When is New Ready for Now?

When is it appropriate to use something "new"? In several discussions on Classroom 2.0 (Ning), there has been a lot debate over the use of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Twitter inspired a particularly interesting debate.

I spent a lot of time this summer learning about various "new" tools and trying them out. Some I'll use personally, some I'll recommend to colleagues for professional use, a few I'll use with students and some are just not for me right now.

As educators with a large number of standards to teach and a relatively brief amount of time to teach them in, we have make careful decisions. The standards and the needs of our students have to come first. A good tech tool can help students learn and think in an engaging manner, that is effective and efficient in terms of time and money.

Some tools though aren't appropriate for classroom use and others are only appropriate in some cases. We won't really know until we try. It isn't about jumping on the bandwagon for everything new. I'm not going to use Second Life or Twitter in the classroom just because the are currently hot topics. I am though going to keep investigating, discussing, and testing these tools and others. Just because there is no clear need now, doesn't mean there never will be. Just because I can't think of an appropriate use, doesn't mean someone else won't come up with a way to use that tool that is engaging, effective, and efficient.

Thanks to all those who keep the debate and ideas flowing. Thanks also to those who remind us that standards and needs come first. Together we can help make educational tech decisions that are best for facilitating the learning of all students.