The way we think about education is changing. New technology is revolutionizing the landscape in ways that were unimaginable only a decade ago. But, we’ve also learned some things along the way that can help make this change less daunting.When is special education week 2016 ? Here are five things all teachers (and parents) need to know about education technology. I invite you to share any pearls of wisdom in the comments section below. What you need to know: Having a YouTube channel is not enough if it doesn’t have 1,000 subscribers. Making a video is easy… editing is hard. A microphone doesn’t make you a professional speaker. Getting published on social media is not the end of the world.
Many education experts believe that the Internet is changing teaching forever. Education technology companies are generating hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in revenue by providing solutions for teaching and learning. The explosion of digital devices such as computers, iPads and smartphones has created an explosion in educational material such as videos. Online resources? Education 2.0 is creating millions of jobs for those with expertise in technology, marketing and content creation to name only a few.
Even the way we think about learning is changing: In the past decade there has been a marked increase in entrepreneurs solving their problems using new technologies-a phenomenon known as “emerging technology entrepreneurs” (ETE’s).
Five Useful Tips From Experienced Education Veteran :
1. Having a YouTube channel is not enough if it doesn’t have 1,000 subscribers
If you are thinking about starting a YouTube channel, this tip is for you. Without at least 1,000 subscribers, it’s unlikely you’ll generate any type of significant return on your time investment. And the truth is that without an existing audience, the effort required to generate the content and grow the subscriber base to this level will take you years. That’s why I’ve been working on my own entrepreneur education series since last summer when I had only 500+ subscribers. I need to get to 1000 subs first.
2. Making a video is easy… editing is hard
I’ve seen many educational videos that are poorly edited. I actually remember a video on Youtube by a woman with some very high tech toys in her classroom. She used to walk around the room with these (600?700?) toys and talk about how she used them to help her students.
She even left the classroom for several minutes and came back in! Wow! I was blown away by the production quality, but when it came time for me to watch the video, I felt like I was watching a movie trailer. If you are going to make a video, you have to put the time into editing. If you are not able to edit yourself, find someone who is. I hope it’s your kids!
3. A microphone doesn’t make you a professional speaker
I recently saw a TED talk by Jacques Cousteau (wait… did I just name drop my hero?). He was old and his voice was faint, but he held me riveted for the entire 18 minutes of his speech because he understood that “the talk” was about telling a story with credible credibility and passion. You can have all the fancy toys in the world… but without this critical teaching skill, your videos will go nowhere fast.
4. Getting published on social media is not the end of the world.
Media coverage and social media hype are important. Yes, blogging has an audience that is growing quickly, but for every thousand blogs out there (or even for every 25th blogger), a lot of people will click on one blog post or video link and never return. It’s hard to know who will hit your website (I don’t know either).
There are hundreds of “curated” lists on Facebook and LinkedIn that contain experts’ thoughts about education technology… but it’s doubtful many of them will actually read your article, let alone click on your blog post.
5. Here is what you need to know…
There’s nothing wrong with being an education expert on social media sites, but understand that an article or video posted on Facebook doesn’t have the same value as a published article in a trade magazine . There are many challenges with content marketing including audience engagement and conversion. For example, how do you get people to your website? I can tell you the answer based on my experience: you don’t want to send links out randomly. You want people who are interested in your content to find it.
