David Colings, Emily Bosley, Tracy Noles and Rod Hamby were preparing for a presentation on matching new technologies with adult learner needs. The teachers for Jefferson County (Ky) Public Schools Adult & Continuing Education had many points they wanted to make, but one of the most salient, they agreed, was that technology has changed the relationship between teachers and learners—for the better and forever.

Learners often know more about technology than the teacher now because the learners are digital natives (have grown up with technology) while teachers are more likely to be digital immigrants (adopted technology later in life). This opens the door for—sometimes even necessitates—more participation on everyone’s part, learners’ as much as teachers’.

It levels the playing field, so to speak.

On the day of the presentation, Collings was talking about this point. "If we as teachers go into a classroom with the idea that everyone is equal, teacher and learners, and that we all have to ante up and contribute the unique knowledge we have, then all kinds of magical things are possible. For this to happen, however, teachers have to let go of control."

Collings hit the button for a video segment to play during the PowerPoint presentation. The video segment was to illustrate that change was here and that teachers must understand the change or be lost if not trampled.

No sound. Four technologically savvy teachers sat on the stage. Each took a turn trying to solve the problem. Nothing worked.

As Noles explained what the video would be saying, someone from the audience passed a note to Collings. It read, "Reboot the browser."

It worked perfectly, quickly. And the technical difficulty proved Collings’ point.

"It’s like the idea put forth in the movie Matrix," Collings says. "If you can let go, get rid of the idea that you have to have control, you can do incredible things you never thought possible. You may not be able to jump off buildings or be shot without being harmed like the character in the movie, but you can create amazing experiences and learning that is a fun adventure."

Collings says he doesn’t try to control much in the computer labs he runs. Instead, he checks the TABE scores for each of his students and puts the student in an online experience at the appropriate level. When the students arrive, he shakes their hands, lets them know they are partners in this learning adventure, and works on-on-one with each student.

The veteran teacher acknowledges that this approach may be easier in a lab than a traditional classroom, but he says there is a common theme that runs through each situation: Everyone succeeds together. Everyone learns something every day. That’s what keeps everyone coming back.

"Even when something flops when you are using technology, you are learning to evaluate situations and technologies," he says. "We’re all learning, and that is good. Instead of looking for punishments or judgments (‘Do it this way or you will be in trouble’), it is much more fun to explore and learn together. Teachers are more like shepherds. And learners get to be the experts at times.

"If you can put your ego away and not worry about being upstaged, all kinds of learning can occur," he says.

Collings defines four steps to this transition:

1. Understand and accept that it is OK that you don’t know everything, especially that you don’t know everything about new technologies.
2. Open the floor up to all participants. Tell your class that for this to work, everyone must contribute. Everyone has ideas and knowledge. Everyone is equal here.
3. Prepare an icebreaker so that everyone gets to know each other and feel safe.
4. Keep going. When you hit the inevitable awkward silence or embarrassing moment, don’t let it stop you. Try a different technology or different subject matter.

"The way teachers are trained changes slowly," notes Collings. "As teachers, we have to make the decision to be more innovative and explorational ourselves."

For ideas about technology to use with your learners, Collings recommends larryferlazzo.edublogs.org. Click "My Best of Series," then scroll down to Technology.

Cell phones for class participation Since so many of us have them, cell phones just might be the perfect technology to use as an icebreaker in a collaborative exercise. David Collings suggests creating an exercise using cell phones that would be relevant to your subject matter. Then dive in and solve the problem together. This is technology that most people will feel comfortable with and that will help them see how much fun learning together can be.