Technology: a Subtle and Huge Paradigm Shift for Schools (whether we know it or not...)

There has been an interesting thread on the ACTEM (Maine technology-using educators) listserve lately, focused on teachers and schools who do and don't embrace technology as a learning tool and their openness

There were interesting (and lively!) discussions around educators who wear "I don't do technology!" as a badge of courage, private schools who tout their anti-technology philosophy, how tech integrators and coordinators might model technology use, and where teachers might find the time to learn new technologies if they wanted to.

But several recent comments reminded me of what a subtly huge paradigm shift technology actually represents to education.

Josh Young, a tech lead in Unity, Maine, wrote:

While I think some technology in the classroom is certainly beneficial (as long as it actually enhances learning and isn't just a new toy), I don't think all technology belongs in the classroom.  Some technology is not right for the classroom.  Whenever any new piece of technology comes out there is a rush to use it in the classroom without ever considering what the actual purpose of using it is.  Instead we should stop and evaluate whether or not it is needed in the classroom and whether or not it will enhance learning - in other words, is there a real purpose to this thing or is it just something we think would be cool.

For me, this was a good reminder that the conversation is about Pedagogy, not Tools.

Josh's comments would apply almost as well to "books" as they do to "technology."  There are probably specific books that don't belong in a specific schools, and others that are "not right for the classroom."

As a conversation about pedagogy, I would hope that when we "evaluate whether or not it is needed in the classroom and whether or not it will enhance learning" that we were not simply asking "does it support the way we teach?" as much as we might ask "would this be a good way to teach and learn?"

Which led me to some of the comments by Jim Burke, a regional technology coach and mentor working with districts in Western Maine.  He wondered:

Question: Could it be that the reason we see so many interactive whiteboard, student response devices, and CMS vendors at tech conferences is that technology has indeed enslaved us?

But I don't think the answer is that "technology has indeed enslaved us" but that rather we are enslaved by the approaches to teaching that we we know well - paradigm paralysis, as it were.  The technology uses Jim ponders take what we do now and explores how it might be done with technology.  Commercially, they're a safe bet, because teachers already know how to teach that way.

But in fact, schools already do a great job of teaching without technology.  If schools want to be schools as they are now, perhaps they don't need technology.  Not to mention that technology is expensive.  Can we justify the cost of technology if we are just going to do with it what we are already doing without it?

And here's the subtle part…

I believe that the ubiquity of technology (and especially as a fixture of in the lives of youth) means that educators (as a group) are obligated to find what technology allows us to do that we couldn't easily do before without technology.  That we must explore shifts in pedagogy that technology speaks to.  That we must leverage shifts in learning that students already experience outside of school.

In our program, here are some of the ways that we leverage technology to do things differently:

• Managing student-designed project-based learning
• Using data to daily monitor student progress and plan educational interventions
• Allow students to work where and when they'd like
• To provide students with 24/7 on-demand academic support

Perhaps we need to be reminded that regardless of how the debate on if schools should use technology or not or if they should be open to change or not, that, in fact, learning has already changed for our students.  Perhaps this is the change that we need to be focusing on.

QUESTION: How are you leveraging technology so students can learn differently (or more easily) than they could without technology?  Post your answer in comments!

Mexican Food Schools...

I remember being in high school and frustrated with school and thinking "I can do this better than it's being done to me!"

I think that thought alone is the main reason I became a teacher.  But it is also the reason I worked on what I called "the Making Algebra Meaningful Project" (surprisingly not an oxymoron!).  And it was why I started looking at teaching and learning with technology, became a technology integrator, and later a partner in the first statewide learning with laptop initiative.  And it was why I did my graduate research on motivating underachievers.

Now, keep in mind that when I started teaching, I didn't really know how to teach any way other than "how it was done to me," but it was my motivation to explore how to reach more learners.

More recently, I've had the opportunity to work with a great group that focuses on creating schools designed to motivate students. We've helped the School District of Philadelphia write and support a Magnet School grant, and we've created a successful nontraditional school that combines online curriculum with project-based learning and graduates students at a high rate. And now, we're working on this statewide virtual project-based program for at-risk and dropout youth in Maine.

We're big believers in multiple pathways to graduation and that we will only be successful raising graduation rates and decreasing dropout rates when districts offer students several different approaches to learning, so they can choose the one that works for them.

We like to say, no one really cares if you like Chinese food and I like Mexican food and we go to different restaurants.  But we tend to only have Chinese food schools and say there is something wrong with me for being a Mexican food learner.

We're trying to make those Mexican food schools.

This blog is named in honor of that mission, and will give me an opportunity to explore what we're learning about trying to do a virtual project-based program well, and issues around meeting the needs of diverse learners and around performance-based education.