Soon to be released

Gatto's book "Weapons of Mass Instruction" seems to paint a gloomy picture of public education in this country. The book is not out yet, but will be released soon.

I always wonder how the same types of arguments surrounding public eduction hold up in the private school setting? Other than smaller class sizes and more flexibility around curriculum, most independent schools rarely practice their independence. When the very structure of education is questioned, I feel that only a very few schools can say that does not apply to us.

The reviews of this book remind me of the Pink Floyd song - "Another Brick in the Wall"

Helping one person at a time

It is exciting to believe that you can influence change in some global way in the school. One great presentation or a handful of really engaging workshops, but the longer I do this the more I realize it is the one to one collaboration that really makes a difference.

The well attended workshops this year have been training sessions, where teachers were taught how to use a particular software. These workshops served their purpose, those teachers came away with a new set of skills - they got what they came for.

But even software training has changed, some people want to be feed every thing in a step by step order. Others want to play around and figure things out. Some can be given the basics and the time to play around and are fine, while others will rarely venture out of the structure of the class. I think the way teachers learn say a lot about the way they teach.

I have taught high school computer classes for eight years, and it always surprises me how we have trained students to learn in such a traditional way. Lets play around and discover how the software works, lets collaborate as a class and work together to discover what is possible in Photoshop or a similar software. While some are able to do this, at least half want to be fed the information, and actually become frustrated when all of their questions are not answered by the instructor.

Have we forgotten to teach them how to learn?

Student Built Resources

Doesn't it make sense for students to build and develop a set of tools and resources that they use throughout their school career? With so many online tools that let you organize resources and tools in one place, it seems to make sense that students maintain multiple spaces for continued learning. Imagine going to college with a digital presence that is already plugged into sites and services and most importantly people.

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Andrew Churches' wiki on Bloom's Taxonomy and how it relates to web 2.0 is tremendous. The rubrics he provides for blogging, wikis etc... are truly helpful.

After listening to a colleague express his fears about technology dumbing down the curriculum, and hearing his concern about doctors and lawyers googling the answers on the fly; because why bother to learn anything in the world of Google. Are we really encouraging laziness?

I think that it is important to keep in mind that technology is a tool used to learn with, but it has also changed the way we are able to learn, so teachers should make sure that students are equipped with the skills necessary to use these new tools effectively. If I was in med school and for the last ten years a particular procedure was done with a robotic laser, should I still learn the old way simply so I can appreciate how much better the new way is, or in case the laser breaks and for some reason can not be repaired, and I guess it would have to break at every other hospital as well – but you never know?

In the “real” world every test is open book, and most work is done collaboratively. I think revisiting Bloom’s Taxonomy might be helpful.

1. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
2. Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate,
3. Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write.
4. Analysis: analyze, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test.
5. Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write.
6. Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.

All of the heavy hitters in the educational technology world recommend moving slowly – taking baby steps, but what if this recommendation is as dated as Windows 95? New teachers are as frustrated as I am by having to progress at this snails pace, especially in regards to technology which changes daily. Remind me again why we have to move so slowly. Part of me thinks that this is a self serving myth, feed by people who make their living telling us how to use technology in education. What is wrong with making mistakes, and learning from them? If we are teaching people how to learn we have to teach them how to learn from their mistakes.

Technology as a tool

I like the idea of Technology as a giant tool box, and all of the different applications as individual tools in the box. Any one who has worked around the house knows that the right tool makes all the difference. This analogy is also helpful when thinking about when to use technology in education – when it is the right tool for the job.

If creating a short video documentary about a topic engages students in the learning process, and helps them take on role of instructor for their classmates, then in some cases this might be a better tool than an essay.

Technology should not be used just for the sake of using technology; it is a tool to get a job done. Students learn how to use the tools as they go, how long did you practice with a hammer before you used it, and when you did use it did you just drive nails into some random board simply for the sake of driving a nail?

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OK, I was afraid of this - people may actually read this, and not just random people, but people I see every day. The first thing you will notice beside my flowing prose is my over use of the comma. But you came here for Tech stuff not the late night ramblings of a geek.

I would really like to know what I can do to help you teach. Give me some ideas, I have a few I am working on, but I have found that sometimes it is something so simple - a wireless mouse, training in a particular program or a site that helps me do ?? Sometimes these little things, that go unnoticed really make a difference.

I feel that my job is to help you do yours. I have not spent as much time as I would like working with the faculty, but that will change. There have been a few things I had to nail down first.

Ian Jukes

I went to an ADVIS technology meeting yesterday, Ian Jukes presented. He has a unique style to his presentations sort of cross between a Baptist preacher and a comedian. His message is the same one I hear from all of the big guns in the education tech world.

We (schools and teachers) are doing a great job preparing students for a job and life in 1956. In other words we are not keeping up with the rapid changes of the world. We continue to do things the way we always have, but students have changed quit a bit in the last 30 years -

Part of his shock and awe approach is to outline how quickly technology is advancing, he sites "Moore's Law" a well known theory that states computing power doubles every 18 months and the cost is reduced by 50%. This theory has proven to be more or less true for the last 40 years or so. If this pattern continues, and there is no reason to think that it will not, the implications are huge - computers or devices that are 100 of times faster then anything now for a fraction of the cost.

He went on to talk a little about nano technology and bio technology and some recent advances in both of these fields. All the while making the point - are schools ready? Are students going to be ready?

One other interesting topic that Ian presented was the concept of Exponential growth and how learning occurs this way - yet schools continue to provide a linear education.

Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica

How does the work get done?

Once we have all agreed that schools owe it to their students to engage them in different ways and shift to a more student centered classroom, what happens next? It takes so long to get "buy in" from all of the teachers, do we have to wait for everyone to be on board, or can we just start.

I really feel like I need to get the infrastructure up to speed to support the usage. Nobody should have to struggle with the equipment.