I just have to get this out of my system. I know being a techie is actually really fun (the joy of nerdness is a little-known secret), but if we want other people to take our work seriously, we have to stop being so darn cute with how we name things.
Example number one is Moodle. Here is a great, powerful learning management system that is free and offers incredible opportunities for educators, but every time I introduce it the first part of the conversation always revolves around the name.There are the obligatory jokes about noodles, of course, and then the need to explain that it’s an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment before finally getting into why it’s important and how it can be used. Unfortunately, I always end up feeling that the silly first impression sticks, and it undermines the credibility of the whole endeavor.
This is just one example, of course. There’s Drupal for content management, and the programs Yugma and Dim Dim for webconferencing, just to name a few. Ning. Twitter. Is it any wonder that non-techies think we’re just a bit weird? (Ok, so we are, but why make it so darned obvious?)
I’m not saying we need to become the modern equivalent of the 1960s stereotypical white-shirted computer operators. After all, if technology stops being fun, I’ll lose interest myself, and I love an inside joke just as much as the next nerd. But the next time we create something that’s supposed to reach out to the non-techies, let’s try to give it a name that has a touch more gravitas. Or at least something that doesn’t sound like a cartoon noise.
so true. what’s cute/quirky in the consumer world often doesn’t work in education – even if it’s “consumer” facing. That said, I think even in consumer/web2.0 technology, this is limiting adoption to some extend – which is a shame, because some of the tools (twitter, ning, wetpaint and facebook-connected apps) could have real promise in the classroom (I’m less enthusiastic about moodle and drupal for K12, but that’s probably a separate post)
You should see it when I tell people they can embed their “Yammer into their Moodle and then RSS feed it all back to their iGoogle.” I feel like a stand up comedian! I think to get their attention I will stop referring to it as a open source solutions that allows you to extend the day and the walls of your classroom, and instead call it “Personal Online learning that Works.”
Conn, for the most part I agree with you. I can also see the need to get out of the traditional thinking that educational tools must be boring.
Mel, that’s the interesting part of balancing the whole thing. I like the idea that tech (and good teaching) should be exciting and engaging for teachers and students alike. (We just renamed a workshop “Web Gizmos and Gadgets” that had originally been called “Web 2.0 Tools” because nobody signed up for the latter.) And if I have to make a mistake, I’d rather it be on the sillier end of the spectrum rather than the boring end!