The Future of Education Published 2007-06-02 under conferences

In a recent posting, I reviewed a study where students expressed their belief that technology (laptops in particular) did not have a place in the classroom. They like the traditional, intimate, class setting. More importantly, the study pointed out just because students use technology (all of the time) outside the classroom, does not necessarily mean that they want the same technology within the class.

While I had issues with parts of the study, I thought that this was an excellent read as I head into the Future of Education Conference put on by George Siemens and the University of Manitoba. This online conference began with a "pre-conference" discussion that asked the questions of participants "What will education look like in 10 years".

I was struck by one particular comment by Hayden Blackly: "...the technology seems to act as a different way of doing something within an existing pedagogic framework. So the tools are different but the learning objectives and the learning outcomes may be the same." Hayden admits to being a bit "less optimistic" about change in our schools. (I wonder why???) But his point is well taken.

Many of the responses have been in the lines of what technology will be prevalent in future educational systems. Some have talked about pedagogical changes including social networks, independent learning approaches, portfolio assessment and constructive knowledge. But I wonder if our educational system is ready to have these kind of discussions, or should be be having a more fundamental discussion of what we value in an education?

A friend admitted that for the next three weeks of class, she is basically a babysitter. Now that the students have taken their standardized tests, they are focusing on their end of the year performances. This is a high school geared toward the performing arts, but what message are we giving students when we stop learning once the test has been taken. Is the goal of education to pass the test?

This example continues through out our schools. How many AP classes end once their students take the exam? How many students see summer vacation as a time when learning stops? Who hasn't entered a class to the question "do we have to do anything today?"

I am looking forward to the FOE online conference. And I hope that it will include a discussion of what we (as a society) value in education.

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Questioning Assumptions About the Net Generation Published 2007-06-01

In the June/July edition of Innovate, authors Sarah Lohnes and Charles Kinzer relate the result of a small study in which they found a discrepancy between the use of technology by students in their dorm rooms verses their attitude toward use of technology in the classroom.

In general, the article cautions us not to make assumptions on the way Net Generation students view their classroom experiences based on their "always connected" lives outside class. While their study was small (only nine students were surveyed), their observations are worth thinking about.

The technology practices of the students in their dorm provide a stark contrast to their observed and reported practices in the classroom. A theme of resistance to technology in the classroom crystallized in our discussions of laptop use; for a variety of reasons, the students almost universally reviled the idea of using a laptop in the classroom.

"Reviled" is quite a strong word and is inconsistent with my conversations with high school age students on the subject of use of laptops in the classroom. In my experience, there is no clear consensus with regard to technology in the classroom. About 50% embrace the idea of one laptop per student while the other 50% do not see how such programs can benefit their learning or they see the presence of laptops detracting from the classroom experience. The reasons for the resistance to laptops cited in the article are consistent with my experiences.

This notion of a classroom community, fostered by small class sizes, a particular model of teaching based on real-time human contact, and frequent interaction with faculty members outside the classroom, was essential to how these students defined liberal education. ...

And this highlights one of my strongest concerns with 1:1 programs. The sense of an intimate community fostered within a classroom is one of the most important factors affecting learning. The mere presence of laptops will not affect such an environment but their improper or careless use can. As related in the article, laptops should be pushed aside while the class engages in a discussion of Thoreau. But when the teacher is presenting a lesson on the relationship between sine and cosine, laptops provide an excellent way for students to participate, manipulating triangles on their own to get a better understanding of the teacher's points.

Lohnes and Kinzer offer several conclusions from their small study. In general, they warn educators and researchers to question assumptions, especially when relating student behaviour outside the classroom with that inside the class. To this end, this is sage advise. Just because students live in a connected world does it mean that they want their classrooms to mirror the prevalence of technology that they see outside their classes.

But I would caution Lohnes and Kinzer to follow their own advice. Is a study of nine students grounds for making conclusion? Would their results been different had those nine students participated in a well constructed 1:1 program prior to the study? Are all courses within a liberal arts curriculum (the arena they were studying) the same? For that matter are all class sessions within a single course the same? Some courses or classes within a course are some more suited to "push the technology aside" discussions with others benefiting from the use of technology.

I am not yet a supporter of 1:1 programs but my mind remains open. Lohnes and Kinzer's study serves us well in that it does point out that just because students use technology outside of class does not necessarily mean that they want it in class. The issue, a wise colleague of mine keeps reminding me, is the effect technology plays on learning. Is there a pedagogical reason for the technology?

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Popfly is SO cool! Published 2007-05-21 under collaboration, creativity, gadgets, tools

This morning I came across a service/website created by Microsoft called Popfly. From the website, "Popfly is the fun, easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, Web pages, and applications." Popfly consists online visual tools for building mashups without programming experience.

Our team's vision is to democratize development by making it approachable to an entire class of people that want to "create" without necessarily having to write code. We believe that if you can send an email, you should be able to build and personalize your own website, mashup, social networking site, or blog.

This project is still in an Alpha release, but it is really cool and offers wonderful opportunities for educators. The downside, it only runs on IE (6.0 +) and Firefox (2.0 +). Nonetheless, check out the Popfly screencast. You will be amazed.

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What Assumptions Are We Making? Published 5/21/2007 12:18:00 PM under curious

Take a look at the following statements:

• "I think there is a world market for about five computers." (Thomas Watson, founder of IBM)
• "Everything that can be invented has been invented." (Charles Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899)
• "There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." (Albert Einstein)
• "The phonograph is not of any commercial value." (Thomas Edison)
• "Man will not fly for 50 years." (Wilbur Wright, 1903)
• "640K ought to be enough for anybody." (Bill Gates)
• "With over 50 foreign cars on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market for itself." (Business Week, 1968)
• "I don't need body guards." (Jimmy Hoffa)

Quotes from Assumptions: A Major Roadblock to Innovation

I wonder what assumptions we are making regarding education.

Boring Workshops Published 2007-05-17 under conferences, creativity

I just finished a week of attending various workshops put on by the Foundation Center and despite the quality of the material presented I could not help but to notice the lack of creativity with which each presenter approached his/her lesson. You can probably guess the outline:

1. Speaker Bio
2. Goals of the Session
3. Historical Perspective
4. Overview of Current Practices
5. Linear Examination of the Details
6. Conclusions

Now, there is nothing wrong with this approach. Throw in a few anecdotes and exercises, you have a traditional workshop. But is this the only approach or even the most appropriate approach? What assumptions are made that make this the most popular approach?

Let's start by examining the practice of stating your goals right at the beginning. It certainly makes sense. If I am going to battle 2hrs of rush hour traffic to attend a workshop, I would like to know what I am going to get out it. But providing motivation is much different than stating goals. I have often wondered how many of my students ever actually read the list of goals that appear at the beginning of every chapter in their textbook. For me, this list is to be consulted after reading the chapter so I can check to be sure I got all that I was suppose to from the reading. In reality, I expect that the list is completely ignored.

Another assumption that is often made is that a linear presentation of the material is the best way to convey the concepts of the lesson. This is certainly a tried and true approach. But for me as well as several of the other attendees at these workshops, the approach left us wanting more. We agreed that a more hands on, exploratory, approach would have been better. Sitting and listening to the presenter works for a while, but soon it looses it appeal and its effectiveness.

So, why do presenters and teachers resort to such a teacher centric approach to a lesson? It is harder to come up with a more exploratory, student centric approach. It requires more work, more creativity, and it is riskier. It also requires more class time. I am always finding myself reverting to a more lecture type of presentation when I have a bunch of material that I want to cram into a limited time span. Rarely, though, do my students come away with anything more than just exposure to the ideas presented. They don't understand the concepts. They would have been better served to have spent the time on activities that resulted in solid understanding of a subset of the topics. The rest of the topics could be covered in subsequent lessons or referenced in some take-home material for students to explore on their own.

The term "hands-on" workshop has come to mean - I will show you how and then you will have a chance to replicate what I just showed you. Can't we redefine such workshops to be more exploratory where participants discover the skills and concepts? I would love to hear of your ideas on how to make workshops more interesting and effective.

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