The Readiness Equation

I was talking to a colleague recently about how we can frame the approach we want to take in building bridges between academic technology resources and community development needs by way of service learning.

On the one hand, the education sector is so rich in potential, creative energy, innovative thinking (and a virtual lack of technophobia) and there are vast deserts of local community that are withering for the lack of such resources. How do we create those bridges? How do we introduce the resources in a way that facilitates their adoption and even better, full integration?

There is a formula (equation?) for this! (Gotta love math! Actually, this idea stems from my accounting class!) This equation, I think, can be applied to most individuals, communities and academic institutions in order to identify areas of need. It's amazingly simple:

Preparedness + Willingness = Readiness

Preparedness refers to the technological tools and skills one needs in order to accomplish a given goal or to begin an endeavor. Willingness is a measurement of the attitude or spirit of receptivity to the process or the endeavor. And readiness is the synergy of those two elements, or state of being that enables a person or group of persons to move forward with reasonable expectation of success toward a goal. Tools plus attitude equals state of being, or readiness.

As an educator, I believe that we are responsible for and capable of catalyzing BOTH preparedness and willingness in any community we hope to serve. As a geek, I have a definite affinity for technology as a tool for this preparedness, but I'm realistic enough to know that willingness is as important to this Readiness Equation as the technological tools we bring to the table (and the lack of willingness perhaps the largest obstacle with which we must contend where preparedness exists, and vice versa).

How do we inspire the confidence of our community of partners in both the tools for their success as well as for their own ability to fully utilize and exploit them for personal and common good? Well, we must lead by example. We must allow for mistakes. We must remain flexible in our plans and open to innovation and creativity (tangents lead to undiscovered treasure!). We must leave the time-line for innovation open-ended and we must include all voices in the conversation. We must provide the "sandbox" of opportunities complete with plenty of innovative toys and space in which to learn and explore. And we must maintain a democratic and egalitarian playground where no single voice or group of voices is allowed to quell the others. And finally, we must allow the process of readiness to be one of self-discovery for all players.

As parents, many of us know that the commonly held belief for the "readiness" of our children on certain hard and scary topics like sex and death is best left to the child. We ask, "When will I know when little Kate is ready to hear the hard-core truth?" And the wisest answer has always been, "She will let you know when she's ready by asking the question." We know that if we answer the questions that are asked simply and straightforwardly, without emotionally laden expectations or warnings, the forum is created by which more (& deeper) questions will come. When the response from us inspires inquisitiveness and wonder rather than embarrassment or shame, the child (in each of us) begins to move forward on his or her own path toward the tools we have laid out and into the spirit of confidence we hope to instill and inspire.

There are parts of us that never "grow up" beyond needing a safe place to explore. Even though our bodies age and toys change from dolls and toy soldiers to the more adult diversions, we, each and every one of us, need that level of encouragement and reassurance in order to progress ourselves toward complicated and scary changes. In the arena of academic technology, I meet people who are brilliant and successful in their professional fields but who melt down into hardened blocks of emotional resistance when the computer is switched on. It's critical, we believe, to address this level of technophobia not only in the process of our work, but in establishing the relationships and arenas in which we will perform and explore it.

In some cases, the preparedness will be there without the willingness. In others, we will find communities or persons with no fear or apprehension but who simply have no access to the tools (hardware/software, access, digital literacy -- each a critical component to preparedness). Mathematically speaking, those scenarios are expressed respectively as:

Preparedness = Readiness - Willingness

or

Willingness = Readiness - Preparedness

and viewing them as such lays out our mission in each custom solution to the obstacles at hand. It is the mission of digiTenn to address not only the preparedness factor (providing hardware and software tools, suitable Internet access and digital literacy to every individual and community) but to address the willingness factor as well. To do so requires the acknowledgment of fear and the dangers of rigid expectations in our program delivery and of ourselves and each other.

With a traditional Tennessee pioneer spirit and the innovative approach to sandboxing (credits to the Tennessee Sandbox Consortium), there is nothing we can't accomplish as a statewide community.

We are ready!