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John Page over at Educators’ eZine wrote an excellent article talking about some of the reasons for technology in education. As usual, I have my own opinions to add, so…

Reason 1. Expansion of time and place

Bottom line: information technology allows learning anywhere, anytime; not just in one particular classroom for one hour a day.

The concept of “time-shifting” when it comes to education or work is near and dear to my heart. Being a highly-mobile kind of guy, teaching students they aren’t tied to a desk or specific location to learn, study, and be productive is paramount to their success in the world.

Reason 2. Depth of Understanding

Interactive simulations and illustrations can produce a much greater depth of understanding of a particular concept. When virtual manipulatives are used in a classroom setting they can go far beyond chalk and talk.

I will agree with the common wisdom of the more senses you can engage, the better a person will learn and retain a topic. Unfortunately there’s also just as much of a chance of sensory overload and shutdown if care is not used. “All things in moderation,” to paraphrase Ben Franklin.

Reason 3. Learning vs. Teaching

Technology allows the tables to be turned. Instead of teaching (push), students can be given projects that require them to learn (pull) the necessary material themselves. Key to this is the ability to get the information they need any time anywhere, without being in the physical presence of a teacher.

I had to think about this a bit. It was then I realized I’m not a good student when it comes to being taught, but I’m a great learner. Perhaps the availability of technology in the classroom COMBINED with teachers and administrations who are willing to adopt the understanding that learning and teaching are not one in the same can reach those students like me.

Reason 4. New media for self-expression

Using modern technology, they can: make a PowerPoint presentation, record/edit spoken word, do digital photography, make a video, run a class newspaper, run a web based school radio or TV station, do claymation, compose digital music on a synthesizer, make a website, and/or create a blog.

No questions here. There are hundreds of ways for students and staff to express and communicate using technology. The issue is, are there too many? Educators should experiment on and demonstrate everything they can, but they need to show restraint in identifying technologies that students “have” to use.

Reason 5. Collaboration

A vital skill in the new digital world is the ability to work collaboratively on projects with others who may not be physically close. This can best be done using modern computer tools such as the Web, Email, instant messaging and cell phone. Rather than laboring alone on homework, students can work in small groups wherever they happen to be and at any time.

The challenge here isn’t in teaching students how to work as a group and collaborate on projects using technology (just watch them texting with cell phones some time.) The challenge is getting the educators themselves to learn how to use technology to collaborate with their peers and expand their skills so they can lead the students by example.

Reason 6. Going Global

The worldview of the student can be expanded because of the zero cost of communicating with other people around the globe. The internet permits free video conferencing which permits interaction in real time with sister schools in other countries. From an educational viewpoint, what could be more important than understanding other cultures through direct dialog and collaboration?

I struggle more with this one than any of the others. Yes there’s value in the global contacts but when viewed in context with all the other benefits, this falls pretty far down the list of student needs. Educators however are different story entirely.

Reason 7. Individual pacing and sequence

Students are, of course, all different. Information technologies can permit them to break step with the class and go at a pace and order that suits each student better. Without disrupting the class, they can repeat difficult lessons and explore what they find interesting.

Individual pacing is a big leap for many educators, especially those who have to “teach to the test.” Viewing the technology as a supplement to the learning process rather than the core in these cases is probably best, but it’s also a case where discussion with colleagues would be extremely helpful.

Reason 8. Weight

Right now, students are getting back injuries lugging around a tiny subset of what they need in the form of black marks printed on slices of a substance not all that different from the papyrus used by the ancient Egyptians. And it’s just static boring text.

Valid…but weak. I don’t think you’ll get a lot of grant responses based on Johnny’s bookbag being lighter.

Reason 9. Personal Productivity

Students need productivity tools for the same reasons you do. They need to write, read, communicate, organize and schedule. A student’s life is not much different from that of any knowledge worker, and they need similar tools. Even if they are never used in the classroom, portable personal computers will make a student’s (and teacher’s) life more effective. To cash in this benefit, schools need to go paperless.

Now we’re struggling for reasons. Productivity skills and techniques are not technology dependent. They can be learned with or without the bits and bytes. Personally I’d rather see students who can learn from the notes they took no matter what they took them on.

All in all I agree with most of John’s points when it comes to technology and education. It boils down to this. Technology is here, it’s not going away, and it’s foolish to ignore it. Educators need to get educated on technology themselves before they can truly help their students benefit from it.

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  • Fiddlers, listen up: Switch to paper. I’m talking the absolute lowest-fi system you can tolerate. Get rid of the fancy notebook, the expensive software and the pen made from the carcass of some endangered species. Go buy a couple boxes of crappy manila folders, a box of bic pens, a few reams of plain white printer paper and a pocket dayrunner-style calendar. Use only these tools (aside from your phone and your brain) and set yourself up caveman style. Force yourself to live in the GTD wilderness for awhile (which is paradise to some, by them way) and you’ll start to appreciate the way some of the higher-tech setups work. Or you’ll fall completely in love with it and never go back.

I’ve delayed and waffled about it for a long time but about a week ago I finally did it. I broke down and bought a reporter style Moleskine notebook to use. I’ve been a pocket notebook fan for a long time but I was never convinced the vertical format was something that would match to my writing or organizational style. Boy was I wrong.

I first put it to heavy use as the Master of Ceremonies this past weekend for our school’s annual charity auction. Not only did the vertical format let me keep the lists of information, announcements, and changes in a cleaner format but it also was easy to carry around and write on while standing. No more awkward grip on the book as I’m trying to capture things on the right side. I’m using it this week for the prep and planning before my upcoming week long Appalachian Trail hike (a week off the grid…this should be interesting) and I’ll be taking it along to take notes on the trail.

If you’re a Moleskine user as I am and haven’t tried the vertical format yet…you don’t know what you’re missing. I’ll post some photos as I gather more insights into the pluses and minuses of this layout. One minus in the interest of being fair - lacking the ribbon bookmark I spend more time than before flipping through to the current page. I need to find a work around for that. (Clipping corners off pages perhaps?)

Vicki Davis over at Cool Cat Teacher posted about “Loser Loops,” those administrative loops that suck the life and energy out of activities and teaching. Now rather than echo with, “I agree completely” I want to post some counterarguments and possible solutions.

I had an administrator that used to make me turn in every lesson plan for every class every week at the end of the prior week. He did not read them. They were for his file.

And IF I changed the lesson plan, I had to update it. I plan my lessons anyway… however, all of this paperwork really took the focus off of my STUDENT and made the PRINCIPAL my customer. The focus WAS on him NOT students. I often spent so much time making the lesson plans PRETTY that I wasn’t really ready to TEACH when it came time to implement the plan. That is ridiculous.

I honestly don’t know if I could have been able to do Flat Classroom or Horizon in such a scenario.

Now, I’m not advocating that we don’t plan our lessons. WE MUST PLAN AHEAD for our lessons. I plan out the year, the six weeks, the week, the day. However, often, these plans are a bit messy and working. I do them in pencil for the week and they end up with erasures and sometimes post it notes on them. They are working documents and they look like it! A BEAUTIFUL lesson plan is a report, not a lesson plan.

If you are mandated to provide this information on a weekly basis, why are you reproducing it multiple times? Wouldn’t it benefit you to share with your administrator the wonders of a wiki, Google Doc, or other tool that contained your lesson plans for the year, was always up to date with your changes and improvements, and by the way could be printed for permanent files when necessary?

I have friends who state that they spend 6-8 hours a WEEK on PAPERWORK. They say that real planning is an afterthought because the customer is all of the administrators and directors who are inspecting the paper.

Again, find a format that meets their needs as well as your own and you reduce your effort and time to delivery.

But teachers, don’t point your finger at administrators, because you have four pointing right back at you! Teachers are some of the worst at creating meaningless loops!

Why do we have the fill out worksheets? What if knowledge could be better imparted by experience?

Teachers often opt for the worksheet because it can be seen, touched, and “measured.” Experience cannot be filed in a box and handed to parents. Audio files and video are not as “tangible” as a piece of paper! We cannot touch a wiki or a blog!

We have to ask ourselves… what is the PURPOSE of what my students are creating? Can I expand the audience to be more than just the teacher? (IS it appropriate to expand the audience?) Can I better assess in another way?

This I will agree with. Teachers need to lead by example and help the administration learn by what can be accomplished within the classroom. Be able to demonstrate the value the technologies you have at your fingertips can bring to the administrative processes as well and you may just win a convert.

If you want to reduce the work you need to accomplish during the day, look for ways to deliver what is requested of you in a more efficient manner. Get over the thought, “if I can do more faster they’ll just ask me to do more.” That’s as self-defeating a position as you can take and you might as well just quit and go home. Get more efficient at your job and deliver things on their timeline, but on your schedule. You may not be able to eliminate the “loser loops” but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a way to shortcut them. Think “tesseract.”

I had it.  I know I did.  Now I can’t find it.  My precious little 8 GB thumb drive that I kept personal information, portable applications, and associated “stuff” on has gone on walkabout.  Now, I’m not worried so much about the personal info since everything was encrypted on the drive (everything of importance that is) but just the raw inconvenience of not having it is bugging me.  Luckily a while ago I started backing up the contents of the drive on a regular basis.  I’ll explain how…but you Mac users are on your own since my process only works on a PC.

The solution was simple enough.  I wrote a batch file (oh take me back to the good old days) that would copy anything that had changed on the drive to my hard drive with a single command.  Here’s the contents of the batch file (ironically called flashback.bat):

Since F: is the drive letter my flash drive is always assigned to when I plug it into the computer it’s easy to designate the batch file to copy all the contents of the drive.  The cool parts come from the switches at the end.

These two switches are enough to do a complete automated backup by just running the batch file.  If you want a smarter file add the following one:

This way only those files who have been modified since your last backup will be copied, making it process much faster.

No matter how you do it, get into the habit of backing up your portable drives in case they get lost, stolen, consumed by a canine, etc.  You can never be too careful.

Tags: backup, thumb drive, usb, data, portable