5k - 20 min

Jobs on computers in schools

From the New York Times, 5 November 2011. I guess it does take more than a computer for learning to take place.

Even Mr. Jobs, Apple’s co-founder, turned skeptical about technology’s ability to improve education. In a new biography of Mr. Jobs, the book’s author, Walter Isaacson, describes a conversation earlier this year between the ailing Mr. Jobs and Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, in which the two men “agreed that computers had, so far, made surprisingly little impact on schools — far less than on other realms of society such as media and medicine and law.”

The comments echo similar ones Mr. Jobs made in 1996, between his two stints at Apple. In an interview with Wired magazine, Mr. Jobs said that “what’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology,” even though he had himself “spearheaded giving away more computer equipment to schools than anybody else on the planet.”

Professional Development

It is immensely frustrating to know that actual research has been done relating to the efficacy of the professional development models. If research has shown that “neither importing experts nor sending teachers to conferences has shown itself to be particularly effective in improving instruction,” why then is this the model followed so often?

Particularly with a large and talented faculty like the one at ISB, it would seem to be a more effective model to allow teams to truly select goals, develop expertise through shared research, and then work to improve practice. As mentioned in my first post, context is everything and the ineffective model described by Powell robs professional development of context.

A recent consultant had to be reminded many times that the grade 6 team is not new to using computers extensively in the classroom. She is/was a tremendously talented educator with tons of expertise but, robbed of the context in which we work, she was not as effective as she could have been in meeting the needs of the people she was supposed to be helping. It is important to note that she was invited without input from the teachers she was to work with and a fairly significant effort had to be made to have her visit in any way tailored to the needs/requests of the faculty.

In the interest of being productive, I will stop ranting. This has been the model I have seen in just about every school in which I have worked. I also know that ISB has been making an effort to get away from this model, as evidenced by the recent PD day in which many teachers led workshops and, perhaps more importantly, conversations about teaching. When there is time, teachers seem to come together around issues they find in teaching; we are lucky to have so many teachers who love what they do and care about doing it better.

All complaining aside, I know that I tend to work in isolation in some ways. I get immersed in the tasks I have to do and rarely leave my classroom. This leaves few opportunities for the casual and organic conversations that are often the springboard for much more in depth conversation. I have been lucky in teaming with great people in the IS grouping of my Humanities classes, but I also know that both of my partners were, like me, always rushing to finish class related tasks. Within my team, I am active in working to make our curriculum and practice relevant and vibrant, but this tends to happen within meetings.

I am particularly interested in the model of cognitive coaching. In the Powell course here at ISB, we engaged in short practice coaching conversations and I found the model to be very effective. I saw, both as coach and coached, how the focus on one student had me examining my practice in the classroom. I visualized my actual movements in the classroom and re-enacted key moments with individual students and with the class as a whole. I was actively reflecting on better meeting the needs of individuals and the group.

This seems like a powerful way to achieve what we are seeking with looking for learning while also developing the kinds of relationships between colleagues that will create a learning community. I have been lucky to have a wife with whom I have this type of conversation frequently and several colleagues with whom it seems like a natural next step.

Coetail Final Project: 10 March 2010

When we (Robin and I) began thinking of a technology oriented project for the course, we began to think outside the curriculum of our respective classrooms. We thought about how we gather news and information, ideas and inspiration for our teaching and personal lives and realized that we have adapted to the incredible abundance in the digital world by using a combination of browsing, repeat exploration and deep research. I, for example, regularly browse the headlines of about a dozen online news and information sources from four countries and in two languages. I regularly undertake more slow-paced exploration of a few stories/events/ideas each week. Finally, I research probably one or two things in depth per week. Some are of personal interest and some of professional interest.

One site I love is Slate because of its analysis of important issues and quirky topics and the links it provides for further research and investigation. There is a tremendous diversity of thought and topics represented on Slate and following the threads of related stories is often like letting one's imagination wander. It takes you surprising places.

This brings me to our project...

Like the larger world we live in, ISB is full of more ideas and activities than I can absorb at any one time. There are aspects of ISB life that I want to know about in detail and aspects for which a quick update is sufficient. Imagining that this is true for most in the community, Robin and I imagined a Slate-like site for our school. It would provide access to the life of the school and, most importantly, the intellectual life of the school.

We saw this as a key tool for community members to keep abreast of the richness of school life and as a powerful window for those 'outside' it. Much of the thinking from our students and teachers deserves an audience. Whether it is for prospective students and families or people seeking signs of intellectual life on the planet, we imagined a site that would allow people to set foot 'inside' the school.

Sports, pedagogy, literature, dance, theatre...they all have a place at ISB and we want people to be able to find them, explore them and realize how much is going on here. We also want them to feel inspired and believe that there is a place for all of the creative and intellectual energy they have.

Where do we stand now? We are planning to make it happen. I couldn't ask for more.

I could use a set of those

While we are thinking about going 1:1, maybe we could get them to throw in a set of Touches too.

Texting: Another Reason not to Call

I have always hated talking on the phone. Well. actually that's not quite true. There was a short period in Grade 7 when I was on the phone for hours at a time. Aside from that, approximately, six month period, I have avoided talking on the phone. Email was a dream come true but had its limits as everyone started to carry cell phones.

Then I discovered SMS. A dream come true. Instant communication but no chatting. Well it turns out that there is an unexpected benefit to texting for our students - better spelling! According to a study frequent texting requires a strong awareness of spelling rules even when non-standard spelling is used. So as long as our students can figure out that we don't want them writing that way for academic purposes, there is no harm in texting the hmwrk assignment.

c u l8r

Ensuring Students Learn What They Need?

Hmmm, isn't that what we always do? I thought that was my biggest source of anxiety for the last 18 years.

I don't think we can ensure (as in, make certain that (something) shall occur or be the case) that our students ever learn everything we think they need to learn. In regards to technology, that is also the case. We can, however, get as close as we possibly can to that goal with a two-pronged strategy.

With a vision for how technology is best used, we approach a point at which the majority of teachers are ready to buy in. Some teachers will always be hesitant to embrace new methods, be they technological or philosophical (or both), because of the many competing demands on time. When we develop a vision for the ways in which technology should be part of our academic lives, teachers are more more willing to jump in and take the time to integrate and master digital tools.

I emphasize the word ways to differentiate between that and specific tools. I have a(n evolving) vision of the place technology should occupy in my pedagogy. In addition to being a hugely powerful source of information, I see it as a means of expression and collaboration first and foremost and, secondarily, as a an archive/portfolio of student work. I believe the tools allow my students to express ideas in new ways to broader audiences and to collaborate with people beyond the confines of the classroom. They can and should now apply what they learn to more realistic problems and situations. Because I have a vision, I am comfortable bringing different digital tools into my pedagogy.

The second 'prong' to ensuring our students learn what they need re technology and information literacy is to weave technology into the fabric of a school. Across grade levels and across the different curricular areas, technology needs to be diffused throughout an institution rather than compartmentalized.

This is my personal philosophy, and it informs all that I do in my teaching. That said, I know that the the most important thing our students NEED to learn is HOW TO LEARN. Technology and information literacy are only part of learning how to learn. Good teaching leads to learning - content, skills and the habits of mind that create real learners. Computers, hand-helds, whatever device that may come our way are not pre-requisites for learning or success.

My choice - the liberal arts education

As the product of a liberal arts education I am biased but I think all the developments we are seeing mean that what we have to work towards is a liberal arts education for all our students.  Where liberal arts have traditionally meant a four year degree (and a pricey one), we need to extend (and fully develop) that idea so that it extends into our institutions for children and young adults.  

A liberal arts education is about learning how to think, to analyze and HOW TO LEARN.  With the skills garnered in a true liberal arts tradition all the things we are talking about - career change, shifting knowledge bases, communications skills, cooperation and networking - are part and parcel.  Someone with a good liberal arts education can adapt, learn new skills, tackle new projects, work with new people, use new tools...because they can learn.  

We live in a world in which business more and more drives education.  The terminology we use from best practice to outcomes all come from the business world.  Business has also been a driving force in the development of university programs that have no place in a traditional view of a university's role.  Hotel management?  Hello?

Business has driven education into odd specialization when in reality a good education would mean you don't need a university to TRAIN people.  You just need the university to help people learn how to learn.  Then they can acquire the specific skills they need when they move into the job/the project/the task of the moment/the year/the job.

Of course this means that we must incorporate new technologies into our curricula so that students develop their skills/knowledge base while using the tools that facilitate communication, cooperation and collaboration.