In the next 5 years I think collective intelligence will be the easiest to accomplish. The resources are already available and students are already trained on how to use the technology. It will be teachers who need training. The potential information that is available is boundless. This will globalize education whether we are ready or not. To predict how this will impact future students is hard to comprehend. Grassroots would be the second easiest to obtain. I can see how this could affect parent/teacher conferences, live student portfolios, and general communication in the learning community. I used these as examples because they pertain to everyday requirements for teachers and I think they are doable. Sometimes if we move to fast in technology the community it not prepared and are resistant to change. These are pretty subtle.
To guess what the next five years will look like is very difficult for me because I am just learning what is available. There will always be schools that are on the cutting edge but how long will it take for this technology to trickle to regular schools? I think that will be the biggest obstacles for education. Technology will advance but because of all the requirements placed on schools, the advancement will be slow.
Assignments
• Day 1
Read the Horizon Report (2008).
Post a blog on what technological trend you feel will become most prevalent in K12 learning within 5 years and why.
(see Rules of Engagement)
• Day 2
Please watch both of the Sir Ken Robinson videos linked below. Then post two slides on the shared presentation: 1) one way schools kill creativity, and 2) one way schools foster creativity.
Do schools kill creativity?
Creatively Speaking
• Day 4
Assignment 1 - Wikipedia - see post below.
Assignment 2 - Colliding Forces - see post below.
• Day 5 and Day 6
Live Broadcast - post a response to the blog below on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Day 7 and Day 8 - Surprise.....
Your assignment is optional - you will receive credit whether you email me yes or no, but you do have to email me. I do not believe in zeros, nor in failure as an option. However, you get what you put in, so I encourage you to say yes....;-)
If you email me yes, here's what you are committing to. Give me your email address at work, what grade level or content area you teach, whether you are an administrator, whatever. What school you are at and a short resume/introduction of yourself. I will leave your name and contact anonymous until I find another teacher/educator/administrator in PVUSD who might like to work with you on REACH, and in turn you with them. I will make an intitial email introduction of each of you to the other - from there, you are on your own to put into practice the communication, collaboration and creativity of 21st century teaching and learning, using information technology to bridge time and space constraints.
REACH (Real Experiences Advancing Childhood Humanities) is an initiative our district is implementing with other educators/administrators outside of our walls. We are connecting students/teachers/administrators, from differing classrooms, differing schools, cities, states, countries, using technology to communicate/collaborate/create in whatever ways possible and appropriate to postively impact student learning - totally up to you and your PVUSD counterpart on what you think would be useful - how big, how small, how deep, how thin, is up to you.
It does not have to be high tech, with tons of technology - in fact, the technology is not the point - learning with and about others is, being creative and taking a risk is the experience. One simple internet connection and a Google account can do wonders (you should now know that), to connect students, teachers, administrators, whatever. I suspect your kids, your school will be richer for the adventure and you will cross into something I believe is profound and necessary in education - REACH'ing beyond the walls......
So, if you want to REACH, give me the details and I will personally try to connect you with an appropriate counterpart. Then, you have the opportunity to extend your coursework learning into actual practice - the point of taking a class. Email me yay with details, or nay. What I wish for you is to REACH beyond this ASU class, throw optimism into the wind and see what emerges in your participatory networking experience.
Jeff......
Read the Horizon Report (2008).
Post a blog on what technological trend you feel will become most prevalent in K12 learning within 5 years and why.
(see Rules of Engagement)
• Day 2
Please watch both of the Sir Ken Robinson videos linked below. Then post two slides on the shared presentation: 1) one way schools kill creativity, and 2) one way schools foster creativity.
Do schools kill creativity?
Creatively Speaking
(see Rules of Engagement)
• Day 3
Assignment 1 - See Blog entry on Web 2.0 Directory below for instructions.
Assignment 2 - See Blog entry on P21 Skills below for instructions.
• Day 3
Assignment 1 - See Blog entry on Web 2.0 Directory below for instructions.
Assignment 2 - See Blog entry on P21 Skills below for instructions.
• Day 4
Assignment 1 - Wikipedia - see post below.
Assignment 2 - Colliding Forces - see post below.
• Day 5 and Day 6
Live Broadcast - post a response to the blog below on Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
• Day 7 and Day 8 - Surprise.....
Your assignment is optional - you will receive credit whether you email me yes or no, but you do have to email me. I do not believe in zeros, nor in failure as an option. However, you get what you put in, so I encourage you to say yes....;-)
If you email me yes, here's what you are committing to. Give me your email address at work, what grade level or content area you teach, whether you are an administrator, whatever. What school you are at and a short resume/introduction of yourself. I will leave your name and contact anonymous until I find another teacher/educator/administrator in PVUSD who might like to work with you on REACH, and in turn you with them. I will make an intitial email introduction of each of you to the other - from there, you are on your own to put into practice the communication, collaboration and creativity of 21st century teaching and learning, using information technology to bridge time and space constraints.
REACH (Real Experiences Advancing Childhood Humanities) is an initiative our district is implementing with other educators/administrators outside of our walls. We are connecting students/teachers/administrators, from differing classrooms, differing schools, cities, states, countries, using technology to communicate/collaborate/create in whatever ways possible and appropriate to postively impact student learning - totally up to you and your PVUSD counterpart on what you think would be useful - how big, how small, how deep, how thin, is up to you.
It does not have to be high tech, with tons of technology - in fact, the technology is not the point - learning with and about others is, being creative and taking a risk is the experience. One simple internet connection and a Google account can do wonders (you should now know that), to connect students, teachers, administrators, whatever. I suspect your kids, your school will be richer for the adventure and you will cross into something I believe is profound and necessary in education - REACH'ing beyond the walls......
So, if you want to REACH, give me the details and I will personally try to connect you with an appropriate counterpart. Then, you have the opportunity to extend your coursework learning into actual practice - the point of taking a class. Email me yay with details, or nay. What I wish for you is to REACH beyond this ASU class, throw optimism into the wind and see what emerges in your participatory networking experience.
Jeff......
Saturday, October 25, 2008
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12 comments:
Great point that education has a trickle down effect. There are always cutting edge schools with the funding and resources, however we all know that nothing is distributed amongst schools equally.
I think it's key that teachers get training, so they know how to use all the technology available. You're right, some schools will move faster than other. I think parts of the country will move faster than other, too.
We are a competitive nation and I believe that the funding depends on how progessive other nations are and how that affects our standing as the world number one power.
I agree with your comment about the teachers being the ones who will need the training! I can't believe how long it took me just to calm down and figure out how to make a post and a comment! I think you are correct that the changes will be slow, but I think they are already being pushed at the speed they are simply because of the student and the knowlege skills they already have when they enter the classroom.
Paula, I think that you have great insight on the future of technology in education. I agree that like anything in education, it takes time to implement new programs. It will be a slow process as many schools simply don't have the funds to purchase all of the latest technology. However, it is so exciting that although it may take a while, this new technology exists and someday it will be in the hands of students everywhere.
I agree that consistent implementation of technology across all educational institutions is going to be a slow process. With the focus on test scores and many of our students not being able to even reach basic proficiency, some of what we read is hard to imagine. I would love ideas about how all of the technology can help many of students learn English!
My experience over the last 10 years suggest you're correct - the constraints of our education system is what's dictating the speed of integration or adoption. There is one phenomenon that might just push the transformation past the tipping point. Specifically, the explosion of online learning, using many different models and enterprises suggests big changes are in the air over the next 5 to 10 years. Many are calling this "disruptive innovation", and the impacts to the current education system is called "disrupting class". It's going to be interesting.
Interesting topic. I agree with you Paula, the teachers are the one that will need A LOT of training. I remembered when I was in 8 grade in 1995, the most powerful technology device to store document was the floppy drive, it was about just a little over 10 years; now there are flash drive that can carry 2 gigabite or even more that I don't know of. The flash drive that I saw last time was as small as the tip of my little finger. Amazing technology we as educators will have to learn, and that's the hard part to learn. I'm sure once we learn it, it's the most powerful tool we will use to educate our "Disripting Class."
I agree that sometimes education is last to update itself in many realms. I think it is important for teachers not to become complacent in the way that they teach because our students are evolving and so should we. We need to teach the way that our students will learn the best and I think technology is the way to do that.
I agree that the movenment will be slow. Unfortunately we live in a society today where education is funded at a state level/private in your case and every district has different issues of importance in them. I feel technology is important but not everyone else does. Good though provoking questions Paula.
I agree completely with you. Teachers will absolutely be the ones needing the training. Especially those of us who didn't grow up with all of these gadgets available to us.
The potential that we humans have created is quite scary indeed.
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