Educational Discourse

Years back, when I was trying to figure out what to do with my life, I decided that I needed some money to pay for bills, food and rent because I didn’t want to move home and live with my parents. I was 18 you know and that would have been a real blow to my independence and self-esteem if I had had to move back home. After doing a few odd things, I happened upon someone who needed some painting. The rest, as they say, is history. I liked the job and, after a few summer working for someone else, I decided to work for myself. With a partner, a company was born that proved to be quite successful, employing 20 odd university students during its peak operations. I was also attending university and this “summer” job provided me with the opportunity to  earn enough money to put myself through school plus pay the bills. At one point, I decided that I should really take this a bit more seriously and took some classes in the craft moving toward my journeyman status.

I’ve been reflecting on this over the past few weeks. I’ve been finding it rather difficult to write these past few weeks because of a ho-hum that has settled in. Now this could partly be due to the fact that my candle has finally reached the point where two ends cannot burn at once. Another important impact is that I’m neck deep in various projects that are requiring my time. A third possible reason for my lack of ideas is that I’m not really sure where I’m going right now. That whole “being adrift” feeling and not having a focus. I’m lacking enthusiasm right now and I really don’t know why.

However, while cruising through some posts the other day, I watched a video Digital Students @ Analog Schools. As I listened to the students speak, I was reminded of the movie Teachers with good ol’ Nick Nolty.

The issues that are raised in that movie regarding teacher/student relations, the incredible tensions teachers find themselves under and the ways they deal with that stress, are similar to those we are still facing today. The schools didn’t work for those students, or the teachers for that matter,  why should we expect them to work now? I mean, the best teacher is an escapee from a mental institute who makes history come alive for the students. Students are depicted as entering and exiting a world of ditto worksheets and any teacher who is reaching out to students and using whatever technological methods available is still an outsider. Now there is more going on in the movie than this but the whole idea that the schools weren’t working.

As for what students are saying in the video about what they expect when going to school, I’d venture to guess that it was no different than some previous generations. I mean, my university experience didn’t prepare me a lick for what I do today. In fact, other than the skills of reading, writing and math, I really question all the other things that were covered in my schooling. Very little, if any, gave me the skills that I needed when I entered the work force, started a company, did a variety of other things and then entered my present profession.  Not to mention the skills I have found that I need as a parent and a community member. Holly macaroni! Where was I during those classes? No amount of “real world” experience or problem solving could have prepared me for that.

However, I didn’t have the means to express that frustration or angst that today’s youth are being provided and it has given them a voice unlike any voice they have had in the past. As I’ve discussed with students a few times, having a voice is one thing but expecting that you will get what you want is another. As I watch the different presentations about schools and read the discussions, I wonder if there is any way we can bring the two sides together? Can schools ever hope to provide what the youth want when it comes to education? Did schools ever really provide students with skills for society? Or do we just pay homage to a system by saying “it worked for past students but wont’ for these students.” when in fact it didn’t work and, from my brief survey of people around me, didn’t really prepare them for the lives they are living. Could it be the whole idea of “preparing the youth future society” won’t really take place at school? Instead, it will take place like it did for many, during the day-to-day of actually living and dealing with what is taking place at that time.

As I ponder what people say about schools, students, technology and the future,  I wonder if we are any different from what has taken place before? Sure there is greater access to global partnerships but we still need to take care of what is happening in our own backyard. Sure we can communicate with people all over the world via a multitude of methods but it’s the daily face-to-face encounters that move us and affect us far greater. Yes we can work and collaborate in incredible ways but the sharing of duties within a house still impacts people in deeply rooted ways.

I don’t think we stop using and working with the technologies and helping students to use them to broaden their learning and sort through their  understandings. Technologies do give us access to things we didn’t have before in a number of areas. But, when we really get down to it, did schools really prepare students for the future? Or does school play another role in our societal design besides the preparation for the future? Should we be looking at things from a different perspective?  I’m not sure. But as I work through quite a few different “real world” problems with students, parents, teachers and staff, I wonder if we need to reconsider how we label the role schools have in our society.

I’ve been in a discussion over at Infinite Thinking Machine with various people including Arthus who is “… a 14-year-old student in Vermont who has recently become actively involved in the online dialog about educational technology.”

Part of the discussion I’ve been having with Arthus and Steve Hargadon, of Ning Classroom2.0 fame, revolves around the need for schools to change. You can catch up on that conversation here. Part of the discussion has centered around the need for schools to change and for teachers to use more technology. Now, as many of you know, I agree on both accounts. One suggestion is that we need to increase the number and type of people involved in the discussion about schools and have more people who use and understand technology in decision-making positions. This is a good idea but I do not believe that, by having technologically savvy people in higher decision-making positions, it will somehow increase changes in schools regarding technology access, use or integration.

Societal Barriers

As much as many of us discuss within the small technological circle the need for schools to reform and the need for change, the reality is that the circle is small. Adding voices from someone like Arthus is a great thing to do. As I pointed out in the comments

we can have input from whomever we want but ultimately someone has to be responsible.Unless people fully understand this and are willing to give input realizing that their input is just that and may not be used, then we run the risk of people expecting things to happen when, in reality, they cannot….. Talk all you want, discuss all you want but until it’s your butt on the firing line about the decision that was made, don’t insinuate that those making decisions don’t know about technology or technology use.

I am someone who is in a position to make some decisions about what happens in schools. As much as I might like to see things change, there are other pressures that are also pushing and pulling for time and, depending on which one the media grabs or which one becomes a focus for the community, that is where many of the resources go. Is this always good? No. Is this what I want? Not always but it is the reality of what happens. You cannot point to any one level of decision-makers as most of them are reacting to societal forces that are pushing at them.

For changes, significant changes to take place in schools, society has to rethink the idea of school. Instead of people seeing students who are listening to ipods, texting and using laptops as youth playing with expensive toys, they need to realize that these tools could be powerful learning tools.For those students using the tools, they are but somehow we’ve made the internet something that has as many, if not more, evils than it has virtues. Media continues to portray and report the nasty and bad, which society is demanding they do, instead of the good. Now, those of us who see the potential of the tools and many of the students know this isn’t the case but for many parents this isn’t so. It is something new, different and, ultimately, something scary. For the adults, who can protect themselves, the internet is a wide-open playground yet with the youth this changes and becomes something else.

As Steve points out

I think part of the difficulty here is that the rise of the read-write web is probably going to have comparable historical and cultural significance to the advent of the printing press. I believe we are going to see some dramatic changes in many of our existing institutions.

Change is never easy and, I agree with Steve here, the changes are going to be widespread and far reaching. As adults, our natural reaction when we see something that we really don’t understand is to try to protect the youth. Is it any wonder that changes in schools are slow? This is a place where many of the adults can still walk into and recognize and, for the most part, feel safe. Despite all that is going on in the world around, schools and what takes place within them are still safe and recognizable.

Bring on the Change

For Arthus, and many other youth, they don’t see schools the same way. Their world has been dominated with change and with a global view of events and actions. Communication and socializing are all part of learning and understanding. Active integration of the tools is common. Using tools to create their own interpretation is not unique. Sharing with one another over vast distances is not a scary thing, it’s what they do. Instead of fearing the changes going on around them, they accept them as part of their way of life. Again, Steve comments

It may be that if traditional schools have difficulty responding to this massive change because of how they are currently structured–as you have pointed out well–we may find that some parents and students look for alternatives.

And indeed some parents and youth will make that move. However, as I point out,

“Society is basically happy with how schools run - they don’t want something radically different - “Hey, if it worked for me…” when, in fact, we do need something radically different. Something that would allow learners to access information, discuss topics - sometimes across boarders and oceans - create their own reactions that were “graded” differently than we do now. This would require that universities move away from how they accept students and, really, completely turn over the entire idea of education from top to bottom.

Such a monumental change requires more than just technology savvy people in decision-making positions. It requires a societal shift in the idea of what “educated” means. For that to happen, people have to become uncomfortable with the way things are being done and that will take time no matter who is making the decisions.

Perspective affects everything that we do. It affects how we view a situation, how we react, our decisions and a myriad of other things. Now, I have the perspective of someone who is an administrator, thinks technology in schools is important, believes schools need to alter and change to assist students to become thinkers and creators not watchers and consumers. However, I’m beginning to think that we may have reached a point where the change being brought on by technology may be creating a gap that, without some pretty significant changes, the ability of any school or regular classroom teacher to keep up may have passed the reality point.

This was first brought to my attention by Stephanie Sander’s post over at Change Agency where she discusses the need for many of the leading technology people to step back and reflect on where things are going. I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I beginning to wonder if we aren’t reaching a point where the constant change that could be introduced with new innovations is paralyzing people from trying anything.

9 months ago I began blogging. When I began, there were some very prolific and high-profile people discussing the power of blogging and the impact it could have on education and educators. In that 9 months it has gone from blogging to Skype chat, to Facebook, twitter, SL, plus a whole host of other things that I use for my teaching that are not part of my social networking. I now belong to 11 Ning groups, including having my own that I hope will eventually become a place for administrators in my own area to discuss and develop social networks of their own. Wikis have become my tool of choice for homework collection and dispersal, discussions and other class and school needs. I teach students how to create and post both podcasts and videos, something I’d probably not do if it weren’t for my teaching.

The latest thing to hit the floor is streaming tv that allows you to broadcast via the net. Now, I’m not up on this for a variety of reasons although I can see it having implications in my class, school and school division. The one thing that I’m really beginning to wonder is how in the world are we going to get teachers to begin to look at any of these if they are changing as fast as my 2 year old needs his diaper changed! Really. Last week, or was it the week before, I was looking forward to the K12 online conference, school was beginning well and I was into a routine for myself. Bam! Wham!

I seem to have been able to catch my breath today online to find that I’ve missed the first week of the conference, I’m way behind on both reading and posting and something called Ustream has taken the edusphere nation by storm. I did make it over to one of the sites to take a look but no one was on the air. I’ve been trying to get a grasp of what this does all week. Today, as I was outside working on some minor fixes before winter, I was wondering how anyone could ever keep up with all these changes if they were actually working in a classroom plus doing the many other things that teachers do. Is there any chance? Where is our best leverage going to be in schools?

Stephanie’s post really hit something today. Right now, we are having trouble figuring out how and what we might need to do to change curricula to be better suited for students today while at the same time providing parents and society with some type of system that will demonstrate that students are indeed learning and building their knowledge. We struggle within buildings and on campuses with a host of extreme social problems, like campus shootings, like we’ve never seen before and yet we know that we have one of the smartest generation of students ever to grace our classrooms. We are debating the need for safety with the need to teach the students how to keep them safe and trying to convince IT departments that maybe they need to change their roles within the educational framework or things will get some ugly some fast. I could go on but we aren’t even able to be sure students will be able to access an off site email account on the one hand and looking at yet another tool that seems to offer the ability to change some aspects of education. At this pace, teachers won’t have to bother with any technology because there will only be a handful of people who know about the technology and they aren’t everyday classroom teachers.

To seriously look at any type of change, continuing to find new tools to use isn’t going to remove the moss from the stone. We have some incredible things going on in some places with some classrooms but they are the exceptions. Primarily, little has changed with education despite all the tools. I firmly believe that until we examine the curricula, change some of those objectives and rework others, making it relevant to the students, no amount of cool tool is going to create change. Really, 9 months ago, blogging was the way to go while today it seems almost blah. My technorati rating keeps dropping as fewer and fewer new people are reading and referring to what I write. (Maybe I need to explore this more.) Blogs are just one of the many places where we can discuss things and not as vital to interaction as they were when they were the primary way to get to know people. Now, I watch as many of the people I follow on Twitter present at conferences or attend conferences that, really, I have no hope of ever getting to attend without paying for them personally, which could happen (with a small lottery win.)

Will we ever, really, see a change in education? I beginning to believe that it won’t come from those at the head of the technology discovery. It may be possible that many following them will have enough influence to create some change. With the rate of change, I even wonder if they will have an impact.

photo http://www.vanguardcollege.com/swd/images/Perspectives%20logo.jpg

A few days ago I posted about the whole “walled garden” idea and how not being allowed to access any number of sites is very frustrating for both learners and teachers. Durff over at Durff’s blog picked this up and continued the conversation. I’d like to further add to her point that

Learners’ today have expensive phones and/or iPods with them 24/7. They can connect to the internet instantly outside of the school’s control. They can listen to podcasts of whatever they downloaded outside of the school’s control.
Tightening control is not going to work. The IT departments have already lost control. So where do we go from here?

The whole idea that somehow we will be able to continue to limit what students have access to is unrealistic. In fact, we may soon be unable with such things as linking through plugins and other such actions. What we really need to focus upon is not how do we keep them from accessing particular subjects or keep them safe but how do we teach them about the impact of accessing particular sites and how do they keep themselves safe.

I realize that many IT departments are trying to provide the best options that they can but they just do not have the resources to do it all. I would rather see them focus on making sure that networks are operational and in working order, machines are replaced in a timely manner, the internal system of the school division or district is not compromised and teachers have access to a variety of tools that they can use when teaching. I see this as being the next move in the evolution of schools as we move from trying to filter everything and watch everyone to accepting the connectivity of society and planning to harness that in a way that it will enhance the learning opportunities for students in a number of ways beyond what we are doing now.

What has your district or school board done in regard to connectivity? Have things improved or grown tighter?

Like many of you, I occasionally do a little ranting when it comes to the problems with some of the things that go on with the technology in schools and the level of availability of different websites. I’ve also been known to rant every now and then about other things that go on with schools and learning.

Well, this isn’t one of those. In fact, over the past few weeks, I’ve had little to really rant about. I could get all worked up over the fact that I can’t access certain sites at school but instead I’ve just begun to send in requests to have them opened. I’m thinking eventually someone will get tired of the requests. In fact, as this year moves along, I’m beginning to wonder if we have reached a new stage of service that is needed for schools.

Now, Stewart Mader makes a good point in his post about this same subject.

Historically, IT’s job is to “keep the lights on” - make a set of core technology tools available to people and support them - which was fine ten, even five, years ago, but just doesn’t work the same today. The quality of tools on the web is increasing far faster than most “boxed” enterprise software, and those web tools are free or low cost, and available immediately, as opposed to going through a much more involved procedure to get access to tools on the inside, or convince IT to make them available.

As many of us who have spent any time on the internet have found, our schools, for the most part, are not able to provide many of the services that we would like to have simply because they are limited in their resources and their manpower while the web has unlimited resources and unlimited people power. Hence, many of those I have come to know are frustrated by the lack of access to programs and the almost claustrophobic control that many IT departments have over what can and cannot be done.

With this in mind, do we need to put our energies into coming up with a different system for accessing information instead of relying on the standard version that was necessary so many years ago? Cannot many of our schools become somewhat independent of the IT departments in some way, maybe by having direct cable come to the school and running a system not completely controlled by the IT department? Or is there someway to have access to our school divisions while not being under the complete control of the central IT department?

I guess I’m seeing so much change in many different areas yet I’m feeling and sensing that schools are not moving along with the change but instead trying to stifle it to a point where a few are making decisions for the many without having an understanding what the many want or can do. Can IT departments change from “keeping the lights on” to maybe making sure the doors work and allowing us to figure out what type of lights we’d like in our building. Or, because of their nature, are we doomed to continue this control and struggle over what is accessible and what isn’t? Can we come up with a solution that will allow our students to continue to speed along instead of slowing down to come to school. For that matter, is possible that our teachers who are moving along can continue to cruise instead of running into red lights all the time? (It’s not just kids who are having to slow down when they come to school!)

I’d sure like to think that, by keeping the students at the forefront, we can build toward a more wholistic solution of internet access. The tools are powerful but only if you can use them.