Explaining new technologies, 7 Things at a time
January 6, 2010
When it comes to professional development for colleagues, it can often be challenging to explain to others a service that seems simple to a techie. As part of its Learning Initiative, Educause (an organization devoted to advancing higher education with information technology) offers its monthly 7 Things You Should Know About… series of PDFs, which break down emerging technologies into an easy-to-understand format, describing not only what the new technology does, but why it matters in education.
The information in each 7 Things is timely, not reflecting on the technology everyone was talking about last year, but information that is important and relevant now. For instance, their most recent 7 Things is about Google Wave, which only rolled out its first invitations a month before the 7 Things article was published. Other topics that have been covered include microblogging, VoiceThread, and UStream. When colleagues start asking you, the “techie one,” what all the hype is about, it’s easy to get lost in jargon that is total Greek (or Geek) to people who don’t instinctively crave beta invites to new services.
In their own words:
7 Things You Should Know About…pieces provide quick, no-jargon overviews of emerging technologies and related practices that have demonstrated or may demonstrate positive learning impacts. Any time you need to explain a new learning technology or practice quickly and clearly, look for a 7 Things You Should Know About… brief from ELI.”
The handouts are PDFs, double sided, and laid out with an eye to graphic design and readability. They are easy to understand for even the most novice of technology users, and since most novices love to have a pretty handout, well, they serve that need perfectly. The PDFs could be attached to a newsletter, either electronic or paper, collected in a binder for teacher lounge discussion, or simply available to hand over when your mother-in-law says “What’s all this chit-chat on the internets about the Google Wave, anyway?”
7 Things You Should Know About….
