In training teachers to use technology, it’s easy for us to forget that the largest benefits often come from going after the low-hanging fruit.
As Seth Godin has written, from a marketing perspective:
“Imagine that half the cars in the US get 10 miles per gallon. And half get 40 miles per gallon. Further stipulate that all cars are driven the same number of miles per year.
Now, you get one wish. You can give every low-mileage car a new set of spark plugs that will increase fuel efficiency by 5 mpg, up to 15. Or you can replace every 40 mpg car with a car that gets 75 mpg, an increase of 35 miles for every gallon driven.
Which is better?
It turns out that the 5 mpg increase is far better for overall mileage than the 35 mpg increase, even though it’s smaller both as a percentage and absolutely. That’s because the 10 mpg hogs use up so much gas. They’re the low-hanging fruit, not just easy to fix, but worth fixing.
As marketers, we’re tempted to tweak the already tweaked, to turn the 100 to 101, to optimize for the peak performances. That long tail is very long, though, and if there’s a way you can raise the floor (instead of just focusing on the ceiling) you may be surprised to discover that it can have a huge impact.”
This is a principle that we need to remember as we train teachers to utilize technology more effectively. Instead of putting all of our efforts into getting the most tech-savvy teachers to eke out even a bit more productivity with the newest technologies, we need to redouble our efforts into making sure that our least tech-savvy teachers make gains in their use of educational technology.
I consider it the “No Teacher Left Behind” theory of technology in education, and we would be wise to remember it.
