The Why, What and How of Technology Integration

This article is cross posted at the Technology & Learning Advisor blog.

If your school district is anything like mine you have been deeply entrenched in creating Professional Growth Plans (PGP) and Student Growth Objectives (SGO) for the better part of last and this school year. With all of this busyness we can lose focus of the continuing need for professional development and research to improve our craft. It’s time that school leaders let us all get back to what we do best, teach, no matter what evaluation model you may follow.

With that in mind, and that fact that we are getting bombarded by ed tech companies all the time, we need to have some guidelines to follow when it comes to integrating new technologies. I recently attended a symposium that reinforced some standard, and maybe forgotten, guidelines to follow for the integration of technology both in the classroom and district.  The keynote speaker, Joshua Koen of Passaic Public Schools in NJ, did a great job outlining some important things to remember before we purchase and integrate technology into the classroom.  Here are some of his points with my own added:

1. You need to have a good reason why.

If you can’t specifically answer why you want to integrate a technology into your curriculum you need to go back and rethink your process.  With shrinking budgets and more demands on all staff you have to do your homework and not be won over by the hype that technology vendors create in their products. We need to approach it with a critical eye and look at marketing campaigns with the same media literacy skills we try to impart in our students. From the top down, we have to make sure that it will improve instruction and that we can’t use an existing technology, in an innovative way, that does the same thing. We live in a more technologically open world now than ever before, with lots of great free tools, so we should really have good reason why before asking  to purchase new classroom technologies.

2. You have to know what you want.

As the saying goes “Sometimes you don’t know, what you don’t know.”  We have to be sure that we know exactly what we want to accomplish in our classrooms to make the biggest impact. Teachers have to be researchers and work with their technology and curriculum people to get the right fit for what they want their students to accomplish. Have your administrators or tech director call vendors and ask for demo units that will allow you to run a proof of concept trial before making the purchase. This is really important since we all know that we don’t always get what is advertised, or it’s just not the right fit.  I have seen this happen too many times and it creates frustration and the technology ends up not being used. Only the classroom teacher can know if it’s the right fit, so don’t force it, and ask the vendors for those demos.

3. Have a plan for how to make it happen.

We all know how important planning in education is for success. Looking back at the first step and remembering the reason why you want the technology will drive the planning process. Teachers need to collaborate in their professional networks, and look at best practices to help inform their decisions and instruction. If you do make the purchase, put the time in on the back end with professional development and training before you introduce it to the students . Start slow and pilot it with a chosen few students to give you feedback since they are the end users that should matter most. Most of all innovate as you progress and leverage this new technology to go beyond it’s initial purpose. Just like any tool a multi-tasker is much better than an expensive, specialized, single  use one. Finally, by all means share your experiences with your colleagues and your Personal/Professional Learning Networks (PLN).

By following some common sense guidelines you can save yourself, and your district time, money and frustration. You can also make the most of the district's funds, improve instruction, and create an authentic and collaborative learning environment that will help you and your students achieve those professional development and student growth goals and objectives.

Your Town as a Learning Community

This article is cross posted at the Technology & Learning Advisor blog.

Recently, I started thinking about the concept of a city/community as an extension of the school. It made me start to believe that this should be the goal of all schools.  Obviously, every community and school is different, but I wanted to share them anyway.  I also want hear back from all of you as well. We all know that a school is not a place that can succeed in a vacuum. It takes everyone, with students or not,  taking responsibility and doing their part. Of course, technology can play an important role in facilitating this and getting people involved.

If you want to build support and get people involved you need to do some outreach and research. There are so many people out there that are untapped resources for your school that just need to be asked. When a child leaves the school to go home for the day they pass by so many opportunities that can help a school in educating our youth. They just need to learn how to identify them.

It can be as simple as inviting community members into your school to see what is being taught and then exchanging ideas on what they may be abel to contribute. If someone is not able to come on site, offer to have them speak to the class via a Skype session or maybe via a pre-recorded video presentation. This can also be an opportunity to teach them something that will enrich their life or improve their business. Everyone needs to look at this as a give and take learning scenario.

Developing relationships and collaboration skills are so important for our students to learn. So, why not use your local community as the starting point.  I am sure that both parties have a lot to share. Students can use a variety of technologies to record interviews or create presentations to share with their classmates.

Let’s not forget that technology is not just computers.  There are local experts out there that can come into your classroom and teach students about a variety of STEM subjects too. These relationships will empower the students and show them real world, living examples to emulate.  Participating in STEM related activities can be such a great learning and idea sharing opportunity.

The city government needs to take a roll in this as well. Building shared services with your local library and city government to offer resources, computer time and instruction after school hours will pay great dividends to those that don’t have a computer or Internet connection at home. To take this one step further, opening community technology centers that can be manned by local experts or teaching staff that can offer supplemental technology time would be great. Something just as simple as keeping the school’s computer lab open for evening access can solve this problem.

The school district and city IT departments can work together to create city wide technology resources. A wide area wireless network or a private cloud infrastructure can really break down the walls of the school to create anytime anywhere learning. That, coupled with collaborating with your local intellectual resources, can created a community that works together to educate their children.

I really believe that this is the way of the future for building strong school community bonds. These bonds will return great dividends with not only a better education, but people wanting to live in your community and former students coming back to live with their families too. After all, why wouldn’t they want to live in a community that works together to educate their future. The economy, tax base, and educational opportunities will only expand.  At least, that’s what I believe will happen.

Your thoughts are welcomed..

The Top Three Most Important Issues Facing K-12 Educational Technology for 2011-12

This article is cross posted at the Technology & Learning Advisor blog.

Recently, Christine Wiser T&L's Managing Editor, asked the Tech Advisors the following question:

What do you think are the top three most important issues facing K-12 edtech this year?

I thought that this was a great question that would generate a lot of discussion. So, I wanted to share with you my top three and see what you have to say. After all, sometimes, the more voices heard the more progress can be made.

Here are my top three:

1.  Mobile device adoption. Especially bring your own device program implementation.

   Obviously, mobile devices are very popular and just about everyone has one.  They come in so many “flavors” that there are many to choose from. Also, with school district budgets not getting any better they are becoming more attractive for schools to explore due to their overall lower price points.

   Furthermore, with the diversity of technology assets available to consumers, bring your own device (BYOD) programs are starting to crop up all over the country. I really like this idea and think that with more and more students owning technologies that can meet their needs for school, BYOD promises to have benefits well beyond cash savings for school districts.

   The challenge lies, just as it does with a one-to-one program, in the implementation.  Policies have to be properly written, to protect not just your network but to comply with the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA).  Web filtering needs to be selected carefully so staff and students can still pass through the filter with their device so inappropriate sites can be blocked and network security solutions have to be carefully considered in order to protect the integrity of your staff and student data.

   So, although I believe that this is the way to go, there are many things that need to be considered and it’s important enough that we all, as educators, collaborate on effective models for success.

2. Getting people to really understand what is meant by 21st century teaching and learning.

   Twenty first century teaching and learning is defined in many ways. For the most part it is teaching our students the following skills - Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and Innovation. But, many educators are overwhelmed with the task of implementing a plan to address these needs. More understanding and training needs to take place and districts need to implement plans that work for them. This will help bring those reluctant, late adopters, along at a comfortable pace that will allow them to have small successes that will motivate them to continue and build confidence.

   One skill, which I believe is very important for our students to learn is empathy and I am not alone. In a February 2008 eSchool News interview entitled “Four things every student should learn...but not every school is teaching,” Alan November discussed global empathy -

“November said he was talking with a senior executive at a global investment bank recently, and he asked the executive: What is the most important skill for today’s students to learn so they are prepared to succeed in the new global economy?

“Empathy,” the executive replied—the ability to understand and respect different points of view.

Most of today’s companies do business with customers all over the world, and several also have branches in multiple countries. Chances are good that when students enter the workforce, they’ll be working with—or doing business with—someone from another nation, with its own culture and its own unique perspective, at some point in their career.
It’s not hard to find people who are smart, the executive said. What is hard to find are employees who have to ability to empathize with, and be sensitive to the needs of, people from other countries.”

So, we need to teach students skills that will prepare them to not only to be intelligent, creative thinkers, but also to have emotional intelligences to succeed in future jobs that are still to come. This is quiet a challenge, with a skill set that many educators need to learn in parallel with their students.

3. Anytime, anywhere learning.

   This is the piece that links together numbers one and two. If school districts are provided the opportunities to give students, and staff, the ability to access school resources outside of the classroom then powerful learning can take place.

   The advent of virtualization and cloud computing can allow a BYOD program to succeed.  Access to software and resources at home will allow students to do their work without having the fear of not having the correct software.  It can also save a school district money over time.

   If technology departments would look at putting resources into their “back end,” network development by implementing, for instance, a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), then students with just about any device can safely and securely access learning resources and files.

    Mobile and BYOD programs can then be designed using the VDI environment as the vehicle to enhance and supplement teaching twenty first century skills.  Students and staff can use their own technologies, if they want to, and school districts can effectively extend the life of some of their older systems since VDI is server-based and requires a much less powerful workstation The teachers and students can then work on projects that will allow them to use the same tools both at home and at school.

   So there are my three.  What are yours? I urge you to take time and reflect on the question. Then contribute and let the readers of T&L know what you think. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.