The Relevance of Education

Shelly Blake-Plock (@blakeplock) a faculty associate at Johns Hopkins School of Education wrote a blog post today entitled What will Education Look Like in 2020?  It is a good read but there is one particular quote in the post that I really like.

"In the digital age, technology is the access point to relevance."  


This is a huge statement, one that had me considering current teaching practice.  What I have been thinking about lately is how do we move educators to a place where they believe the above statement? So that they start to examine what happens in their classroom and why.  While talking about this quote with Les Sereda (@LesSereda) I wondered how teachers would respond to the quote.  This quote is saying much more than the need for technology in education, it is saying that technology is not just a tool, or fun add on in the classroom, it is fundamental to education.  If teachers were to respond to the following question what would they say?

In the digital age, is the way you are teaching students relevant?

Let me know what you think

Aaron

Blogging with Mrs. Wright's Grade 5 Class

This is my second time with Mrs. Wright's grade five class working on getting their blog set up and finally writing their first real post.  It has been quite a challenge for students mostly because they keep running into technology challenges out of their own control.  After two and a half periods they are finally blogging and you could hear a pin drop in this classroom. My next goal will be to get the students commenting on each others blogs.

Vision Statment

I have been throwing around ideas for a vision statement assignment for my final masters course and I am looking for a little advice. The task in this assignment is to look ahead at what your new knowledge suggests about teaching and learning in the future.  Let me know what you think, please be honest even if that means being a little harsh ;) This is the second time I have started this post only to change my idea.

This is a potential starting point... 

“Schools that ignore the trends shaping tomorrow will cease to be relevant in the lives of their students, and will quickly disappear.” (link) This quote from Dr. David Thornburg’s 1997 vision of education still holds true more than ten years later.  The difficulty for educators is seeing the trends shaping our world and more importantly how they will effect students.  At today’s rate of change, technology will experience the equivalent of  20,000 years of growth, this century.  (link) Students need a school experience that reflects the realities of our world.  Our students “literally take in the world via the filter of computing devices:  the cellular phones, handheld gaming devices, PDAs, and laptops they take everywhere, plus the computers, TVs, and game consoles at home.” (21st Century Schools Project)


Where I go from here I am not totally sure, I was thinking of creating a vision based on the google philosophy.  The problem with that is I think it will end up to vast for this assignment.  I am also considering writing this vision as though I am the Director of a school boards technology service department.  These core principles would guide my actions and decisions for technology in the school district.

1. Focus on the learner
• learner centered
2. Do one thing really really well
• Provide reliable access to students and teachers
3. Your time is valuable.
• The restructuring of the classroom
• Blended learning environments
4. Right Time, Right Place
• Digitization
5. Great isn’t good enough.

Why Tech Services Should Want iPads

I think when it comes to technology and all the challenges that come with it our school district is very similar to others.  We have a somewhat locked down system where teachers and students cannot install any new software or updates to existing software.  With the nature of technology we currently live in this is a constant problem in our schools, computers don’t have the right software or they have older versions that need updating that only one of a handful of technicians have the permissions to do.  Now our technology department has taken steps to try to alleviate these headaches by giving elevated account privileges to select teachers in the schools, but with everything a teacher has to do in a day who has the time to update flash, again on 300 computers?  While I am sure there are some solutions to these problems, (isn’t there an automated way to install updates?) these are major hurtles our teachers must face when using technology, not to mention challenges with everything else from WIFI and bandwidth to safety and ethics.  
In the past year our school district has purchased number of iPads fo kindergarten students, our special education and curriculum consultants and in the coming months all administrators. Our major challenge with the iPad is that the tech department will only allow ‘guest’ wifi access (which is awkward to say the least).  I recently watched a talk Fraser Speirs gave at the Abilene Christian University Connected Conference, on the implementation of iPads in his private school in Scotland.  (I have summarized his talk here, if you want to watch it click here.) Fraser’s talk got me thinking about why our tech department is reluctant to give us this access in an efficient way.  He asks a very important question, Why did we ever manage user machines in the first place? He gave three reasons:

1. prevent the user from breaking the operating system
2. Prevent installation of unlicensed software
3. consistent image for all users on any computer

Even with these checks and balances designed to minimize downtime we have massive issues with technology. Software requirements are complicated, updating software is impossible with the some user permissions, waiting for a technician to come to your school can take weeks, licensing is complicated, and connections are slow. What I have come to realize is that this is the world our technicians have always known, in many cases that is why they have jobs.  What has happened is that technology and specifically educational technology has changed and know one asked the technicians if it was ok.  I say this with a slight bit of sarcasm, but what has happened over the past ten to fifteen years is that the knowledge gap between the ‘tech’ department and educators has shrunk.  This has happened to such a degree that in some cases there is no gap.  What this has caused is a power struggle between the two camps. In years past we would go to the technician and say ‘I want to try this, can I?’ and they might say ‘ya go for it’ or, the more likely in my experience ‘no, there are all kinds of security issues.’  We would then turn around and walk away accepting that answer and move on.  With the knowledge gap closing we now stand there and say ‘prove it, show me the security risk’ or ‘tell me why’.  Let me be clear I think we need IT departments and more specifically technicians in our schools, but what we need them to do today is different from when they started their profession.  What we need technology departments to do is say ‘yes ‘when what they really want to say is no.  We need them to work with us to find solutions and better ways to deliver instruction.  I think that is what an iPad can do, it can help elevate many of the tasks that bog down our technicians and free them up to help educators use the technology in the best way possible.  Here is how an iPad changes things according to Spears:

1. It has an operating system that is extremely difficult to break
1. there is little or no IT involvement with an iPad until it is physically broken.
2. Licensing is handled as part of the platform   
1. you can look at any screen of any iPad and know that every piece of software is licensed (correctly) and free from viruses.  
3. Updates happen with one tap and one password.
4. The app store
1. One place to look and purchase software
5. Users are empowered for the first time to buy and try third party software without any fear of damage to their machine or problems with licensing or issues with compatibility
6. Purchase is trivially easy
7. Installation is automatic
8. The removal of apps is safe and easy
9. Every age, Every Stage
1. any one can use and learn from an iPad

For the first time what we, educators and technicians can do is give a student a piece of technology and have the confidence that it will work and work well virtually every time it is turned on.  Technology Services, IT, the computer geeks, whatever you call them should love this product and others like it because it will make their job easier and students experience better.  

Week 9- Digital Game Based Learning

Digital Game Building: Learning in  a Participatory Culture
Qign Li, Ph.D

Dr Li’s, paper confirmed for me something that I have seen with my own eyes, students like to create stuff.  It really does not matter what, posters,  diorama, or video games.  I know every time I would introduce an assignment to my class where they had to create something they loved it.  I remember on assignment in particular where I had students create digital stories.  They had to choose an individual they thought had change the world in some way.  That was it, I gave them very little direction on what content they had to include.  What I got in return was some of the best work my students would do all year.  I think when you allow student to be creative to create and think for them selves without getting in the way, like many of us teachers tend to do, they produce exactly what you are looking for; quality work that demonstrates what they know.


Does Days Do it?  Children, Games and Learning

Seymour Papert

What a great read, I especially liked the letters at the end.  I can’t help but think if Papert had written this article this year, it would have been published on a blog and that conversation would have been at the bottom of the post in the Comments section.  The conversation could quite possibly be still going, which is the best part of our participatory culture.  I took a few very good ideas about students and learning in general from this article, first it reaffirmed for me the idea that kids do not want learning or school to be easy.  Their very motivation behind playing video games is because they are hard.  I know when I was teaching I struggled with some content that I had to teach because I thought it was too difficult for most students to grasp.  Teaching the concept of worldviews to 12 and 13 year old students is very difficult, but I think that is what I like best about it now.  Another idea that Papert talks about is the fact that one of the motivations for gamers is to strive to be the first.  The first to get the game, first to play, finish.  The first to find or create a cheat.  What would this look like in a classroom?  Imagine students running into your class so that they could be the first to solve a problem, or the first to solve it in a different way?  And just so that they could say “I was the first.” Finally I love the idea of the learner taking control of their own learning.  I am sure most of you have had some type of conversation with a former student asking them how they like their new school.  I know one of the things they love about it (for me it is their experience in high school) is that there is more choice.  They make the decisions (to a point) what they learn and when.  Students always love that.  I know I do.

I found a new Ed Video game blog

Have a look at this blog I just stumbled upon.  Actually I didn't stumble upon it I found it though my RSS.

Profile of a Gamer

Here is my profile of a gamer assignment.  I made it more challenging than I needed to, but I learned a lot so I guess it was worth it.  Let me know what you think.

Ok I see that I have yet another issue... The video did not upload to youtube correctly so I have to redo it. When it is done I will change this post.  

Aaron