On the first day of the Multimedia for Journalism Educators workshop at HSJI, I led a group of stragglers from lunch to one of the hidden gems in the Union: the computer store! 

Among the stragglers was one of the course’s co-instructors, Judy Robinson, which caused two things to happen.  First, I  wasn’t counted tardy upon returning to Ernie Pyle Hall.  Second, Judy ended up purchasing an iPad later on the week.  Judy’s co-instructor Julie Dodd subsequently bought an iPad.  A few days later, one of my classmates, John Hersey High School (Arlington Heights, Ill.) teacher and adviser Janet Levin wound up going to the computer store on Thursday to pick up an iPad as well. 

Judy expressed her desire to create an app for the iPad, so keep an eye out for that!  Among other things, Julie will probably use the iPad to post future blogs from the back of a classroom while Judy teaches, as she did this week to demonstrate to the class how quickly (and unobtrusively) publishing to the Web can be.  (I think Judy even asked rhetorically "When did you post this?" when Julie showed us her latest post, complete with a photo of all of us.)  And Janet explained that the iPad will make it easier for her to read and grade the work her students post to Wikispaces when she’s away from her computer. 

Granted, our workshop was focused on multimedia and (to a large degree) technology, but when Judy and Julie began their trek from Gainesville to Bloomington, they probably had not considered the iPad as an essential part of the lesson plan.  However, the process by which three workshop participants ultimately left town with a new tool demonstrates several qualities of both education and technology.  Both education and technology remain fluid, ever changing, which excites many of us but might befuddle (or anger) others, which means that both require capable, invested users.  I cannot imagine the iPads Judy, Julie and Janet bought this week suffering a fate similar to my Wii Fit, neglected since winter break, because all three women are so invested in education (their own and their students’) and technology (in part out of a desire to be the best teachers they can be). 

We learned this week that technology can be an effective teaching tool, but I believe technology is also an amazing concept in the way that education is.  Both are better (and more enjoyable) when their users collaborate with one another.  As Judy and Janet discussed the relatively new technological device, they stated very different primary reasons for buying it that revealed their day-to-day goals and interests, but it was clear that they were passionate about how the technology could help their teaching.  So it all comes back to passion, which is why people might be a new piece of technology or begin a blog or, in perfect world, enter the teaching profession.  At the very least, passion is why my seven classmates and I spent the last full week of June in class, clear exceptions to that old, tired and often incorrect perception that teachers teach to have summers off.