A very wise colleague of mine and I have been working towards creating an Information Technology/Literacy curriculum for our school that can stand the test of time. The funny thing is we don’t talk about technology. The conversation always seems shifts elsewhere. In one of the recent versions of our ever developing vision statements he wrote these words:

” It is our goal in developing an integrated curriculum to ensure that the way students learn with technology agrees with the way they live with technology.”

Sometimes words in the right order ring so true.

Much is being written at the moment about how schools need to shift their paradigm and move away from TECHNOLOGY SKILLS and move towards THINKING SKILLS.

So what technology skills do students NEED to know?

You ask 10 educators this question and they will give out 10 different answers.

Terms like Power Point,Word, Dream Weaver, Web Search often appear in them.

Should they not be replaced with with words like: Communicate, Write, Evaluate, and Think?

How can a curriculum or technology scope and sequence hope to keep up and remain relevant when software, hardware, and information change daily. All too often these elaborate documents that track and chronicle how technology is integrated and are used across the curriculum become dead the moment they are written. They exist because they are written in the traditional educational framework of : document, track and CONTROL.

The problem is the way we live with technology does not agree with this framework. We have to relinquish CONTROL and think BIGGER!

I learn new skills when I need to learn them.

I learn new skills when they are relevant to me and what I am doing.

I learn new skills when they contribute to my understanding of something.

Not before.

If we wish our students to be successful in the 21st Century, they will need to know how to:

• Find and access information efficiently
• Evaluate the quality of information including both accuracy and bias
• Communicate effectively using all means of media
• Tap into the collective intelligence of many by collaborating both in person and electronically
• Keep themselves and others safe through responsible use and awareness of the dangers of a connected world

The tools used to meet these learning outcomes can vary widely but if you know the fundamentals behind how to communicate, evaluate, access, find, and share information then it does not matter what tool you use. You will be prepared.

Today technology has become an important part of meeting these fundamentals but it should never be the reason for learning to use it.

But what about the skills??

Who will teach them?

The answer is: You embed them right along side what you are doing. When you are doing it.

If I am having students present in Geography class and I want the students to present using a digital medium then I teach them how to use the tool properly and effectively right along side the content and purpose for doing the presentation in the first place. They need to learn the skills because they have been given a purpose.

Curriculum should always drive this purpose.

Math should drive it.

Science should drive it.

Social Studies should drive it.

P.E should drive it.

Purpose should drive it.

Of course expectations look different at all different age levels but that is what being an “expert of your students” is all about. Knowing what your students are capable of and structuring and creating a learning environments to meet their needs and push their boundries is what it is all about.

We are just getting started.

But it’s not just us.

Some great thinking going on here, and here and all over.

Another one!!!

This is getting silly.

The International Educator, a wildly circulated professional newspaper has made the editorial decision to put this article on it’s front page with the above title.

If you read the article you will come across lines like:

“The students were told at the beginning of the course that they could bring their laptops to class to take notes if they wanted to but they would never NEED their laptops”

“You’d sit and watch the students and wonder, “What are they doing with their laptops?” You’s walk by other classes and see everyone playing solitaire.. I wanted to know, ‘Is this a problem?,” said Fried, a psychology professor at Winona State.”

To its credit the article goes on to add: “It’s just good classroom management. If you’re a good professor moving around your classroom, engaging your students, you don’t have those issues. Our best professors don’t see those issues.”

It is clear that pedagogy and instructional practice is the villan here and NOT the laptop. However my big issue with this article lies with the fact that TIE decided to lead the article with “Study finds laptops in class hinder learning.” Like our students, adults just read headlines, and this headline  actually refers to a college study. TIE is largely read by K - 12 educators and this article which really should be focusing more on the poor teaching practices of the these college professors will actually just provide one more “See I told you so !!” moment for some teachers to latch on to.

But what do I know?

I know that:
1) Good teaching , instructional strategies, and pedagogy leads to learning.

2) Good classroom management contributes to effective learning environments which affect student learning.

3)Technology is a tool that can enhance student learning but on it’s own will not guarantee it.

When you take number 3 and apply some number 1 some number 2 you get a classroom that is engaging, relevant to the lives of our students and possibly fun. All of these things are essential elements to learning.

Articles like this one just cause people to stop thinking.

I have written about this before. Here and here.

The tipping point for all of this is near.

Keep writing and keep reading and DON’T STOP THINKING and in time it will all fall into place.

I can feel it!

I just finished going through my feeds. I had over 300 unread posts to get to.

Instead of methodically reading each one like I usually do, I skipped around.

I read some and not others.

I looked for ideas to jump out at me and rushed past them of they did not.

I moved quickly, like I do with a newspaper or magazine.
As my “unread feeds” number started to grow smaller, so did the guilt.

You know what I’m talking about!

The RSS guilt.

“When am I going to get to all of this stuff ?”

“There is so much good writing out there! When am I going to read it all?”

I have always known this but tonight it became clear………..you can never get to it all!

Tonight I feel content that I got to SOME.

It’s ok to just get to SOME.

Tonight SOME of it was OK.

Tonight SOME of it was really GOOD.

Tonight SOME of it was GREAT!

Sometimes you just have to set your counters to ZERO.

Try it and let me know how it feels.

Image source: http://zegnou.free.fr/2006/02/lost-every-108-minutes-button-must-be.html

“Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops” - New York Times - May 4th, 2007

“After seven years, there was literally no evidence it had any impact on student achievement — none,” said Mark Lawson, the school board president here in Liverpool, one of the first districts in New York State to experiment with putting technology directly into students’ hands. “The teachers were telling us when there’s a one-to-one relationship between the student and the laptop, the box gets in the way. It’s a distraction to the educational process.”

When I read statements like this it saddens me and maddens me at the same time.

It saddens me to watch thousands of hard earned tax dollars be wasted because of poor implementation and support. You don’t read about businesses considering abandoning their lap top programs due to employee computer distractions or losses in productivity. How are schools to remain relevant to today’s students if they cannot structure and provide an environment that can enable them to succeed?

In one to one lap top classrooms everything looks different.
Classroom management looks different.

Supervision looks different.

Assessment looks different.

Collaboration looks different.

Teaching looks different.

Scaffolding looks different.

Lesson plans look different.

Learning looks different.

Teaching looks different.

TEACHING LOOKS DIFFERENT!!!

After reading this article, my first questions were:

How much PD was done on: “Teaching in a one to one program”, “Classroom management in a one to one program”, “Student user policies in a one to one program” , “How to monitor and track teacher AND student learning in a one to one program”.

You won’t find books on these subjects (idea??) but if you leverage the experience of all of us who are working and teaching in these environments and having success with them you will find a wealth of knowledge, just waiting to be tapped. Reach out and mobilize your resources! Is that not one of the new skills of the 21st century?

I have seen and have been a part of programs that work. There are so many examples out there where one to one programs succeed in engaging our 21st century learners while still ensuring they they are learing. But it takes an investment in PEOPLE and not technology to make these programs successful. Small steps, instructional shifts, changes in thinking, changes in practices and changes in TEACHING.

Changes in Teaching,……………..