. Technology is the driving force behind most of the education innovation. It is impacting not only what we can do as educators, but it is also changing how we approach learning. These innovations may have not all reached the education journals yet, but they have been presented and are being discussed digitally and at great length in social media.
A few of the recent topics include: the Flipped Class, eTextbooks, PBL approaches to learning, blended classes, Edcamps for PD, BYOD, Digital classrooms, Tablets, 1:1 laptops, digital collaboration, Social Media, Mobile Learning Devices, Blogging. Some of these topics have made it to the print media, but all are being delved into at length through social media. It is a disadvantage to be a print-media educator in a digital-media world. I can understand how a majority of educators whose very education was steeped in print media is more comfortable with that medium. The technology however, is not holding still to allow educators to dwell in a comfort zone. Just as the technology of the printing press got us beyond the technology of the scrolls (Parchment & Quill), Technology is now taking us beyond print media to digital publications and boundless collaboration.
In order to take a full measure of the advances of technology, there are certain adjustments to be made and skills to be obtained or reanimated. This requires a change in behavior, attitude, and most importantly, culture. Information from technology may be easily accessed, but it is not yet a passive exercise. It requires effort and an ability to learn and adapt. These are skills that all educators have, but many may not always be willing to use. The status quo has not required educators to use these skills in a long time. Using these skills requires effort and leaving a long-standing zone of comfort in order to learn and use new methods of information retrieval. Waiting for the Journal is no longer a relevant option. Educators are driving the changes, but technology is driving the change. The need for reform may very well come from the need for the changes in education to keep up with the rate of change.
Professional Development is the key to getting educators to access dormant skills. They need to be the life-long learners that they want their students to be. It is the practice of life-long learning that separates the good teacher from the great teacher. They need to be led and supported in this effort. They need to be coaxed from those damned comfort zones which are the biggest obstacles to real reform. This must apply to ALL educators regardless of title. If administrators are to be our education leaders then they should be leading the way for the teachers. Professional Development is not a teachers-only need.
In order for teachers to better guide themselves in their learning, they need to know what it is that they need to know. They need relevant questions about relevant changes. Being connected to other educators, who are practicing these changes already, is a great first step. Using technology to do that is the best way to develop these Professional Learning Networks. Connected educators are relevant educators. That is how we can begin to change the culture and move forward to real education reform.
Connecting with other educators is easy through Social Media. Twitter is a mainstay of information for thousands of educators. Ning sites provide great collaborative communities for educators to join groups and share sources. Blogs provide the most up-to-date information on innovations and current practices. RSS feeds and iPad applications like Zite, and Flipboard carry blogs directly to you to read and share. I could add many more things to this list, but the sheer amount of things technology offers educators is in itself a deterrent to those who are overwhelmed with how much they think they need to learn. Educators need not know all of this, but by focusing on one, the others will begin to come into view, and the need to learn as a life-long learner will take control.
My Island View 
Well said, a great learner today has to leverage and recognize the power of technology. Teachers and administrators have to model 21st century learning. I don’t think all teachers are learners, sadly some have stopped. Different disciplines and grade levels seem to approach learning very differently. Science teachers see learning, inquiry and research as part of their jobs, and they model this. Unfortunately other disciplines seem to rest on what they learned 20 years ago – the canon of knowledge they acquired to teach literature, history or math serves them well today… Science and technology change to quickly, to even be relevant as an instructor requires constant learning. I know this is a broad statement, and I have seen exceptions to this, but I still wonder if the model of teaching material with no expiration date is not part of the problem.
I think many veteran teachers have learned not to jump at every trend, new program or innovation because they’ve learned that “this too shall pass.” But they come around when something demonstrates effectiveness and staying power.
I am an avid learner, and I don’t spend a great deal of time in the journals, but read constantly online looking for new ideas. I agree. There are some amazing things out there which are positively affecting schools.
I agree with both sides of the coin here. Educators need to educate themselves, definitely! But like Brian pointed out, jumping on the bandwagon just for the sake of something “new” is not an effective mindset. I think open-minded educators plus a collaboration – perhaps we should take the lead from those offering the educational journals (with high integrity research) in online forums – could equal success in this new and constantly changing education technology era.
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As usual, your words mirror my thoughts in a more eloquent manor. For most of my teaching career I joined educational organizations and read their journals. Once I discovered blogs and Twitter, then developed a PLN, I never looked back.
All “knowledge trades” (teachers, journalists, doctors, judges etc.) have a hard time admitting that there’s a pile of “don’t know” for every crumb of “know.”
The wise ones do, and they shine… and technology amplifies it favorably.
While the contributions of journals will always have their place, teachers need to embrace a proactive approach to coping with changes. It’s 2012, NoTeacherLeftBehind…
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great post! i recently blogged about this very idea: http://bit.ly/xCASA9
it is the idea of “lifelong learning” that we, as educators, strive to develop in the attitudes of our students that we must emulate. we can’t know what we don’t know, but we can anticipate that we will need to possess knowledge about our pedagogy, our subject area, brain research, etc.. the 21st century affords us with so many resources right at our fingertips to build a wide range of information. these various bits of knowledge could be the kindling that meet with a spark to help us to more easily ignite the learning of what we don’t know.
I’ve been teaching for 25 years, I guess this makes me a dinosaur. Regarding the latest innovation and theory, unless you can show me how it will help my students, it will do it better than I can, then why should I change to something different? I am constantly adjusting my teaching, and I am willing to use technology to help my students learn better.
The biggest problem with educational reformer is, just because it worked well in ‘this particular situation, with this particular teacher’, it does not necessarily mean it will work for me in my classroom. Additionally there is always the planning factor, I have seen some incredible lessons and techniques, but to plan them it takes time, time which I do not have. Please do not state that as a professional I should make the time, teachers have been doing that for as long as I can remember. I currently work 14 hours / day Monday – Thursday, and a regular 10 hour day on Friday. Yes, do to the relatively low pay I have to work as second job as a private tutor.
One final comment, just because it is new, and some vendor says it is the best thing since sliced bread, does not necessarily mean it will work for me in my classroom.
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Amen to that, Ed. The time it takes to wade through all the information out there and plan to implement it in your classroom can be enormous. But I think a happy medium of finding an efficient way to have access to the newest and most scientifically conducted research (such as Twitter) can be useful to educators. However, I am a firm believer that experience is often more sound than some research, even research carried out with the best intentions.
Hannah – somewhat despite your point, you nailed one of the most important reasons to listen to your PLN: they are the people with experience; they are the implementers, not the researchers. Sure, what people write about their experiences on their blogs could be seen as ‘case study’ material, but largely we’re talking about reflections of practitioners from which we can all learn much.
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Hello Tom:
Thank you for this thought provoking response.
You’ve made a very important point: Technology is the driving force behind most of the education innovation. This is very true and I have written about many of the topics you’ve listed (mobile learning devices, social media, etc.) in your post because technology is bringing about change and enhancements, especially for the online classroom.
This also brings me to the second point I’d like to discuss from your post: Connected educators are relevant educators. My work as an educator has been done within an online classroom. I did not begin working full time in a traditional classroom and then transition online – so I did come from an environment where I was required to publish in scholarly journals. Many online educators also become involved in higher education without ever having worked in a traditional environment. Do you believe that those of us who work in higher education without a traditional background are more adaptable or are we missing a valuable perspective?
Dr. J
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[…] Most professions have professional journals. Professional journals have long been the method by which innovations to professions have been introduced. Lengthy articles explaining the: who, what, wh… […]
[…] Most professions have professional journals. Professional journals have long been the method by which innovations to professions have been introduced. Lengthy articles explaining the: who, what, where, when, why and how of an innovation in the profession was spelled out for all to read. […]