I was, not secretly, hoping for another book from Martin Weller, but it looks like his latest series might have concluded. I for sure shared being wrong about Things I was wrong about pt2: The Death of the VLE, while the others I either didn’t have expertise in or was in a different phase of my own career path than Weller. I think it’s a really interesting concept to share those moments where we were wrong, and commendable to be vulnerable in doing so. Perhaps the not sharing of times we were wrong, and as Weller notes, the rush to move onto the next thing contributes to Edtech’s Amnesia.
Writing the posts was an interesting process personally though. Some themes emerged, such as you can be right for a certain period, but then things change and many of those early assumptions are no longer applicable. Things I got wrong were often allied to a certain degree of optimism and idealism, indeed naiveté, which, sadly demands a more cynical perspective going forward. I think it’s also true that I was guilty of something people do a lot in ed tech, even though we proclaim the value of research, which is projecting out from my own experience.
In general though I feel it would be positive to reassess mistaken beliefs and views we held with regards to ed tech on a regular basis. This needs to be done in a safe way, … The point is not that any one person was wrong, we need to acknowledge that is common, but the reasons why you were wrong, and also why you felt you were right, in terms of the technology (not your personality) and how the context panned out. …
WellerI have a copy of 25 years of edtech sitting on my bookshelf that has been catching my eye again since reading this post. I’d wager if I went through it again and with my own ‘what was I wrong about lens’ there would be plenty to share. ePortfolios is one that comes to mind. I had such high hopes for those and they just don’t seem to ever work out.
I encourage you to check out Weller’s mini-series, Things I was wrong about.
Photo by Mizzu Cho