The Element of Fear

One of the unsurprising themes coming across in The Global Achievement Gap is the need to move beyond content and focus instruction on developing the learning skills necessary for success in life. Of course, the Ed Tech crowd, for one, has been saying this for some time now.

Seth Godin has an interesting post on fear and its impact on being able to sell a product.

Whatever you sell, there are two big reasons people aren't buying it:
1. They don't know about it.
2. They're afraid of it.

Overall, #1 seems to be improving nicely. The larger education community has heard about "the stuff." They're hearing more and more about how "the stuff" can support teaching and learning. However, it feels like we are still quite some distance from any kind of tipping point where true and meaningful tech integration is commonplace.

#2 is the stumbling block.

[People are] afraid of anything with too many choices, too many opportunities to look foolish or to waste time or money.

There are so many choices, so many tools; it's hard to know what to use when. So, how do we reduce this barrier of too many choices? What kinds of guidance will best support teachers by appropriately narrowing the choices to mitigate the chances of wasting time or money?