Give this to your IT department: Five Ways IT can help teachers be more effective.

Let me start this post by stating that I am not a teacher. I am also not a geek in the traditional sense of the word. Now that I've discredited myself with both of the intended audiences of this post, let me explain why I might be qualified to give some advice in this area.

In my career I have worked to help organizations either start something big, or make big changes in how they do things. In the last 15 years, I have worked almost exclusively with educational institutions both as a consultant, and for the last 10 years leading their IT groups.

I have watched over the years as IT departments in partnership with vendors delivered educational technology “solutions” that were supposed to revolutionize the classroom and change the way learning happened. The long list of items included Learning Management Systems, Clickers, interactive whiteboards, laptops, tablets, document cameras, wireless networking, classroom management software, video conferencing, chat rooms, social media, etc., etc. etc. And while the promises (and budgets) were huge, the deliverables in terms of revolution were almost inconsequential.

What we did, was add complexity, frustration, and tremendous cost to the academic experience. While there were shining pockets of great technology implementation, as a whole we didn’t add any value or capacity to the teacher’s ability to do her or his job better.

Yet we in IT were undaunted, and were sure that we’d achieve results after the next silver bullet.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Why the CES Matters to You.

It's that time of year again. When technical journalists flock to the warmer climates of Las Vegas to gorge on gadgets and hyperbole at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

While I have never been to this event (and have no immediate plans to start attending), I have developed an increased interest in CES, or more importantly, the resulting expectations around technology that it creates.

The line between personal and professional devices has blurred significantly in recent years, but if the trends that show themselves at CES this year are any indication, there is much for you to sit up and pay attention to. Here are a few things I've noticed so far.

Two Things You Can Learn From a Stupid Commercial

Image: Via YouTube

Years ago, there was a schmaltzy commercial on television where one person gnawing on a chocolate bar the size of a refrigerator collided into another person who happened to be eating straight from the largest jar of peanut butter you've ever seen.

Their serendipitous accident showed us unknowing masses how delightful the combination of peanut butter and chocolate could be, and that you could conveniently buy a pack of peanut butter cups rather than run around the town with a big jar of peanut butter hoping to bump into someone.

While I don’t for a moment believe that the commercial was ‘based on a true story’, I do see it having two important teachings for IT leaders.

Why 1:1 Programs in Schools are Obsolete

If you are considering a 1:1 program for your school, you may want to stop and reconsider.

There are volumes written about the need to equip today's students with technology to ensure they have the tools necessary for success in the world today.  For many schools, they look forward to the day when every student in the class has a computer.

But I’m beginning to think this isn’t enough.

First, a bit of background.

Peering inside the Black Box of Learning

This is a guest posting by one of my team members.  It covers some of the most interesting work we are doing here at Appleby College using Microsoft OneNote to enhance the learning experience. This is in addition to a number of other applications and technologies in place.

Appleby College has been a 1:1 computer school for over 14 years.  First as a laptop, then a pen-based tablet to support education.

We are delighted to share this story.  The paper below has been shared on Microsoft's Partners In Learning Hot Topic site.

If you are interested in further discussion on how this might be applicable to your school, send me an email (kpashuk(at)gmail(dot)com) with your contact information and I'll get back to you.

Comments and questions are welcome.  Enjoy the post below.

iPads in the Classroom, An Unintended Wrinkle

If you ask whether we are a PC based school, or a Mac based school, my answer is always the same.  We are a "best tool for the job" school.

Image: FastCompany.co

We love the interoperability of shared OneNote folders for our students and teachers (yet another post), the use of SharePoint to create individualized Connected Learning Sites for each student with access by parents / teachers / other students automatically controlled by Active Directory.  We also love the rich ecosystem of apps that are only available on the Apple side of the table.

We've been piloting creating an environment in the classroom where pen based tablet PC's and Apple iPads can co-exist simultaneously and without unnecessary complexity for the teacher.

In short, teachers had to be able to connect to the projector and display both the PC and iPad without changing inputs on the projector, and switch back and forth between the devices as easy as falling off a log.

We experimented with using AppleTV, but found that aside from switching the video input on the projector (consuming valuable teaching time) those wonderful little remotes (about the size of a stick of gum) would easily be misplaced.  Setting up the school's wireless network to support AppleTVs in adjoining rooms securely was achievable but somewhat complex.  If it was set up on a shared open network, you just knew it was a matter of time before some student (usually an adolescent male) would discover that you could display certain kinds of images in class...

iPad screen on a PC via AirServer

We were delighted to find a product that solved all of these issues.  Enter AirServer (www.airserver.com) This utility is both highly affordable (less than $10 compared to the $100 / classroom for AppleTV) and simple to use.  It effectively turns the PC or Mac connected to your projector into an AirPlay compatible receiver, and you can easily mirror both the desktop as well as play media.  Our initial findings are incredibly positive, with one exception, which is the real reason for this post.

As it turns out, AirServer mirrors everything that happens on the iPad screen... including the keystrokes you enter whenever you are asked for a password.  Add the iPad's design (as it is with most touchscreens) and the characters of you password are displayed for the whole class to see.

When you consider that many people (and you know who you are) use a derivative of the same password for almost every online account, this can become a problem.

I'm not sure about you, but this is a real issue for me.  Am I the only one who sees a security hole here?

I'm surprised at how little I've heard of this problem in all I've read about iPads in the classroom.  A Google search will bring some articles to light, but I was surprised more people haven't caught on as yet.

So... while this won't stop us from bringing the iPads into the classroom, it certainly changes how we guide our teachers in their use.

By all means... go out and get AirServer... it's a great product.  This issue is Apple's to fix.  

Have you implemented iPads in your school or business yet?  Is this a potential issue for you?

I'd love to hear from you.

How to Bring Lasting Change to Education Through Technology

This posting is slightly different from the others.

I was reviewing a document I had written in 2009, and thought this portion would be very appropriate to share with you, my readers.

This could be construed as proof that I don't always insert bad humour into my writing... that I can be serious at times.

More importantly, it succinctly covers my observations over the years about bringing lasting change into the educational sector.

No New Tech in Our School!

What? Wait? What did you say?

"No New Tech in Our School!"?

I thought this blog was about technology (among other things)?

It is.

And it isn't.

Let me explain in my usual roundabout way.

Homogeneous is Good for Milk, Bad for Schools

We want to be the best.

Who doesn't?

If we just wanted to be good, my organization doesn't need a strategic IT leader, it could get by with a manager.

Someone who delivers IT services at the lowest possible cost.

Nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing differentiating.

Safe.

Predictable.

Easily managed.

(Sound like much of IT delivered now, doesn't it?)

And one of the key tools of Safe IT leadership, is the concept of standardization, or homogeneity.

Homogeneity is the state of conformity. Milk from various sources is mixed together to become homogeneous so that every sip will taste consistent.

Now before you jump down to the comment section and furiously type what's going through your mind right now, I'm not against standards... but the concept of universal application of technology to the lowest common denominator so that everyone gets the same level of service, or everyone has the same equipment.

This works well with milk because everyone who consumes milk has pretty much the same requirement from the stuff.  Not so with technology.

My Latest, Favourite Learning Technology



Image via: denablizzard.brinkster.net

Something happened recently at our school that thrilled me to no end.

We introduced some new technology into the classroom that supercharged the energy in the room, got the kids up out of their seats, and had them excited about the lesson - which happened to be economics.

I don't know about you, but when I was in high school, an economics lesson wasn't exactly where I'd go for excitement.  I would put it right up along licking the paint off a house in terms of the wow factor.

So what exactly was the new technology? And what does a picture of a toddler drawing on the wall have to do with this post?

Read on, dear reader to find out.

Feeding your inner geekness. You are welcome.

Occasionally, my geekness escapes.  I'm normally good at containing it, but when I see something like the interactive web site below I just can't help it.

What if you could put everything (well a lot of things) in the universe next to each other to see the relative size of things... from Quantum foam (the smallest) to the measurable Universe (the largest)?

Carey and Michael Huang have figured out an elegant way to do so.

Here's the YouTube video showing their creation in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=uaGEjrADGPA 

Here's a link to the full interactive version:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/589217

Visit Carey and Michael's site www.htwins.net for more of these wonderful tools.

Here's to your inner geek!

Canadian schools behind in online learning. Should we care?

I'm a news junkie.

When the news is about technology enabled education, I take notice.

Last week, the Globe and Mail published an article entitled "Canadian schools falling behind in online learning, report says".  It described the loss of leadership in online learning, web enabled learning and distance education.

Kate Hammer's article laid out a lot of facts, but it had a significant gap... To me, it seemed to describe the delivery of education using technology as a separate and distinct process from the classroom delivered experience.

I just had to comment.

I suggest you read the article (link is here), then read the comment I submitted (which earned 15 likes and 4 replies).

Some people disagreed with me, but that's fine with me. I don't claim to have the right opinion, but I certainly have an opinion, and love the dialog.

Building the Perfect Computer for Today's Student.

It's that time again.

We get to buy several hundred computers for our school.

At our school we are in the enviable position of having a pen-based tablet computer for every student and teacher.  It's been like this for 12 years.

Image: MS Office Imagebank

The students use the computers to get their assignments, do their assignments, and submit their assignments.

They work them harder than any business person I've ever met. When one manufacturer told us they simulate extreme use by opening and closing the lid 30 times a day, we laughed.

That typically happens by noon for our students.

The machines starts at 7:00 am when the student checks their messages for the day, and is shoved into their backpack several times, and generally is shut off after homework (or Facebook if we are being honest) after 10:00 pm.

In cowboy terminology "They's rode hard, and put away wet!".

Ours are leased on a two year cycle.  Even with accidental breakage warranty, on-site warranty repair, and a cupboard full of loaners, the computers are OLD at the end of the two years.

Extreme Damage

For most of them, they are like the ax that has been in your family for five generations... it's only had 2 new heads and 5 new handles (but it's the same ax).

The point is... when you implement a 1:1 computer program in a school, and if you expect them to actually use them, then these things will break.

After all, even with the rigorous use, it is still kids using them.  Kids can be, well, a bit goofy - particularly 14 year old boys.

We've seen computers kicked by horses, computers that have been retrieved from the bottom of a pool, computers that have had all the keys removed (purposely), computers with strange liquids and food stuff inside, computers used as baseball bats, and in the case of the picture above, a computer that argued with an SUV, and lost.  The bag was left in the driveway.  Why you ask?  Before you get too judgmental, remember how your brain was working in your teenage years.

If you put computers in your classroom, you need to make the commitment to keeping them running. One of the most important things you can do is get the student back to class as quickly as possible when their computer breaks.  In our model, no computer = inability to participate in class or do homework.

Don't Confuse BYOT and iTextbooks with Student Engagement

Some days I get up, look in the mirror and say "You sir, are a closet Luddite!"

Image: Frame Breaking 1812 Wikimedia Commons

It's not that I don't like progress, (as some mistakenly think Luddites do... for the actual explanation of Luddite, go to my previous post - Beware! Lest you turn into a new Luddite!".)

What I'm having issues with is the propensity of press that describe BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) as THE solution to technology assisted education.  What better way to offer choice? Get technology in the classroom? (And if we are honest) Offload the technology costs to the parents of our students?

Schools without technology see this as a way to get technology into the classroom, and we all  (I'm doing air quotes) "know" that technology in the hands of the student means an engaged student. Right?

On a related note, Apple Computer just made a "breakthrough" announcement for the education sector.  They are getting textbooks out of the 16th Century metaphor (Bound Books) and making them more interactive, more "engaging" and more affordable... (as long as you have an iPad to read them on).

Now both of these concepts delight me... I'm the world's biggest proponent of how technology can be leveraged to do things never dreamed possible... that with educational technology properly implemented, teachers can squeeze more into a 45 minute class than they ever could before, or what student or school board hasn't winced at the price we pay currently for textbooks... but at the same time I can't help but feel we are sending the wrong message when we promote BYOT,  or now... iTextbooks.

I used to have superpowers.

When I was young, I could fly.

I could teleport myself across space and time.

I could beat up any bad guys that got in my way, no matter how big they were.

Image: MS Office Imagebank

In reality, I really couldn't do these things, but in my imagination everything was possible.

In reality,and sadly, children who hung out in the imagination part of their brain didn't do too well in school.

The alternate universe of imagination was an exciting, creative place to be. But it conflicted with the 'real world'.

"Imagineers" had trouble staying on task.  Trouble staying in their chairs. Trouble doing tasks that didn't engage their imagination.

I was one of them.

But in order to ever hope to get out of school, I had to conform.

It meant doing things their way.

Laying aside the superpowers.  Hanging up the cape.

It meant conforming to whatever everybody else was doing.

Skip ahead a few years.

A Field Trip to the Garbage Dump?

Imagine if your child came home from school with a permission slip to go on a field trip...

... to the garbage dump.

Image: MS Office Imagebank

"Um..." you say since you don't really understand "modern" education.

So you read further.

"We will be dropping your kids off at the front gate of the dump, with the objective of finding something of value buried in all the trash.  There will be no adult supervision on this field trip".

Would you sign?

If you answered yes, then I will be contacting the local Children's Services agency in your area.

You would be foolish to agree to this kind of field trip.

But when we put computers in the hands of our students and give them access to the Internet with no guidelines, objectives, or training, we are essentially agreeing to do this very thing.

Why School Libraries are More Important Than Ever

Kids today have it easy.

Aside from not having to walk 2 miles (uphill) each way to school through waist deep snow, they have the Internet to provide a rich source of knowledge and information, and don't have to rely on the school library to get this information.

Source: MS Office Imagebank

Back in the palaeolithic age when I went to high school, the school library served 2 useful functions... It was a place where you could hang out with your friends (as long as you had a book in front of you and didn't actually make any noise - an extremely difficult task for a goofy adolescent boy), and it held a collection of books (usually 2 per course) that you needed to actually do your assignments.  These were special books that could not leave the premises, so it was always a competition to get your hands on them during your study period, or you may have to actually come in after school -- a fate worse than death to a teenager.

You could always tell when a class received a new assignment when a small horde of students descended on the shelves, each hoping to be one of the two people that actually got a book.  The smart kids actually came in early and moved the books far away from where Mr. Dewey (of the infamous Decimal system) said it should be. While the other kids were frantically looking in the Canadian History section, they calmly walked over to the Biography section and retrieved the treasured tome.

But all of this is foreign to kids today. There is no need to fight over books since everything you need is on the Internet.

Are school libraries even needed today?