Technology Integration Part II

So, what do we want to do with the technology? Even before deciding what technology to pursue, defining some goals is essential. It's more of a restatement of what any teaching tool might do, but it's helpful as a reminder. I would like my technology to improve student engagement with the material, support collaborative learning to increase creativity and ownership of the material, make the process of teaching and learning more efficient, provide improved and diverse resources, give students the resources to take responsibility for their own learning and learning styles, and extend the classroom beyond the four walls and 50 minutes they're in class for the day. Oh, and it'd be nice if the technology could provide me with some personal professional development as well to learn all this new stuff.

Obviously I cheated a little. I only mentioned the goals I knew the technology was already delivering, although I have no idea what it will be capable of delivering tomorrow. Some room has to be made for just experimenting with new things, but what it can do right now is pretty amazing. Whether it's students creating wiki's, reflecting in on-line journals, or taking advantage of numerous resources for review, there exists numerous unique methods for students to engage in the material that would only be practically possible with computers. Right now I am exploring the use of wiki's. The ability to see previous versions of the wiki, and to track how many changes each student contributes is, in itself, enough to make it worth exploring.

Regardless of the process or technology, we should be focused on whether or not the students learn. Ensuring we ease the digital divide, and ensuring all students have a laptop is a means to an end, not an end unto itself.

Preparing students for university is of particular concern, as of course I work at a school devoted to ensuring students enter the university of their choice. Many universities have adopted online course management systems (such as moodle or blackboard). In many cases this gives students more access and freedom in terms of course resources and assessment, but it also demands a higher level of responsibility. If your university professor decided to post an assignment online on Friday due Monday, and a student didn't log in all weekend, it's tough luck. The first time any student encounters such a system shouldn't be in first year university. Education has changed radically in the past 5 years, and there are new skills we need to pass onto our students.

Careful allocation of resources, both time and funding, are key. In a boarding school such as ours time especially can be important, as we don't get to have our students stay home in order to plan professional development days. On the other hand, we do have someone on staff who is devoted to training teachers in course software and technology (we're a smart board school, so that's pretty important). It's almost impossible to have too much professional development, and money and time restrictions ensure there is always something important we need to explore but haven't yet.

I've heard the meme, attributed to Jim Harris, that 80% of the technology we use in twenty years hasn't been invented yet. This pairs nicely with the Red Queen Effect, the phenomena in which we have to run as fast as we can just to stay in the same spot.

With the plethora of useful tools, software, collaborative systems, course options, let alone exploring professional online professional development opportunities, there is the danger of casting the net too widely. While encouraging teachers to explore anything that they find useful, it's up to the school to develop policies to create a strong and stable foundation to support their efforts. In some areas this comes naturally, such as course management software. No school would (I assume) install both Blackboard and Moodle, but would use one to create a common grounds Students and staff can learn one system, there is only one system to trouble-shoot, etc. While experience with one will often help when using another, it is fairly clear that the freedom of offering both is clearly overshadowed by the difficulties in allocating enough resources to train and support staff and students on their use.

This is an obvious example. A less obvious example would be the technology the students bring to the classroom. In a school that provides laptops in some fashion this isn't a problem, but a school that allows students to bring their own laptops provides a particular challenge to the teacher. Today in class I had my science class creating a wiki on biomes through moodle, rather than the poster project we might have done a few years ago. It will create a resource for all the students for studying, and in their own words as well, and seems like a perfect example of how technology can enhance ordinary learning opportunities. The students were gathered in their groups, creating and editing, when one student came to me with his Mac. There was obviously a bug in the program such that his Mac and the wiki weren't interacting properly. I made a dedicated attempt to solve the problem, but there was a setting somewhere that was incorrect, and despite my best efforts I couldn't solve it. And now you know my deep dark secret:

I am not familiar with all available technologies, at all times, and in all places.

I'm a pc user. They're cheaper, they do more, there's more software and (completely irrelevantly) smug commercials annoy me. I used to be a Mac guy, but I switched somewhere back in university when choice and money really mattered. The school is almost entirely pc based. I cannot be expected to trouble-shoot both Mac and Windows (heck, I don't even want to troubleshoot both Vista and XP, although given the similarities I probably can). For this reason I am seriously considering banning Macs from my classroom next year.

In this case, unlike the previous example, I am sure there will be disagreement. There is the case for giving students more freedom of choice, and proponents of both Windows and Macs often see this issue in almost religious terms rather than rational ones. Let me be clear. My issue with Macs is not that it's a poor choice of computer (it is, but that's a post for another day), or that Windows is superior (we have all the software, so we win), but that this is purely an issue of resources. Examples such as the previous one occur all the time when I attempt to use the laptops available. Even just letting students have their laptops in class for taking notes, and not using them in any other way, presents problems. A high school is no place to just let students fail; we often have to return them to task when distractions arise. The potential for distractions in laptops is incredibly high, such that classroom management software as an aide is almost de rigour. However, doing this would again require the ability to trouble-shoot and aid students using different operating systems. Buying, using and becoming familiar with both systems increases both the amount of time and money that will have to be invested into professional development, hardware and software.

So, no more Macs for me. (And before you comment about how much Macs are better, if I owned a Mac and our school was Mac centered, I'd be banning Windows boxes. It's the ability to manage the tech that's the issue, not the tech itself.)

What else can schools do to make best use of the resource available? Encourage your teachers to explore social networking to develop a personal learning network. The resources and advice I've found in just one week of using Twitter was phenomenal. Finding ways to release teachers to go into classrooms and collaborate to see what works is very useful. Often my best ideas have been picked by a teacher who's been doing something interesting for ages just down the hall. Lastly, but certainly not leastly, friendly and helpful technical support is a must.

Some guidance for teachers in terms of developing policies that cover as many predictable problems and circumstances as possible will help ensure that problem-solving will be proactive rather than reactive. Course and classroom management software, along with teacher training, will help keep the dark side of technology from decreasing student learning rather than increasing it. It is imperative that the teachers be trained significantly before the students, so that they are comfortable engaging with and utilizing the technology. Other potential problems include power issues, dealing with theft or damage, a loaner pool, and (of course) cost. Addressing these problems ahead of time will certainly ensure more time spent on teaching and learning, and less time spent on reacting to problems.

Cheers,

Ron Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School

Weekly Resource List

Twitter
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2286799/Can-we-use-Twitter-for-educational-activities
Using Twitter for educational activities

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/evan_williams_on_listening_to_twitter_users.html
TED Talks - Evan Williams: How Twitter's spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses

Smart Board (Interactive Whiteboards)

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/clf/index.htm
Interactive flash games by subject area. Good for Smart Board.

http://smartboards.typepad.com/smartboard/2009/02/smartboards-sketch-paint-online.html
Sketch and paint online - nice for smart boards.

Subject Resources
http://teachhub.blogspot.com/2009/02/exploring-geography-with-google-maps.html
Exploring geography with Google maps.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2134266654801392897
Brainiac - Alkali metals

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-as-indonesia-funky-fish,1,541996.story
For discussion on species in Bio - Psychedelic fish discovered.

http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/RP/article.asp?type=CurrentIssue
Journal : Chemistry Education Research and Practice

http://www.inspiredlearningcommunity.com/node/683
Celebrate Pi Day

http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2009/02/a-brief-moment.html
A brief moment in the magnificent history of mankind - A 1 1/2 million year old foot prints.

Classroom 2.0

http://ma21stcenturylearning.wikispaces.com/nais
Presentation and resource wiki from NAIS

Articles

http://www.youthmarketing.com/big-numbers-small-media-and-the-future-of-marketing/
Marketing through mobiles.

http://members.cox.net/pvsciteach/foldinst.pdf
How to create foldables.