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  • (Ed Tech) Work as a Luxury Good

    By Joshua Kim June 24, 2010 9:48 pm EDT

    A classic thought experiment. If you won the lottery today, would you go to work tomorrow?

    I'm betting that if you read this blog the answer will probably be "yes".

    In educational technology we work incredibly hard. There is too much work and not enough of us. Too many projects. Not enough resources. Not enough hours in the day. But the work is lovely. We get to play at the place where learning and technology intersect. Two of the most dynamic aspects of the economy, the education and technology sectors, come together in our jobs.

    Where else can you think about the iPhone 4 as a tool for new ways to learn, and get paid to come up with ideas? Where else can you have a reasonable chance of participating in a change in the way our kids will receive their college education's?

    What does it mean when work becomes a luxury good? How does this change our relationship with our bosses, our institutions, and our colleagues? Does this mean that we will never retire? And what does that mean for the younger generation that we will not be making space for to join our educational technology community?

    I don't think we are alone in educational technology in turning work into a luxury good. The best book on work I've read in the past couple of years is The New American Workplace. O'Toole and Lawler profiles companies, like the SAS Institute and Trek bicycles, that have figured out that one of the keys to profitably and productivity is to provide employees with equal measures of autonomy and support. In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink profiles how companies can tap into employees inner motivations to set-up results only work environments that cause them to outperform their competition.

    At some point the economists are going to have to re-think the divide between work and leisure.

    What would you do tomorrow if you won the lottery today?

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Comments on (Ed Tech) Work as a Luxury Good

  • Ed tech
  • Posted by Brenda , Administrator at UCSD on June 25, 2010 at 1:15pm EDT

  • And that is why I am looking at a PhD in Ed. Tech and E-Learning

  • Never retire
  • Posted by Frustrated , University staff at Research university in midwest on June 28, 2010 at 12:00pm EDT

  • Although I understand there are often personal reasons for choosing to never retire or retire very late in life (medical bills, supporting children or family, etc.) it makes me insane to watch university faculty and administrators work into their late 70s or even late 80s rather than retiring gracefully at some point. Of course there are incredibly talented and invaluable people out there who we hope will stay and pass on their wisdom and connections, but I'm noticing more and more that I attend meetings with people who are so set in the old way of doing things or using their age/experience as an excuse for not updating systems or trying new ideas, and it kills me to watch hundreds of bright, talented, eager young people waiting for work while people who have the financial means to retire decide to keep showing up for work and doing less and less when they obviously lack a lot of the energy to innovate. I find it especially worrying when it comes to technology projects as more elderly people are in positions of high authority for making financial decisions and choosing directions for projects but may not have a good technical understanding of what they're funding or how it will work, or what it takes to sustain it. If you choose to stop learning and start coasting on your credentials, it may be time to decide that there's more to life than work - retirement is an equal luxury good at this point!

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