Hello again. This time I would comment chapters nine and ten of the innovator's mindset by George Courous. before of summarizing what these two chapters say, I will express that I absolutely agree with the author about his thesis. He categorically affirms that powerful learning is more important than technology. It has to do with the tendency some principals have to get involved and involves all their staff in the use of technology without having the enough abilities to handle it. I remember four years ago the school where I work acquired two electronic boards and hired an expert to present a conference to techers about the advantages of using these devices. The conference was supposed to be a training session and lasted just two ours. During this time the trainer showed all his expertise in working with these boards but nobody learned to master them. After time has passed, these E-boards are out of orther and the only use they have is being screens to video beams. Although principal's intention when buying this stuff was admirable, the goal of being a new tool to expand knowlegde and gives some new opportunities to students and teachers was not accomplished. According to the author, if administrators wanted to see technology used in powerful ways, they need to foster teachers could see and experience new ways of learning. Comming back to the E-boards, what would you think have happened, if the principal before have bought them, had asked teachers about his intention? I mean, involve the community in a project is more powerful than only give them the most expensive and remarkable technology to be jsut stored due to lack of knowledge to master it. I also think that instead of hiring and expert to show off about his expertise in a meaningless conference, it is much productive to have short trainig sessions in which everybody has the chance to deal with the new tecnological device incorporated to the process. Unfortunately, the end of these luxurious E-boards shows that obsolescence happens when technology is prioritized over learning.

Besides, we must be aware that lots of requirements means focus on covering curriculum, rather than learning and exploring concepts deeply. When the author says that less is more, he also remarks the peril this mindset has. In terms of achievement, administrators must notice that this rule can lead to confusion and even to tiredness. Author's piece of advise is that before adding a new iniciative, principlas ask themselves if it is going to help the school to accomplish the vision, as well as, what the goals to impact learning are. Having students looking for new and better opportunities does not mean having lots of available resources.  It is quite better to focus on what we want learners to know and do. If we have this approach, we will find more useful resources students could master to create learning experiences towards the community vision. Principals and administrators must provide time for exploring and group work to allow new and better ideas to emerge and help educators move to the point where technology becomes transformative.

Another fact we have to consider is that creativity is not inspired by the pressure of time, but the time to explore and to create is paramount in being successful at innovation. As I said before, if we had had enough trainig time to master the E-boards, they would have been adquately used. Sometimes we are affraid of do not covering the curriculum and push our students in a nonsense race. Why don't we stop of doing this and start letting students work at their  pace? Let's let them make mistakes and take their time to explore deeply all they do. We must be aware of "Exploration and trial error precede powerful learning"

To conclude this entry, I would just highlight a sentence that is relevant. Somebody says: "Reading and writing could be the floor, not the ceiling". The world is more than reading and writing. It has to do with exploring, adapting, innovating and ceating new better options to live. We need to foster ambiances where students could deepen on knowledge, and technology is wonderful to connect each other around, but as a tool, it is not the goal.