Teach carpentry, not hammer | Future-proofing NZ schools

“What’s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology…No amount of technology will make a dent…. You’re not going to solve the problems by putting all knowledge onto CD-ROMs. We can put a website in every school – none of this is bad. It’s bad only if it lulls us into thinking we’re doing something to solve the problem with education.”  (Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, Wired magazine, 1998)

Hands-up all those of you with a box of painstakingly drawn OHTs (=overhead transparencies, Google it if you’ve never seen them) or a beautifully tidy cupboard of VHS tapes, preserved on dusty shelves and neatly catalogued? I’ve got a few of those tapes knocking about at home – the six year old’s scan at 20 weeks, my first bungee jump, a few ‘80s movies (big hair! Big shoulder pads!). All of these are testament to a bygone era when OHT was cutting edge, and VHS was the way we all recorded film for posterity. Their poor, sad, dusty selves are testament, too, to the speed at which technology changes around us, developing incrementally at speeds never before seen. Top YouTube hits like ‘Shift Happens’  reflects this move, as does this infographic comparing the internet of 1996 and today [too large to reproduce here].

Schools would be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed by the task of keeping up with each new development. No sooner have we purchased interactive whiteboards, then laptops are in. We’ve just bought the laptops, and now iPads are de rigeur. Don’t buy that textbook, you can just download the e-version. How will you make the most of broadband on your doorstep? We would be forgiven, too, for feeling somewhat at the mercy of the technology corporations who seek to market each new device as the solution for educators. Certainly, Oppenheimer (1997)[1], Cuban (2001)[2] and Postman (2000)[3] have all explored the idea of schools being aggressively sold technology on the premise of improved results, efficiency, and the urgent need to prepare students for the digital future. There are certainly plenty of e-cheerleaders around to urge us on. And similar movements happened with the advent of radio, of film, of TV…

So, how can we keep our heads when others around us are losing theirs? Especially if they have the keys to the budget, to your professional development, or to your schools’ charter?

To future-proof a school, in terms of technology and ICTs, seems like an impossible task in which we are forever Lewis Carroll’s White Rabbit, racing against time.

What do we mean by ‘future-proofing’?

I think it’s important not to think of future-proofing as making decisions so sound that they won’t need to be changed.

But in the context of schooling, I would suggest that future-proofing is understanding that we have always lived in changeable times, and that schools need systems, processes and people in a state of preparedness to anticipate developments, to respond to possible challenges and to embrace opportunities. Sound curriculum and effective pedagogy may change, but we don’t have to update to a new version of these every few weeks. Much of what we know about effective schooling, change management and leadership is supported by sound, longitudinal, international research; this is our rock to cling to when the waves of technological change threaten to swamp us.

As the title of this piece asserts, we need carpentry for tomorrow, not a hammer for today[4]. In other words, we should think in terms of fostering schools’ reflexivity and students’ competencies for a changing future, not (just) to manage a single task for today.

If schools are to think about future-proofing themselves to manage the technological developments ahead, they need the capability to review what they can already do, understand where they want to go next and plan how to get there, as part of an on-going cycle of review and reflection.

So….how we might future-proof ourselves? Here are five thoughts to get you started…..

1.     Keep the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa as our touchstones

These are our foundation documents for visioning, strategic planning, curriculum development and pedagogical design. If this is the starting point for decision-making, schools can feel sure that the rationale behind their choices, during periods of change, is more justified than making decisions on gut-feeling or because the school down the road is doing it.

2.     Inquire, inquire, inquire

A school that is flexible, secure in its processes and strategy is one that can respond to change in an uncertain environment. The inquiry model (adapted for the Best Evidence Synthesis series) is one that has permeated through resources on leadership, professional development and quality teaching, because it is crucial that schools, and teachers, can reflect and review on what they do, based on evidence purposely gathered. Again, decisions can be made based on firm foundations, not spur of the moment hunches.

3.     Build capability to use technologies effectively for teaching and learning

Part of a schools’ inquiry into how it is progressing might be done using a self-review tool (an e-capability model) and there are several to choose from, depending on your focus. The Ministry of Education is currently developing e-Learning Planning Framework for use in schools in 2012. The Māori-medium framework will be scoped in 2012, for possible development and use in 2013.

This framework will be a planning tool to help all teachers and organisations in New Zealand undertake a self-review of how effectively they use ICTs to enhance students’ learning (their e-capability).  The framework will provide a ‘road map’ for schools to identify where they are, the practical steps they can take, and relevant information or services to support them. Key areas of focus include the way e-learning can be enhanced through: leadership, professional learning, teaching and learning, digital citizenship, connections to the community, and technologies/infrastructure.

4.     Keep your finger on the pulse

Change is certain – but what is not so certain is how much we know about what is changing around us. This is where keeping in touch comes in – and technology can make this efficient and accessible. Teachers and school leaders can build their personal/professional learning networks (PLNs) to connect with other schools and clusters. Where to start?:

• Subscribe to useful news feeds and blogs using RSS/Google Reader.
• Participation in forums and online communities, such as Enabling e-Learning communities, can provide a flexible space to share ideas, resources and aspects of our practice.
• Build your PLN.

5.     Foster digital citizens

Can we future-proof our students? This is where the Key Competencies comes in – and, through a digital lens, these can be described as competencies for digital citizenship. Through effective curriculum planning and teaching, we can enhance students’ abilities to behave with integrity and responsibility online, build their digital literacy skills and maximize the opportunities online safely.

• Find out more on Digital Citizenship on Netsafe’s Learn-Guide-Protect site.

Further reading: New Zealand

• Future proofing schools: Emerging technologies.
• CORE Ten Trends: The ‘big ideas’ in technology of which New Zealand educators should be aware.
• The Horizon Report 2011: Synthesises short, medium and long-term trends in technology development.
• Future proofing our web 2.0 students
• Future-proofing our education system.

Further reading: International

• Making your schools future-proof
• How to future-proof our schools.

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[1] Oppenheimer, T. (1997). The computer delusion. The Atlantic Monthly 280(1), 45-62.

[2] Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused: Computers in the classroom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[3] Postman, N. (2000). Some new gods that fail. In The Jossey-Bass on technology and learning. San Francsico, CA: Jossey-Bass inc.

[4] The original quote is from Oppenheimer’s The Computer Delusion: “Michael Bellino, an electrical engineer at Boston University’s Center for Space Physics, stated in a protest against computers that, “The purpose of the schools [is] to…’Teach carpentry, not hammer,’” he testified. “We need to teach the whys and ways of the world. Tools come and tools go. Teaching our children tools limits their knowledge to these tools and hence limits their futures.” (http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/computer.htm)

 

[This piece was originally published in the NZATE English in Aotearoa Journal, October 2011. Theme: Future-proofing education.]

How I organise my inbox

I receive, on average, 70-100 emails a day. This is not, in itself, a stunning fact. Many people receive more. But I thought I would share the way I manage this flow, in the first half hour of the day, for any other Type-A folk who are interested.

Step 1: Make sure I have a view window open (I use Mail on a Mac), as I scroll down the list of emails.

I can skim down the list of emails, and quickly delete any that I know I won’t read, or don’t need to read. These are the ‘nice to haves’, such as subscriptions to blogs. Sometimes I’ll read them, sometimes I won’t.

Warning! The next step is where we enter Type-A territory…

Step 2: Colour code

At the same time as Step 1, as I note the emails that I do need  to read, I have the Colours pane open [Format > Show colours] and I colour code emails according to the project / context with which they are associated. You can choose your own colours:-)

Step 3:Prioritise

Then it’s down to work. Choose which project I need to focus on for the first part of the day, go to ‘View > By colour’ and all the emails related to a project are grouped together.

I find that this associates all messages in the same context, making it less of a leap for my mind as I work through them, as well as highlighting connections across different parts of the project.

But I did warn you – we are certainly on the nerd-spectrum here:-)

Can you explain my mail?

This came to me, hand delivered, yesterday. Nearly two sides of handwritten letter on a sheet of A4 refill.

In a day when pretty much everything I read is digitally produced, I can’t recall when I last saw such a sustained, handwritten piece, certainly not a letter.

But what makes this so surprising is that this is a generic letter, addressed to ‘Dear Neighbour’, urging me to consider opening my heart to the Bible. It’s not the context that surprises me, it’s that this must surely be one of many letters delivered to people.

The mind boggles. Who is painstakingly writing out letter after letter?

Is it a penance? Is it a way of serving God? Is this an example of the ‘digital divide’, where they have no access to a computer/printer?

I almost feel like responding just to find out.

And maybe that’s the point;-)

#eqnz

The Christchurch earthquake – and the tragedy unfolding in its wake – has stunned us all. But, in between the stories of bravery, local heroism and national response, there have been occasional moments where something has caught my attention because it is odd or unusual.

For me, it was the moment in Parliament on Tuesday 22 February, when Bill English asked people to stay off the phone lines and use texting instead. And it was the moment when a bizarre email from a friend made me think something had happened – and Twitter was my first source for immediate news. Both were, even at the time, in the midst of the devastating news, an odd reminder of the way technology is part of how we communicate.

This infographic from Mashable highlights the way online networks are now firmly centre stage during times when news is breaking; when the person in the street is at the heart of the story; when good, and bad, news travels faster than ever before.

If anyone still doubts the power of an online community, a social network or 140 character messages to have real impact on people’s lives, they have only to look at the messages coming through on the day of the earthquake, and still streaming through in the days afterwards, to be persuaded otherwise.

 

Don’t believe the hype

Thanks to Tim Kong for putting me on to Gartner’s hype cycle: a quick way to capture the way we move through periods of infatuation, with particular reference to technology. Any Principal grappling with their ICT budget will recognise this!

I’m not sure how useful it actually is, other than describing a pattern that people already know to exist.

But I guess it helps to know that, when we are gasping after a 4G or a version 2 of the next big thing, that we’ve all been here before. Maybe it puts it in perspective.

Perhaps we should take pause and consider why we want to drop several hundred on a new piece of kit, how will it be useful, how will it help people learn, will it have at least a couple of years’ longevity(!)…..

The hype is often about the tool – but it’s what we will do with it that counts.

 

Teachers’ views on technology: snapshots from the frontlines

This is a neat selection of videos that explores the way different technologies are being integrated into teaching and learning. The New York Times asked teachers to submit videos that explored how technology had changed the way they teach…

The overwhelming themes that emerge are:

• Trust the students – be prepared to work with them.
• Collaboration and relating to others lies at the heart of how students learn about their worlds through technology.
• Connections and inquiry that never would have been made previously, both locally and globally, are now possible.
• Technology can support engagement for all students, especially those with different learning needs.
• The vital importance of everyone having access, not just a few, is central to strategic planning.
• Mobile computing, combined with cloud-based technologies, free the students and teachers from constraints of time and place.

 

Tips for Skyping with the kids: they’re not performing monkeys

This morning, I was part of a Skype session between grandparents in the UK and two children under six in New Zealand. This was not the first time we had undertaken this type of conversation – but each time it often takes more organising than a school play.

We want everyone to be able to see and hear, we want it to be enjoyable for everyone, to be natural…in other words, we are trying (and yearning?) to replicate a face-to-face chat.

And, most importantly, we are trying to help the children build loving bonds with their grandparents, whom they hardly ever get to visit. And, of course, vice versa.

So, here are a few tips – so you can learn where we have sometimes struggled:

1. Pick your moment: Kids don’t like to engage if they are hungry, tired or otherwise engaged, and time zone differences will be something to consider here. Watching TV or eating breakfast is far more important that family ties, y’know;-)
2. Prep them: Get them excited and build the moment. And prep the grandparents, too. Explain that the children may not sit and talk like adults, make sure they listen as well as talk, so they don’t drown out little voices. Set all the equipment up first and do a trial run just before to check it’s all working. Pre-schoolers have no patience with tech that doesn’t just work.
3. Involve them in planning: little kids will be much more likely to engage if they are talking about something that is important to them that day/week (a picture they have drawn, new shoes they got for school) and especially if they have chosen the topic themselves.
4. Keep it short, sweet and often: Better to chat for five or ten minutes a week, than try to have looong conversation for half an hour.
5. Show them how it all works: point out where the camera is, set up the mic, even put a photo of the grandparents (or Mickey Mouse, or their favourite toy) above / around the camera so they talk to that and make eye contact, rather than at the screen.
6. Keep ‘em busy: If they aren’t ready to talk directly to the camera, set it all up so they are busy playing or drawing at the table, and let the grandparents watch them do that. This takes the pressure of them to ‘talk…now’.

And if all else fails – and it so often does – send video clips instead, capturing them at their most chattiest and excited.

Image source: blogs.skype.com

Wave goodbye…

We were big adopters of Google Wave at work, even in its BETA version.

We thrilled at the excitement of synchronised editing from different places in the country. We were intrigued by the action replay of what we had composed. We found it a great way to live blog from conferences, creating back channels that exceeded 140 characters. Version control and the multiple ‘FW’ email was a thing of the past. We liked ‘getting stuff done with people’ (snappy, Google, snappy).

I liked being part of a new technology. And I liked that fact that my work liked that, too. I even liked the excitement of finally being invited when I had waited so long for an invite.  Ah, happy days….

But, it’s goodbye to the Wave [BBC news story]. And, despite all the promise of mutual editing sessions and parachuting into discussions, a bit of me isn’t too sorry to see Wave slosh off into the horizon.

I won’t miss the lack of export function from Word – because your writing can’t stay surfing the wave forever.

I won’t miss importing text and watching my formatting turn to spaghetti. Sigh.

I won’t miss the trickiness of inviting people, even after they opened up the Wave to just anyone;-) Not everyone wants to be on gMail, y’know.

And how often do you need to write at exactly the same time as someone else? Not as often as we thought, is the answer.

Back to the wiki, I guess, where at least anyone can find it, anyone can write in it, I can copy and paste tidily – and I can make letters spin if I want to.

Hands up for invisible tech

Steve Braunias, a keynote speaker, gently mocked the inoffensive little pun in the title of the NZ English teachers’ conference last week – but we WERE ‘enthusENG’, and for many of us, the focus was elearning.

Workshops ranged from using Digistore for planning to exploiting creative affordances for presentational tools to support the teaching of multi-media texts.

But one of the most startling, oft-commented-upon aspects – and it really shouldn’t be –  was that the venue was able to provide hassle-free connection, hassle-free technology, whip-smart students to address the few problems that arose and fast-as-you-would-wish-for broadband.  Christs’ College (as shot on my other blog) is also a Mac school (something that this author was most grateful for).

The connection and easy use of technology should not be remarkable – but it is. Many teachers and presenters know well the feeling of planning for a workshop or lesson, with almost near certainty that there will be a technological glitch. We make back-ups, prep offline versions, prepare handouts and get ready to wing it, preying to the tech-gods that all will be well.

So it was an absolute pleasure to be at Christs’. A well-resourced school it may be (and some would say that they can, of course, afford to provide such resources) but this should be an expectation that all schools should have.

Introducing the government’s broadband initiative, and the National Education Network (NZ). It may bring a handful of false dawns (for after all, schools still need to provide the gear, the support, the infrastructure, the effective teaching and learning…) but it should be a step in the direction of ubiquity and invisible technology.

Image source: Techiesouls, ‘Blue Computer Speed’

What would Pixar do with elearning?

The short film that precedes Toy Story 3  - Day and Night – is a fabulous example of how filmmakers can make the most of the opportunities that are inherent in 3D.

While it’s a bit hard to appreciate this in 2D on your computer, this clip, and the making of Day and Night, show how 3D affords a depth of field that accentuates the differences between the two characters in the short.

And, if Pixar were elearning aficionados, I think they would be looking at tools and technologies to identify those very opportunities (affordances, if we must) that would make their use absolutely right in a given moment, in a teaching experience, in a strategically planned unit. So, for example, the collaborative nature and the tracking of history of a wiki must surely be the prime reasons why this tool is chosen as a channel to support shared, developmental writing. And to not use its features, is to miss an opportunity and risk the use of a tool or technology being ‘busy work’….

The technological-pedagogical-content-knowledge (TPCK) approach captures this idea - but I think Day & Night presents a neat analogy.