Technology Needs People

Looking forward to the eLearning Conference. I know I'm going to see a lot of cutting edge technology. From my own experiences teaching online I've come to the conclusion that the technology is less important than the people who use it, than the lived space those people share. Case in point: I've installed Blackboard Collaborate on my office computer and laptop. I've got it set to open any time I open my computer, even if i haven't gone on the internet. I tell my students, every time I'm on my computer I'm available real time. If you join Blackboard Collaborate, when you log on I'll be right there. The only problem is, I'm a morning person. Most of my students are night owls. We are almost never on Blackboard Collaborate at the same time. So, when they want to talk to me they fall back on that ancient (at least in internet years) technique, they e-mail me.

There's my Collaborate window on the right side of my desktop. Not a single student is logged on at the same time I am.