Small steps to being a "techno wizard"

I thought it might be time to add a little of my own content to this blog. My first true blog entry is really about taking those first few steps on the long road to becoming a techno wizard.

I have stolen the phrase "techno wizard" from my boss Jan who coined it when discussing with me her path ahead to practising e-learning at BJ's. I don't know if it really is possible to become a true techno wizard but it's never too late to start learning some of the tricks and tools to add to your training arsenal.

E-learning is not going to be the solution to every training scenario, but having some e-tricks you can pull out of the box when you need to will certainly add to your credibility with y-gen learners and can even make your face to face lessons more engaging and interesting when used in the right way and with the right group. I have read the exploits and seen with my own eyes many experienced trainers go from zero e-learning knowledge to conducting whole courses online in a very short space of time. The real key with getting on the path to becoming a techno wizard is "don't put e-learning on a pedestal".

If you have: emailed, surfed the internet, subscribed or posted to a blog, skyped, chatted online, facebooked, myspaced, used Microsoft Office, played Xbox/playstation/Wii/or any other platform, used a mobile phone or any other of umpteen dozen other skills then you have the ability to be an educator who uses e-learning as a big gun in their training arsenal. These are all tools and applications which will help you develop your e-learninng skills and you shouldn't downplay them. All e-learning really is, is using electronic tools to aid in the facilitation of courses. So essentially we all have the ability to utilise e-learning. We just need to have the time, motivation and inclination to transport our skills into an e-learning environment.

If you use tools like del.icio.us, RSS, Google Reader, Blogger or anything else already why don't you start by thinking how you could use these tools to aid your students? Integrate one into your classes. You're now on the path.