Sunday, May 20, 2007

OLPC - One Laptop Per Child

There was a segment on this during 60 Minutes tonight.

What amazes me is that there is so little talk about this mass production for American schools. Third world classrooms with laptops...while most of our schools can’t even consider one laptop per child. And nobody seems to think that’s wrong. I can imagine it’s only a matter of time before this catches on here, especially if there are positive outcomes to this and other 1:1 projects. There is reference to a “competitive” project from Intel, focusing on the same countries and kind of technology.

Another interesting aspect about OLPC is the answer to the question, “What exactly are they doing with these laptops?” After all, it’s certainly not about the technology but how these tools are used to improve learning.

I blogged about OLPC earlier this year on our district’s blog: $100 Laptop and More on One Laptop Per Child.

Posted by Randy on 05/20 at 10:10 PM
Emerging Technologies • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Technology Planning

In terms of leadership, I believe one of the most important things that we can do in our schools is build capacity. When we do this, the necessary changes in the system will occur in a more timely and meaningful manner, with the most positive effect on the school/district culture. One of our major efforts this year was to develop a technology plan for our district. The one in place prior to my arrival was your typical plan - descriptions of infrastructure, charts reflecting numbers of computers and a listing of one-shot professional developments designed to train teachers in “technology skill.” Needless to say, it was more like a technology report than a technology plan. And that needed to change.

Development of this document was essentially a year-long process that involved a significant number of people. Yet it never got bogged down in too much process. A district-wide committee was assembled consisting of teachers, library media specialists, parents, students, administrators, board members and community representation. We looked at sets of data unique to our district, looked at the research and then developed vision, mission, belief and goal statements. From this, we articulated action steps to achieve those goals within the next three years. Once this work had been done, subcommittees within each level—elementary, middle, high—were organized to develop action steps specific to their level.

I am pleased with the plan that we have assembled. First, it really is a plan. We now have direction, supported by data and research, to move our schools into the 21st century. We also have a framework in which to prioritize curriculum and technology decisions. Does the plan address everything? Will there issues arise that are not necessarily part of the plan? Probably. But the decision making process for the future will now be grounded in the priorities established and agreed to by many people in the organization. They have established their ownership of these goals and action steps. In short, we have strengthened our capacity for change. And I do believe that this will pay off in the next three years and beyond.

Now, how do we educate our school board and community on this new direction?

Salisbury Township School District Technology & Learning Implementation Plan

Posted by Randy on 05/20 at 08:50 AM
Leadership • Reflection • (1) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Curriculum

The area that teachers are tied closest to is curriculum. This is also the most difficult paradigm shift for teachers. George Siemens wrote something that reinforced for me the challenges that we, and particularly teachers, face as we try to redefine education and work our way through these paradigm shifts.

Content today is essentially a stream - we don’t commit it to memory so much as we interact with it to see what it holds for temporary understanding, and then we move on to the next innovation or emerging research.

If this is true about content today, then our curriculum and our assessments need to respond to that. Locating 50 states and their capitals on a map has little relevancy (it probably never did). So what is important? What do we need to understand to help us make this shift in understanding what curriculum entails? We need to dip into that stream of content, be able to evaluate the relevance of that information, and than do something creative or innovative, and then move on, repeating the process. We do seem to spend our precious time with students, having them commit much of that content to memory and falling short of that creativity and innovation piece. Essentially, we are leaving behind any real thinking. And it’s hard for teachers who love their content, to give in to the fact that it is no longer important to memorize all the tidbits of that which they love so much. It’s not the content, it’s what you do with the content. Curriculum needs to change and reflect that. We need to change our paradigm.

Posted by Randy on 05/09 at 10:22 PM
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