This week's #edchat blogger is Berni Wall (@rliberni), who beautifully captured the vasty and wily topic of equitable access to technology and tech literacy. Feel free to share your comments in the space below this blog.

--Betty Ray, Community Manager (@EdutopiaBetty) and Elana Leoni, Online Membership Coordinator (@elanaleoni)

The topic for edchat on Tuesday 9th February was a subject and a half - How can we guarantee equitable access and use of technology to ensure tech literacy and to support meaningful learning for all students? I quote it in full because this is heady stuff!

A while back, I wrote a post about how a great school leader has the trust of those she leads. Here's a question for teachers: Do we have the trust of those we teach?

Olaf Elch (@olafelch) is an ELT and intercultural competence consultant from Germany. A straight-talking and opinionated #edchat participant, he immediately emerged as a leader in the discussion of how teachers can play a part in educational reform.

--Betty Ray, Community Manager (@EdutopiaBetty) and Elana Leoni, Online Membership Coordinator (@elanaleoni)

To put it bluntly, teachers have a major image problem. Seen from the outside, teachers have excellent job security, long holidays, they aren't accountable for their performance and then to cap it all, they are constantly complaining about their pay and conditions.

It gets worse. Although teachers may be great at presenting information, they are not usually skilled at defending themselves against adversaries in the same way that politicians, journalists and business managers are. This means the teacher is holding a really bad hand when getting involved in emotive arguments like how to reform education.

"What is smart?"

That question provoked intriguing responses from a panel of big thinkers during the opening session of EduCon 2.2, a conference that recently wrapped up at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia.