A Commentary on Scott McLeod's Opening Remarks at the Iowa Education Summit

I enjoy reading the Dangerously Irrelevant blog because of the challenges made to school districts by the author to improve on our practices using technology. Sometimes I walk away feeling overwhelmed or even a little angry, but the comments made by Dr. McLeod are always (in my opinion) with the future of our students in mind. The following is a look at a few of the comments made by Dr. McLeod at the Iowa Education Summit with my thought.


Dr. McLeod:


...we'd teach students how to properly maintain and manage those computing devices rather than removing user privileges and locking down the ability to change any settings


My Comment:


I agree with this, because the more you attempt to lock something down, the more the students seek ways around it. I am not saying that our district does not lock things down...they do mainly for liability reasons. I think if Dr. Mcleod is leaving anything out, it is the legal aspect. That being said, we have allowed cell phones out of lockers for four years now. That has been a big help because students are not constantly trying to sneak them. They know the time and the place. It has been so successful that I do not say anything when they take the phones out of their pocket and use them in class; whether to look something up, send a text asking a question, or to use the calculator. Our laptops do have some items lock on them, but they are always open for debate. If it can be used for an educational purpose and that can be conveyed by a teacher or student, the locks always come off. 


Dr. McLeod:


...we'd find out the exact percentage of our schools’ families that don’t have broadband Internet access at home rather than treating the amorphous ‘digital divide’ as a reason not to assign any homework that involves use of the Internet


My Comment: 


By my rough calculations, the amount in our middle school without any Internet access at HOME is 15-20 percent. That is not a large number, and when you factor in the library, hanging around the school, or going to a friends, the percentage drops to about 5. Most of that conversion from 20 percent to 5 percent comes down to responsibility. Yes, you may have to go a little out of your way to get the Internet, but not everything in life is easy. The only students that are tough to accommodate for are the country students who ride the bus and live so far out in the middle of no where that satellite is their only choice. Satellite Internet is often slow and expensive compared to other options.


With 5 percent of our population not having any Internet access, can you still work outside of school using technology? My answer is yes. Make accommodations to the other 5 percent. Just because they do not have Internet does not mean the computer is useless. They could still use iMovie or anything else they have already on their computer. Another option is to write a grant that could fund an Internet connection for a year for a few students. I have not done this, but I am running out of items to write grants for and I always thought this would be a good option. 


Dr. McLeod:


...we'd recognize the power and potential (and limitations) of online learning rather than blithely assuming that it can’t be as good as face-to-face instruction


My Comment:


I did a form of online learning last year in my classroom. Students had to only communicate with peers and myself through the use of a chat. All work was done online. This was a great experience, but I always had to be in the room and the students could not relocate around the school or stay home for legal reasons. We did 10 units this way where one group was in the traditional setting and the other used online learning. Without involving the inferential stats, the means for all the posttests combined were .1 off out of an average of 10 questions. I thought this was pretty monumental and I hope we can expand on this form of learning. 


Dr. McLeod:


Here in Iowa we're currently spending less on school technology than we did a decade ago


My Comment:


I am not sure about this one. He probably has some statistics to back this up, but in general, technology costs a lot less than is did 10 years ago. I know in our district 7 years ago, we had quite a bit of technology. Even so, we have much more today. Maybe the price difference is that substantial that we do spend less, but I don't think this should be an indictment on schools for not spending, but a nod to the people who produce the technology for making it cheaper and more efficient. 


In general, I agree with most of what Dr. McLeod has to say. With many more comments from the summit to analyze, what do you agree or disagree with? Are there any I left out that should be included and discussed? 

Credit given to ASBIndia1 through flickr.com/creativecommons

Challenges Before Technology: Three Uphill Battles that Preservice Teachers Face

Being in a class with many potential educators is a wonderful experience. I am out of date as to what is being focused on in the preservice ranks. I am entrenched in my seventh year of teaching, and as I think back to the challenges that I faced early in my career, it is interesting to think how technology fits with other educational pitfalls.

I do not see myself as being negative, but real. Technology was being pushed even when I started, so I can imagine the transition from college to having a job is not that much different. Implementing technology is a great idea, and when used correctly can allow students to create and invent for themselves. The following is a list of three items that are important to have under control before going all in with technology:

1. Classroom Management

This may be the number one problem that faces any teacher coming out of college. Some students are not mentally prepared for dealing with students even with all the training provided. Until you have your own classroom, you cannot get a clear model of the experience. Surprisingly, classroom management was not a big focus when I was an undergrad. I do not remember many instances where this was addressed, and I went to UNI. When I started my first year of teaching, my time was consumed with putting out fires and not on learning. After year two, I had things figured out and I continue to improve every year. I tried to always integrate technology, but my management was so poor that it always backfired. Even my rich technology tasks that were oozing with motivation did not work as well as they should. Have this aspect of your class settled before relying too heavily on technology.

2. Testing

I am a firm believer that test scores will take care of themselves with quality instruction that does not have to be simply memorizing facts. While this is my personal opinion, I causation that relying strictly on projects that integrate technology may backfire in regards to various assessments. Here is a great example. How could any parent argue with you using technology to provide a quality, real-world experience? Sounds impossible, right? Many districts run into this problem when referring to ACT scores, and even ITBS. Our districts ITBS scores are fine (that was not always the case for my class, but my students are 90%+ proficient currently), but our ACT scores have dropped. This could be for a lot of reasons, but many parents see the problem as being the move from old school teaching. They may be wrong, but when they make up a large chunk of your audience and community, a problem emerges. Until our society goes away from testing like the ACT, this will always be an issue. Just make sure your projects and experiences using technology can also translate to base-level knowledge needed to succeed in these testing situations.

3. Time

What I would not give to be back to my old college schedule. I do not think I was lazy, but I did have a lot of free time during those years. These days I have much less time to do anything I want to do besides school. I wake up at 3 and get to school by 5 just to plan and be ready for a normal day. Finding time to prepare for the use of technology takes time. If you want to do something right, it has to be planned and tested, rethought and revamped. You cannot use the same idea year after year because you have different students at various levels with varying interests. Teaching is a time consuming profession. Trying to put together something last minute is never a good idea. Please allow for large amounts of planning time and do not try to do everything all at once. Time can also come into play when accessing technology. If your district does not have a wealth of technology, plan on spending a lot of time on the grant writing process. We have a lot of technology and I still write 4 or 5 grants each year. Each of those takes weeks to put together.

I hope that this post did not come off as negative. I put a lot of time and effort into my job. I do, however, wish I would have known some of these points before diving in head first. I am a great teacher (my opinion) because of these trials I have faced, but I want everyone's transition to be as smooth as possible. What are other obstacles you see as preservice teachers in regards to technology?

Credit given to Peter Huys through flickr.com/creativecommons

Credit given to kewcreative through flickr.com/creativecommons

Changing the World: Three Other Examples of Disruption

I enjoyed the Disrupting Class book for many reasons, but I specifically liked the examples of disruption happening around us. The thought of a new idea not competing, but finding a place in society only to take over for an old idea is intriguing (p 44). The example from the text that stood out to me was the shift from the Digital Equipment Corporation's super computer to the original Apple (p. 50). I cringe to think what technology in education may look like today had Apple not lead the way. As I thought about this process, I came up with a few more examples of disruption.

1. Downloading/Steaming Music, Movies, and Video Games

Disks and cartridges were the norm for these types of technologies. While they still exist, I could potentially see a strictly digital format for all three. I download all of my music and stream most of my movies in various capacities. I have yet to move to only downloading video games, as that disruption seems to be a little further behind. Most of the top sellers come on disks for the PS3, XBOX 360, and Wii, but each has an online network where they could stream everything in the future. World of Warcraft and Minecraft are two games that are largely popular and available without the need of a disk.

2. Television

I do not know how far off this disruption is from taking full force, but in the Dangerously Irrelevant blog, the Shift Happens video says that people under 25 watch almost 30% of their television online. I am too busy to actually ever sit down and watch television, but I still watch many of my favorites online. I can even watch all my Buccaneers games online as well. The physical television may not go away soon, but stranger things have happened.

3. Cell Phone

Back in the day when only Zack Morris had access to a cell phone, the uses were few and far between. I had an old bag phone in high school and the niche was that I only used it in an emergency. These days, cell phones have numerous uses and I would be lost without mine for sure. The specific disruption in question here is the home phone line. I do not see the original purpose of a cell phone to ever take over for the home phone, but it effectively has. As of a year ago, about 25% of homes in the United States used a cell phone exclusively. This is trending upward, and I could see a time not too far down the line that the cell phone could take over completely for the home phone.

Disruption has worked well in society producing cutting edge technology and fascinating ideas for the future. Hopefully education can follow suit. What are your examples of disruption?

Credit given to hannah_wilson through flickr.com/creativecommons

Creating Educational Change: An Alternate Route

The book, The Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, deals with the need to pave a new path in education rather than try to renovate what is already present (Christensen, Horn, & Johnson, 2011). When looking for educational change, schools typically attempt to make a fancier version of what they already have through the use of technology. While technology has an endless amount of uses in education, the norm is usually not that innovative.

This is an idea that I have thought about for awhile. What exactly would it take for change to occur? An increased amount of technology is nice, but that has not shown revolutionary change. I feel that for technology to be valued for something more than just an bell or a whistle, change needs to come from the top...at the state and federal level. This can come in the form of fewer restriction like No Child Left Behind, and an emphasis on assessing for quality and innovation rather than the ease of tabulating for statistical reasons. The blog, Two Cents Worth, agrees and thinks our bubble test society is hurting creativity and teaching our students to think unilaterally (in a bad way).

Let's be realistic, I see standardized tests and mandates being around for the foreseeable future. That leaves teachers and their own classrooms. Teachers must be the innovators with technology. This is of course easier said than done. In a posting by Scott McLeod, he refutes comments from an article that look negatively on education and technology, and addresses why teachers are behind the eight-ball. The biggest hurdles I see from his comments are training and support, as well as the old-school mindset from the public. Even with these pitfalls, teachers need to rise up and make a difference.

In a posting on the iLearn Technology blog, the following quote discusses how technology SHOULD be used...

***The tools have to be used as essential tools, not supplementary.  Supplementing with technology doesn’t move the needle.  Essential means that technology is in hand 24/7 students have complete access to the tool.  Essential means that students are actively engaged in doing and creating.***


The comment about moving the needle fits in well with our theme of altering the route of technology in education. No one can be counted on to do this besides the classroom teacher. 


Teachers have a big responsibility to today's students. One might say that the future of our country is predicated on teachers and the ability to shake things up in regards to technology. Instead of taking the safe road around the mountain that includes updating notes by putting them on Powerpoint, climb up one side of the mountain and down the other by having students engaging in something different than note taking through technology. Let students be creative. 


In closing, support of these ideas in often difficult based on the standardized educational world we live in. All three blogs I mentioned are great examples of how to break down the technology wall to get to the other side. The blogs support teachers and give ideas on how to use technology to help improve the futures' of students. The blogs are not without criticism and harsh words about what has been done in the past. One cannot take offense to this, but see the challenge that lies ahead. Do not take the safe route. Take the alternate route to improving education.

Credit given to Team PLTW through flickr.com/creativecommons

Credit given to Team PLTW through flickr.com/creativecommons