Do I feel that Eric Langhorst's article After the Bell, Beyond the Walls encompasses the Essential Conditions for Technology Integration?

Well, I think it does. Certainly one of the most telling points, at least. on the success of Langhorst's "StudyCast" program was in the feedback from students that they listened to test reviews while walking the dog or doing chores around the house. Another was in the feedback from parents on how they too listened to the "StudyCasts" and in doing so felt more empowered to help and a supportive part of their child's education. These are evidence of Shared Vision, Access, Student-Oriented Teaching, Assessment, and Community Support.

But, I suspect that these are as much a result of Langhorst's efforts as they are evidence of a supportive environment. In other words, I think Langhorst deserves enormous credit for pioneering such a program--he saw a need and willed it into being. And, yes, he had the basic support he needed to make it stick. The theme I want to exercise here, is that other individuals in the same exact situation as Langhorst, may not have had the will, determination, energy, and wherewithal to get the program off the ground. In fact, it may well be that Langhorst would or could have failed in other situations. But I bet he would have kept trying. I think it comes down to the sheer will power of an individual or a small collaborative group of individuals, in the final analysis, to make a program like this grow and flourish---that coupled with the right set of basic conditions and then at some point the program gets a critical mass and takes off.

The fact that the program appears to have been a sort of grassroots seed program that received good, but not extensive, support in starting out, but that mostly bootstrapped itself is also encouraging in that it proves, as in so many reform efforts, that concerted efforts of a dedicated individual with really basic support AND A GOOD IDEA can, in fact, turn a success story. Essentially, this good idea caught on, received the support of students and parents, and thus parlayed itself by reaching outside of the classroom to other schools, colleges, authors, and other interested parties.

I guess what I am concluding it that I think they left one item off of the list of Essential Conditions for Effective Technology Integration that really needs to be there...you need a dedicated individual, or a core group of collaborative individuals, that will painstakingly, relentlessly, energetically, creatively, and willingly apply themselves to bring such a thing into existence even when there are times that they may have felt like giving up or falling back to safe patterns and status quo.

In considering whether this example encompasses the Essential Conditions for Technology Integration, I would say yes, but follow that quickly by stating that these conditions weren't just laid out on the table for Langhorst...it seems that he reached out and made sure he had those conditions and did a great deal to foster them himself. Whenever we talk about the system providing us conditions for something to take place, all very important, we need also to remember that at the heart of change it usually comes down to individual efforts. As Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

As an interesting corollary to this theme, I was wondering to what extent teachers can reach out for the same resources they want to use to help their students, but help themselves with issues and concerns they may have in establishing the "essential conditions" for their initiatives with technology integration (and otherwise). I found the New Teacher Hotline podcast...there, Dr. Glen Moulton, a supervisor of instruction and lifelong teacher trainer, and Michael Kelley, the author of Rookie Teaching for Dummies, provide a means for teachers to submit your questions to be addressed via their bimonthly podcasts for teachers: New Teacher Hotline Podcast