Where to in 2013

Where to in 2013 

I have been in my new position for 9 weeks now and am really enjoying it.  I have worked out how our network is structured, reorganised the G Drive (to be implemented on Monday), tidied up a few documents and begun the implementation of a number of other projects.

What is the goal?

In 2013 we will have approximately 200 new Year 7’s turn up on the first day, many with their shiny new devices ready for high school. If they finish the first week not having actively used their devices, there is a real risk they will become disengaged from the process.  My fear is that they will be seen as a waste of resources by the parents and the students will not see the benefit of bringing them to school. Therefore, before the beginning of the new school year we need to address a number of  questions:

• What is it we want students to be able to do with their devices?
• Do our staff have the capacity to deliver lessons that will effectively incorporate a range of devices?
• What is the educational benefit of using the devices and how can learning be enhanced with their use?

Initially, my vision is that students will use the devices to supplement the work they already do:

For example: my maths class will come with their maths book loaded onto their machines. This will alleviate the drudgery of bringing a text book to and from school. (At this stage I will still have them working in exercise books because the time it takes to type out questions and show working is not an effective use of class time for practicing a range of skills.)

Other examples:

• Quizzes and test: Students with devices can complete these using software like the Socrative (http://www.socrative.com).  Great for pretesting students and for in class quizzes and competitions.
• Brainstorming activities: Students can post their responses through websites like todaysmeet (http://todaysmeet.com) Students can post, or send you questions as the class progresses.
• Research, where students research topics on the web during the course of a lesson.
• No lost work. If students are encouraged to save work to their device or through their device to the “cloud” then no matter where they go they will have access to their work. No lost books, no I left my USB at home, the dog ate it, etc. (There will always be a copy you can access from your computer). Currently we are working with people in the Department to implement Google in Education (http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/apps-for-edu.html ) this will be an online learning space where students can store, retrieve and work on their work, teachers can post work and collect work for their students.

These are just a few examples that are easily achievable for most staff, but they will take some preparation and thought over the holidays to prepare for introducing the new devices.

It is important that all of this is underpinned by some skills around using ICT’s as outlined in the Australian Curriculum: The ICT capability learning continuum is organised into five interrelated elements: Applying social and ethical protocols and practices when using ICT; Investigating with ICT; Creating with ICT; Communicating with ICT; and Managing and operating ICT.

I ask staff to consider how the use of ICTs might enhance the engagement and educational outcomes for current classroom procedures, lessons and activities. Have a look on the internet, search for “integrating technology in the classroom”, “ICT in the classroom”, “Educational Apps”, “Using ICT in ... “ subject area and anything else around ICT’s, Technology and computers.  Be selective, there is some good content material and some not so good. Choose what suits the level you are at now, there is some work to do but it doesn't have to take over everything.

Finally, and most importantly, PLEASE SHARE. If you are implementing ICT's in your class please let me know, comment on this blog or send me an e-mail. The more everyone uses IT the easier it will be for all of us.

IT's not going to change everything!!

The more I read and the more I think about the intergration of ICT's into eductation, the more I realise that the more is not necessarily better. I am working with staff that are far less engaged in the use of IT than I am; otherwise I would be out of a job, at lest in my current role. By just putting ICT's into a school doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to be beneficial in the delivery of educational outcomes. I think the challenge is about getting staff onboard.

One of the real difficulties for many staff is confidence. Not just the confidence in their own ability to present the technology in the lession but confidence in the hardware. There is nothing worse than getting the laptop trolley, handing them out to the class, giving the instructions only to find that one by one each student has a problem, and its not just one thing. I know that we were taught during our teacher training (especially as a science teacher) make sure the equipment is going to work, but realistically. If you are a 5 line classroom teacher do you have time to get out the laptop trolley and make sure each machine logs on, and even if it does there will still be some students who do not have the ability to log on for various reasons.

What is the problem? Difficulty in logging on twice (once to the network and once for the internet) for each member of your class, uncertainty that the device will work, it is a real leap of faith and resources to go out, investigate the software you want to use, design a lesson and then attempt to implement it in your class. You know that if you get the trolley out or take your students to the lab there is no going back if it doesnt work. If the students have the expectation that they are going to use computers and it doesnt work to say, "sorry class the tecnology isn't working, get your books out and open your text to page 350" just isn't going to cut it.

I believe if the platform is stable teachers will at least have the confidence to start taking the steps at looking at what they might implement. In my previous school most lessons staff used their IWB's or dataprojectors to display instructional material. It was a know, safe platform. The know that when they walk into their room they can either take their laptop or log onto the network and it will work. The uptake of the netbooks was much less. This i believe is because of the unknown and uncertainty, will every student be able to log on and access the work I have set - chances maybe is not good enough.

Upgrades, Platforms and Transferring work

I spent much of my weekend at the coast upgrading my computer to Windows 8 and doing other computer things for mum and others.  A long and involved process interspersed with trips to swim in the ocean and meeting people for breakfast.  It’s OK for me to leave the computer running and come back to it later because I have experience.  I can only imagine the angst less IT savvy people would have upgrading with every question, moving further away from what they know and are comfortable with and that works. It is interesting, and important to understand; the things I take for granted that people with fewer IT skills get stressed about and don’t understand, this is part of the problem when trying to set up a system for schools.  Not only do a number of parents have low IT skills but many of the teachers do not have the skills to understand and solve basic IT problems. Some of the questions I get from friends and family, because I am the “expert” (that just   means I know a bit more than them), are:  I bought this new computer but I just want to type a word document, my word document won’t open or where is my email button; and, I can’t print (this is the bane of my existence because every printer is different and I don’t have a solution, except send it digitally so some else can print it for you) .

Getting the understanding between an operating system and a program across to average people is not the easiest concept.  The expectation that when you buy a computer it will be able to do the things that you can do on the previous one or the one at work; but that’s not the way it is.  When my mum purchased a laptop she didn’t understand (and I don’t think she still does) that you have to get another program so you can access your mail and write your letters.  I did an experiment, I know it’s not nice to experiment on your parents, and I installed Open Office and Mozilla Firefox software and set it up so that it automatically saves and opens in the programs, she has experienced upgrades before so she has taken a little to get used to it, but it seems to be working for her.  The moral is, if your program (or app) does what the user wants they will use it, the problem is having the skills to set these things up and move documents between different applications. 

This is one of the problems at schools – home has platform X, school has platforms X, Y and Z, the student brings the work they have done at home into school and it won’t open, or it just doesn’t look as good as it did at home, this is not engaging for the average student and they are less likely to put the time in next time.  It is important for parents, and students to learn how to save their hard earned work to a format that can be opened on a number of platforms, the more I think about it the options are:  to bring your own device to ensure that you can present (and hope we have the connectors), save it as a .pdf file for presentation, or to save work to a web app and open it from the internet (most classes have that) and if they have saved it to the cloud in the first place there is less chance of them losing it.  Although I now have 6 cloud storage places and need to start to think about what I store on each, but this is no different than my 6 USB’s or my many folders with thousands of pieces of paper – data storage, organisation and retrieval.

This wasn’t exactly what I wanted to blog about today, but still relevant problems and ones that in the world of digital devices in education need to be addressed; especially, how do we get parents of our students to be comfortable with the technology to be able to assist/ support their students.  I had this conversation with a parent the other day, after the conversation I thought I had converted him to the benefits of students being able to use multiple platforms, only to find that he had been having a heated discussion with one of my staff about why we don't just have one platform. The issue would be less if the teachers and parents had the skill and know how to help the students, this sounds like a vicious cycle.