The 'Precious' Curriculum |
| Let us reflect for a moment. When we talk about transforming learning, what are we trying to say? Put simply, technology gives students the power to transform both how they learn and what they learn. And by transform we are not talking just about changing the appearance or form of the how or what of learning, but changing the very nature of what makes up learning. We've only seen a tiny glimpse of what is possible. We can find a number of stories from exceptional teachers who have taken up the challenge of proving what can be achieved. But, what has been the exception must now become the norm. Our students, all of them, deserve no less. So, we've really only just begun. That beginning meant we had to give everyone access to technology - kids and teachers alike. When we do that we find man exceptional, courageous teachers to show us what is now possible with learning in technology-rich classrooms. And what happens in classrooms around the world is guided by what we describe as curriculum, and it is curriculum that is now the real source of our dilemma. To illustrate, I'm reminded of a story from Seymour Papert that gives us a context....he calls it the Parable of the Jet-Powered Stage Coach. ".....imagine an early nineteenth century engineer concerned with the improvement of cross-continental transportation. Someone comes to him with a design for a jet engine. 'Great,' the engineer says 'we'll attach this to stagecoaches to assist the horses.' When they try they soon see that there is a danger that the engine would shake the vehicle to pieces. So they make sure that the power of the engine is kept down to a level at which it would not do any harm. (It is not on record whether it did any good.)" Seymour Papert. Technology in the Schools: to support the system or render it obsolete, Milken Exchange on Education, July 1998. Papert uses this parable in the context of schools. I think it is even more appropriate in the context of curriculum. For too long we have ensured that the power of the engine - technology - was kept down to a level at which it would not do any harm - to curriculum. We can no longer 'bolt on' to our existing notions of curriculum. We have to rethink curriculum, reconstruct it. We need to re-engineer curriculum. Put simply, our 'smokestack' curriculum is no longer appropriate for a knowledge world. When we give students access to laptops as a natural part of their learning, the door is opened for us to do something significant. Let us not allow this opportunity to pass. Re-engineering does not just mean doing different things, or doing things differently. It means completely rethinking our notion or our understanding of what curriculum is or what it should be. We are way too precious about curriculum as it is provided today; the way we interpret it, the way we defer to it, and the perception we build of the role of curriculum in the broader public eye. If we are to seize the opportunity offered to us at this time, we should start by trying to establish some basic principles that can guide our thinking forward more clearly. Let us first acknowledge that we are not trying to throw out the concept of a reference or guiding framework. What we have to develop are the basic principles for establishing a curriculum of knowledge. Let us examine these basic principles: Curriculum must be built around core values: love of learning, lifelong learning, learning how to learn, working collaboratively. They are already out there and being valued in so many classrooms. We just have not taken them seriously in the context of what is now possible. Curriculum should be simple. Curriculum is supposed to be the guiding light. If we are supposed to be following it, then let us start by making it less complex. We have compartmentalized 'school learning' so much that we have created a repertoire, an industry of assessment grids and rubrics that have become ends in themselves. Let us get back to our founding objectives, our real purpose for it all. We are trying to develop active learners who love learning, who know how to learn and adapt rapidly, and who can build their own knowledge from information they discover. Simple. Curriculum should be relevant and authentic. As Drucker so succinctly defines it, 'Knowledge is simply information endowed with relevance and purpose.' There's not a lot of relevance in much of our curriculum today, and certainly too little purpose. So let us think of learning just-in-time....not always just-in-case. Curriculum should be a living framework, built around thinking. If we keep it simple and focused around our core values, we can do what we like in terms of the strategies we use to deliver it, without losing sight of those things we stand for, our values. Curriculum should be leverage-able. Why do we think that so much of what we learn under the guise of curriculum is an end in itself? It is sad indeed to think that we do not seek to use curriculum more often as a springboard to great teachable moments, to create wonderful tensions of thought, rather than stay within the safe confines it can be seen to offer. In some ways we may have developed a curriculum of the scared. Now is the time for the curriculum of the courageous. Curriculum should be transparent. What is the real objective of curriculum? To provide a purpose, a reason for learning. Too often it does just the opposite. We must engage, excite and enthuse our students about what opportunities learning offers, and we cannot do that if we continue to cloak our curriculum in shrouds of 'you need to know this'. Is there not so much out there that can be learned that our focus should now be on making it accessible, desirable and useful? Curriculum should be rigorous. The minute we start tinkering with curriculum, we are accused of softening it. Why? Are we scared that if we make the wrong investment in the early years of schooling, it will take many years to become evident, by which time the damage may be done and be irreparable? Let us never take that responsibility for granted, but let us also not deny the bigger responsibility we have to all young students who enters our classrooms to give them learning that is relevant, useful, and appropriate for the world they will enter when they leave our classrooms....and in the process it will be more rigorous and demanding than the habits we have delivered in the past. Let us dare to step into the future and stop teaching from our past. Edited and reprinted with the author's permission. The full article appears in Transforming Learning: An anthology of miracles in technology-rich classrooms. Edited by Jenny Little and Bruce Dixon, Kids Technology Foundation, 2000. |
| May 27th, 2010 @ 10:18AM | 1 Comments | Post a Comment |
Repositories, Rubrics and Portals |
| 2010 is unquestionably a time that has given me cause for reflection. Who would have thought when we all embarked on this adventure that we would have achieved so much over two decades?...or maybe you’re thinking the opposite…why has it taken so long! I agree with both thoughts; at times I’m almost overwhelmed when I look back over what has transpired over the past 20 years, at the scale and reach of what has evolved from those early, pioneering days of the early ‘90’s, while I’m also constantly challenging myself and others I work with and for, to do better. In reality of course, it is not 20 years we are celebrating, but rather the vision, or rather sketch, of Papert and Kay from 1968 which was of course, the very first seed any of us had of the possibility that our generation might possess the potential to genuinely revolutionize the place, time, nature and form of learning that young people could experience through access to their own personal portable computer. At that time I was ironically cutting Cobol code on an NCR Century mainframe, dreading its inhumanity, and oblivious to the seed of an idea that has inspired millions since. I reflect on the so many who have been a part of the journey; individual leaders from across education and beyond, inspired students, but most notably those truly visionary early adopting grade teachers, whose foresight and courage to push the boundaries of what this might make possible truly set a path for others to follow. …and yet at times I lament our lapses, in the distractions of so much trivial emerging technology, of language around powerful notions such as transformation, which quickly become appropriated by those at the fringes of incrementalism, and of concepts such as repositories, rubrics and portals, which are in reality too often simply pompous titles to tired old ideas camouflaged to disguise their subversive conservatism. We can do so much better than that..but more about that next time. If you’ve been part of that journey of the past twenty years, take time out to celebrate what you’ve been part of achieving. This is not once in a decade or generation stuff, this is far more than that. This is really about true believers; this is about people who cared enough about what they could and should do for all young people’s education that they sweated, and risked and argued and collaborated in extraordinary ways; they broke the rules about what was possible, they swam against the tide…and in the end they have won. I’ve always believed we don’t celebrate enough about what we achieve in education, and in doing so, we too often fail to acknowledge progress, spirit and valor. Well I’ll save you any thought of caution; to all of you who have made this possible for so many young people around the world, I raise my glass to you...oh, but btw, don’t stop now, the fun’s only just begun! As always, I’m very interested in your thoughts… |
| March 23rd, 2010 @ 2:28PM | 1 Comments | Post a Comment |
Sharing resources and background readings |
| Great to see our list of pre-conference readings is steadily growing. Hope you've all had time to look over them. If you have any other articles or links that you think might be relevant background reading for our workshop next week at ASB Unplugged, please add them to our resource/reading list. |
| February 16th, 2010 @ 7:21AM | 1 Comments | Post a Comment |
Researching Research |
| One of the first questions I've always been asked by schools considering, or just implementing 1-to-1 initiatives, is around research. "What research is there to support 1-to-1?" Currently on aalf.org we have links to more than seventy research papers around 1-to-1. Is that enough to start with? Well evidently not, given my recent observations. It appears that despite the volume of work that has already been completed, there is a need for almost every initiative to commission their own research around 1-to-1.Now in itself that might have some virtue, if each was exploring new aspects of ubiquitous access and its impact on teaching and learning, but that is sadly, rarely the case. Save for a serious literature review to precede any new research, we might actually move our thinking forward. No, every school is not different; despite the fact that every child is. From nearly two decades of experience in more than forty countries; from the experiences of now more than two million young people who have their own personal portable computer, and from much of the thorough research that has already been completed, we do actually know that... - Without the fundamentals of strong leadership, shared vision and effective implementation strategies schools will be distracted from the real task at hand, the impact on learning, and will struggle to sustain or scale an effective long-term 1-to-1 initiative. -While there are many easily identifiable areas of learning that are impacted through ubiquitous access, the really significant, transformational ones only become obvious over the longer-term when there is alignment between the opportunities provided by this new powerful learning medium and teaching practice. -Setting a low, and slow, bar for this transformation of practice is pointless. It challenges no-one. Be bold and ambitious, and your students will be the real beneficiaries. -1-to-1 initiatives are both complex and now relatively straight forward to implement. From all that we have now learnt about successful 1-to-1 initiatives, programs like AALF’s "21Steps" provides a reliable framework that takes away the unpredictability that has caused concern in the past. -We do not need pilot programs. If you aren't sure about whether you should give your students access to the learning medium of their time, then don't, until you are. -While we are well past the need to repeat basic research around 1-to-1, from the outset you should institute an ongoing evaluation and review program that looks for ways to continually improve all aspects of what you are doing. -It should now be taken as given, that ... 1-to-1 means students have 24/7 access; ie they take their laptops home...that is quite simply fundamental to any notion around 21st Century learning 24/7 teacher access is also an important pre-requisite, not the least because it shows professional respect, but also to support learning beyond the boundaries of the classroom. What age or grade you start is not as important as the fact you do start. Targeting younger students has shown significant benefits, and the challenges of traditional assessment are still just temporary barriers to optimizing what older students are capable of achieving. Traditional ideas around "professional development" are no longer adequate or appropriate. These initiatives require a reassessment of what is required for professional learning in the 21st century. To be effective it must be continuous, diverse and focus on the learning professional; that is, what does ubiquitous access now make possible for teachers? How does it allow them to improve their craft, to provide more options for learning, to explore complex concepts with their students, in ways they could not do before. Beyond the very fundamentals, it is not, and never has been, about skills development. It's about exploring new, powerful ideas..and that is what will engage the learning professional more than anything else. I'm amused by the seemingly endless amount of what I would call "reassurance research". Can we please focus on breaking new ground. Research that is exploring new ideas and new thinking around what this now makes possible. Can we also have the courage of our convictions and beliefs, that what we are doing we know is fundamentally right. Right in that we are simply providing our young people with the learning medium that was not previously available to them; and that if we stumble, make mistakes, that is an essential part of the true practice of research and development. So we learn from it, share what we have learnt, and get on with the job of really exploring what this will make possible for young people. As always, I'm very interested in your thoughts... |
| January 18th, 2010 @ 9:10PM | 0 Comments | Post a Comment |
Developing the Professional |
| In recent months I've become more convinced we are finally backing up the discussion around the role of teachers from one of trade to one of craft; from one that is a job, to one that is truly a profession...with some serious action. I know we all work on the assumption that we are all professionals, but to those who honestly reflect on past performance, behavior and attitudes that might at best be an optimistic view. I like Richard Elmore's thinking in his comments that "education is a profession without a practice"...there is absence of a clear body of knowledge and a clear body of practice. The foundation for any profession must therefore be its core knowledge, learnings and wisdom. Our challenge has always been not just how we can agree on that as a body of knowledge, as Elmore outlines, but more significantly, how that can be best shared across the diversity of people who wish to learn apply it to their practice. If a doctor can now perform an appendectomy through keyhole surgery rather than opening up someone's abdomen, then there is a willingness, almost an urgency to share that knowledge; if a dentist can now insert implants rather than provide false teeth, the same applies. However if we improve the process of young people learning to read, a very different approach is taken. ..and to be sure, being literate impacts far more significantly on life's chances than having your own teeth! Now not for one minute am I suggesting both the cause and solution to this dilemma is simple, but fundamental to addressing it is the shift to a culture across the teaching community that sees the need to continually reflect on our practice as embedded into our role as a professional. This underpins the very notion of the de-privatisation of our practice; its suggests that we have a professional responsibility to always be asking, "how can I improve my teaching?", and it implies that we will do so collegially, with the support of others, including the pedagogical leaders who will become the agents of wisdom sharing. These are an emerging new breed of school Principals who, freed from the burdens of administration through the increasing effective use of technology, are see that they will have an increasingly important role overseeing the quality of the actual learning experiences of their students, through the coaching and mentorship of a team of high quality teachers. Yes, of course there are, sadly, some industrial issues to be overcome in many places, but from what I have seen in places like Victoria, Australia through what their State Ministry of Ed call their Performance and Development culture we are heading in the right direction. They have also just introduced a common instructional framework and language that has been adopted across 1700+ schools, and I have witnessed a fresh enthusiasm among teachers in many of their schools for the notion of Triads, or regular teacher observations as a mechanism to improve their practice. ..oh, and by the way, yes, that does all imply that this emerging pedagogical leadership will see technology embedded practice as offering significant learning advantages to students across all aspects of the school experience. It also suggests that the knowledge required to leverage it will not come from one or two courses we sign up for every year, but rather from the continuous, iterative, and diverse learning experiences we will seek daily as professionals. As always, I'm very interested in your thoughts... |
| November 11th, 2009 @ 1:02PM | 1 Comments | Post a Comment |
Anytime Anywhere Professional Learning |
| One of the topics that heads many professional conversations around 1-to-1 relates to workforce capacity. We've spent years creating the notion of Professional Development, which I feel too often becomes something someone does to you, rather than it being something for which you take responsibility. Hence the rise of professional learning and learning communities, which is rapidly becoming the more normal or natural means of teachers building ongoing knowledge. So this presents a continuum of learning opportunities for teachers, which provide a diverse and continuous forum for their developments as professionals. At one extreme we have the intense experiences of a multi-day residential Institute; a practice-changing experience which has both maximum impact but is at the same time expensive and not easily scalable. At the other end we have the most common form of professional learning which is found across all sectors of business and beyond...turning to a colleague, and asking "how do I do this?"...the one-on-one short tutoring experience that is the basis on which most people build their basic skills. The teacher as the "lonely artisan" in their classroom longs for more of these opportunities, but as we see teaching becoming more and more de-privatised the use of this format will increase. So moving back from this one-on-one, we are seeing extra tutoring sources coming from things such as on-line forums and simple questions into Google..."how do I do.."; and of course the continuum includes traditional conferences, inservice workshops and a complete spectrum of choices. However there are three resources that are emerging as the most influential in providing the most effective professional learning opportunities for teachers, and will become foundation ideas that support the concept of the many also referred to as continuous professional development (CPD). The first is the growing use of coaches to provide incidental, as-required, just-in-time, not just-in-case support and advice for teachers within the context of their class, their school, their school day. Coaching per se is nothing new, but its role in dramatically improving the impact of learning opportunities for teachers, most notably by its ability to provide effective support in context, is becoming very significant. It can be provided regionally or within a District, but is most effective when site-based either across a sub-school, grade level or discipline. The second, webcasting/online courses, is rapidly becoming a more common format for teachers as it usually allows for the thing teachers most strive for, time flexibility. These learning opportunities are run live or synchronously, but are usually recorded to allow others who could not attend time to review or reflect over the content at a time suitable to them. A number of Higher Ed institutions such as Pepperdine have been running Masters courses in this format, while companies such as SchoolKit.com have had significant impact reaching large numbers of teachers in both West Virginia and West Australia. One of the early adopters in the field, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson, has been very successful with their PLP courses which are built around a blend of face-to-face supported by Elluminate and Ning sessions. The third has been a sleeper, but will, I'm sure, become a very important professional resource for teachers. Imagine if you had access, to a complete array of short 2-4 minute videos online that covered a whole range of areas that you could access easily, at anytime. They would cover all manner of subjects and topics and would be a forum of great ideas that teachers have found useful. It would have better indexing and sequencing than anything like You/TeacherTube; would have as engaging an interface as TED.org, and would be the ultimate resource for anytime anywhere professional learning for teachers. The essence of such a site would not be the content, but rather the ease with which teachers could access information that was of value to them, and was relevant in their own context. All three forms are already popular in some countries, and will become an everyday part of all teachers' professional learning repertoire in the very near future, and will ensure they have access to ideas and expertise at their fingertips, anytime, anywhere. As always, I'm very interested in your thoughts and ideas around the topic... Regards, Bruce. |
| September 9th, 2009 @ 3:57PM | 0 Comments | Post a Comment |
Netbooks, Notebooks, and Smartbooks |
| Please allow me a few words of “distraction” around technology. While the vast majority of our 1-to-1 conversations around AALF focus on a broad range of topics, most focused on pedagogy and transformation, I think it is timely to share a few thoughts with you around the emergence of new “form factors” of laptops, most notably what are currently known as netbooks. I must firstly say I am somewhat bemused by the breadth of reactions to the emergence of this new category of laptop; on the one hand we have an Australian State Government, New South Wales buying 250,000+ of them for their Year 9 to 12 students, and on the other hand I read the comments of some, who see these netbooks as a “companion” device, and of being “underpowered”. Let’s try and review the situation rationally. First and foremost I would reflect that we seem to still after all these years, be besotted by power. Remember it was a small group of 10 and 11 year old girls who kicked this whole thing off in the early ‘90’s by using a hard-diskless, 8.4” mono screened Toshiba 1000 laptop, that hardly connected to anything…but who managed to build ideas, construct LogoWriter games, develop some robotic applications…and oh and yes, write...more, more often and better. They didn’t realize they didn’t have a very powerful computer in their hands, but they sure had some powerful ideas about what the laptop they had allowed them to do. I would also reflect on the five and half year old tablet I just parted with, which, I’m told had about the equivalent power and capacity of many of these new netbooks. …and somehow it managed to serve me rather well. The only point to note is that the current generation of netbooks have limited multi-tasking capacities, meaning you would not normally want to have more than 2 or at the most 3 applications open at once. My final reflection is that I do note that many, though certainly not all, of the Tier One manufacturers who have released netbooks are finally starting to focus on the need for robustness in their design. Certainly OLPC and Intel’s Classmate set the benchmark with their “one meter drop” test, and hopefully that will become a minimum standard before long also. So above all, the emergence of just one new form factor of “fully functional personal portable computer”,(and btw you will soon see a whole array of various others)…at a very reasonable price, is to be celebrated…certainly a whole lot more useful for students that those overpriced PDA’s that so much money was wasted on! I’m not for one moment saying they’re perfect; I for one would think that they certainly need a 10+” screen as a preference, and I have misgivings about the size of the keyboard for older students and adults on the smaller screened machines… BUT…just hold your breath for another 12 months, and they’ll be running dual-core chips to give the graphics a lift, they’ll have solid state hard-drives which will significantly reduce mechanical failure, they’ll run comfortably for 5-6 hours…and then we’ll have a really affordable Smartbook, or more accurately in Papert’s words, Children’s Machine. And as we move to a position where the Children’s Machine is being bought in the millions, not the hundreds, a thousand more opportunities and ideas are going to emerge for learners, both inside and outside school. The other side-stories will be to see how Apple responds, given their success with the iphone screen technologies and whether the other manufacturers follow Intel’s lead with their great little Convertible tablet which seems to have now brought tablets within most students’ reach. I’ve always been a fan of the tablet form, as it gives students and teachers great versatility, but it’s only recently we are starting to see some really exciting learning applications that genuinely leverage its usability. There. I’ve got it off my chest, now I can go back to the stuff that really matters! As always, I’m very interested in your thoughts… regards, Bruce. |
| August 11th, 2009 @ 9:52AM | 3 Comments | Post a Comment |
The Secret Art of the Possible |
| When I'm speaking publicly, I often start by reflecting on the good fortune I have in being exposed to the enormous range of experiences, expertise and wisdom that comes from working across the diverse range of cultures that I'm exposed to in my travels. Having now worked with government and policy leaders, and educators across more than 40 countries over the past 10 years, I'm taken not only by those distinct things that separate one culture from the other, but even more so by those things we share. Of all those common ideas and ideals, one that I find most interesting is the widely spread mythology and misunderstandings around teachers' enthusiasm for using computers, and their readiness to adopt new practice to do so. Let me share my observations. In the past, in many countries, at differing times, following the regular announcement by politicians of the annual "Ratio Hunt" (you know, "we'll increase our computer:student ratio to x" )... there was a commitment to increase teachers' digital competency. This was then followed by programs that saw teachers attending some form of digital literacy course..and then back to their classroom..too often without access to their own computer, and with little impact. While I will acknowledge that in more recent times we have seen a dramatic increase in the commitment by many visionary governments to either provide or assist in providing teachers with their own laptops, we still have a long way to go. Surely by now they should simply be a "tool of the trade" and should be expensed as such. Sometime later comes the move to student 1-to-1, too often without first addressing the most important question in teacher's minds..."What does this ubiquitous access to a laptop make possible for students?" Yes, we can have teachers using email, and Powerpoint etc etc...but what about a clear articulation of the impact it will have on the learning experiences of their students? What does it mean for a Grade 9 teacher of mathematics, or history? How can it impact on our ability to create better learning experiences for students in physics, in literature, in music? How can this access improve the learning experiences and outcomes for students?..in other words.. "Show me the Art of the Possible". Without it, why should any teacher show real enthusiasm for using a computer in their classroom? Why have we been so besotted with digital literacy and "applications" and "integration", when we have failed to focus on the main game... What does this make possible for young people? Imagine any other industry that tried to introduce technology to its workforce without focusing on the core benefit in the same way; and yet many are still surprised that some teachers might be understandably cautious about moving to 1-to-1. Let's from now on, focus on this as our main game. Let's stop hiding secrets, and start proclaiming successes. Let's stop creating barriers to the answers and start showcasing the extraordinary experiences that to date too few have seen...and then every teacher who is granted the opportunity to explore this new territory will grab it with both hands. Yes, there are some teachers who are cautious and hesitant, but they are not blockers, but rather simply less able to intuitively see what's possible. It's now our job to show them. There is not a teacher who calls themselves a professional, in any culture, or any country, who after being shown what learning 1-to-1 can make possible-- who after being shown how more students are able to access more difficult concepts, more deeply, across a diverse range of subjects-- will not embrace the technology with both hands...and make that learning possible for their students. Forget File, Print, Edit, and focus our resources and attention on how immersive access allows students to be historians, to explore science as a scientist would, to build their own understandings in mathematics and across disciplines with the medium of their time, a computer. That is the real secret of the uptake and impact of technology in our schools, and that is where we now must now be focused. I'm interested in your thoughts...regards |
| May 29th, 2009 @ 1:04PM | 0 Comments | Post a Comment |
What if the 'best practice' you see, isn't? |
| I had an experience recently that I do not think was uncommon. I attended a national conference at which several teachers were running classes displaying what was ostensibly "best practice"..but it wasn't. Now I know that some now use the term Next Practice, but can I say in either case the problem is the same--its Old Practice, and dare I say it, in too many cases, Bad Practice. I always remember a similar occasion in the '90's, being taken proudly by two different Principals, in two different prominent schools, to their science classrooms to be shown a example of "best practice" in a 1-to-1 classroom in which the students were using a Paint program to draw a tripod sitting over a Bunsen burner. Like I said, just bad practice. And yet no-one can be critical of the teachers in either of the above cases; they were simply teaching in the best way they knew how--and there lies the problem, and the solution. In this often discussed world of Open systems, Open content and the like, I look to the concept of Open Practice as an answer. If we reflect back for a moment on my last comment: "teaching in the best way they knew how". Here are classic examples of the challenge our profession must urgently face up to if we are to re-imagine what appropriate teaching practice looks like in a 21st Century classroom. If we continue to permit teachers to be seen as the "lonely artisans", as my good friend Chris Gerry refers to them, then such artisans will never see the craft as it is performed by others; many of whom may well serve as examples of "better" practice. This sometimes described de-privatization of teaching, or Open Practice, underpins what is possibly the single most significant reform we can offer policy makers and educational leaders seeking to bring about a revitalization of the classroom experience for young people in the future. Open Practice however must bring with it much more than that which created the woes of the '70's; bigger classrooms, more noise and students bewildered by old practice in new surrounds. The new view of Open Practice must be built around professional learning communities that are diverse and many; that allow teachers to observe, reflect and most importantly learn from each other, as a life-long career behavior, rather than the current college-based notion of when learning takes place. It must be built on professional trust and respect, rather than skepticism and doubt, and with it a notion of accountability that far exceeds any external high-stakes test. And above all it will reflect a new professionalism for teachers, who will see ongoing and continuous improvement in not only what they teach, but how they teach, and with what mediums they use to develop truly authentic, relevant learning opportunities appropriate for 21st learners. |
| May 29th, 2009 @ 1:02PM | 0 Comments | Post a Comment |
What if Every Child had a Laptop-- and Nothing Changed? |
| We must continually challenge ourselves to explore the impact 1-to-1 classes have on student learning. We, as educators, must continually be asking whether we are doing enough to engage our students in authentic and relevant learning experiences. We must ask ourselves: What steps can we take to support those who are looking to create more powerful and worthwhile learning experiences for their students? What ideas do you have for educators, often in leadership positions, who are looking for strategies to build such commitment in all their staff, not just the one or two highly innovative faculty who in effect might be more the exception than the rule? One suggestion is to provide support through a Technology Coach. The idea of employing peer coaches is not new; however, it is essential that we develop a clear definition of exactly what this role is. *What do you think the role of a Technology Coach should be? *How should it be classified? *What skills are required to be effective in this role? *How might we develop and prepare people for this role? We envision a world in which our students develop creative powerful ideas around exciting projects that have an authenticity and relevance to them that has not been previously possible. That's the world to which we are all aspiring. The question is: how do we get there? |
| May 29th, 2009 @ 1:00PM | 0 Comments | Post a Comment |
