Category Archives: technology

From the News: Technology Leads a Literacy Revolution

Education, technology,

My colleagues and I often shake our heads over headlines touting the next technology that is going to lead the education revolution. It simply isn’t historically accurate. Technology doesn’t change education; instead, education changes technology, adapting it to current classroom practices.

But, in today’s google alert related to mobile technology, a headline caught my attention precisely because it goes against history. It seems that, in an effort to increase literacy among women, Afghanistan is harnessing mobile technology:

Afghanistan has launched a new literacy programme that enables Afghan women deprived of a basic education during decades of war to learn to read and write using a mobile phone.

In a country where women were forbidden from going to school and the literacy rate for women is about 13%, mobile technology may just foster a revolution in learning. Software developed by an Afghani company and distributed on free phones is making this revolution possible.

Maybe we have finally seen an example of technology sparking a revolution…

 

From the Twitterverse: How to Be Less Distracted

technology, Twitter

I am sitting in the living room, laptop on lap with 10 tabs open in Chrome, American Masters program about Woody Guthrie on the television, husband streaming a local government meeting. One of the tabs is TweetDeck…it’s Tuesday and so the blog post is about something I find on Twitter. This article form Edudemic seemed perfect: How To Be Less Distracted by Technology.

It includes 25 suggestions for how to reduce distraction, many of which include technologies. Interestingly enough, TweetDeck is one suggestion as it helps make Twitter a more efficient time killer.

The two suggestions that I need to practice are setting a limit on email checking and not opening up more than 3 or 4 tabs. I always have email open in a tab and watch the count, immediately clicking on the tab when the number changes. As for the tabs, I’m not sure how I end up with all those tabs…quick searches, clicking on Twitter, email and Facebook links, doing Google searches. I’ll look up to find 15 tabs open, some of them repeats. The article links to this great graphic from the Googley Gooeys, featuring five signs that you’ve opened too many tabs. All five signs apply to me, especially the ones about forgetting what you were doing in the first place and closing the important tab.

The suggestion for email is to only check it twice a day…I’m honestly not sure I could do that. If I were going to try, I feel like I should announce it since my colleagues have gotten used to often getting immediate responses from me, using email almost like chat.

Meanwhile, I can recommend the Woody Guthrie episode of American Masters…

 

 

 

Name Change?

Education, technology

Justin Reich’s title for his blog post caught my attention: If You Meet An iPad on the Way, Smash It. It is a play on a well-known Zen koan that advises you to kill the Buddha if you meet him on the road.

Reich’s post describes the EdTeach Teacher iPad Summit, which ended today. Despite its name, Reich insists that the iPad is not the focus on the conference:

The way we are seeking is one where we prepare young people for a life of civic commitment, of self-reflection, and of meaningful work and contributions to community. The way is about unlocking student talent, compassion, and humanity. If the iPad distracts us from defining the way, then we have to smash it.

Reich’s “way” is admirable and his idea that we can’t let technology get in the way is also admirable.  My simple question is this: if your goal is not related to iPads, then why is this called an iPad summit? Why not call it “unlocking student potential”? Or “developing 21st century citizenship”? Or “creating powerful learning environments”?

 

 

Writing Obama’s Technology Agenda (Hint…it includes STEM)

Education, technology

From today’s educational technology Google alert: concerns for Obama’s technology agenda.

The 8 Missions that Should Dominate Obama’s Technology Agenda from Michael Copeland at Wired: Concerns from tech startup leaders including Kevin Hartz from Everbrite, Chad Dickerson from eBay and Matt Mullenweg from WordPress. They focus on everything from immigration reform to STEM education to privacy and business concerns. But the conclusion comes from Brian Helmig, co-founder Zapier:

I’m a bit of a cynic, but at least for me, politics tends to be a bit of a distraction. Of course, I understand that many of the issues are incredibly important, but my disinterest is purely practical and not ideological. When customers need support, code needs written, and servers need upgrading, the political process seems far removed from my daily reality. So, like most of us, I watched the spectacle with a detached curiosity and then got back to work.

Eric Lundquist at Information Week has 5 items that should top the technology agenda. His article considers how government can make better use of technology from defense to voting. He intersects with Copeland is a need for technology education:

We can’t afford to waste the opportunity to train the workforce to take advantage of the jobs being created as mobility, big data, cloud computing and digital manufacturing transforms the technology landscape.

Gregory Ferenstein at TechCrunch uses Obama’s own words to suggest what the agenda might be. Again, STEM education is mentioned as an important area for development and government support.

Just for reference, President Elect Obama had an extensive technology agenda in 2009. Here’s the current White House technology agenda.

Day 30! Well, actually Day 31 ;-)

Education, technology

NB: I realized that it is Halloween and that is October 31st.  (Thirty days hath September and so forth.) I reached my goal YESTERDAY so today is the first blog post in the next 30 days but I’m not starting another challenge until tomorrow.)

I have reached the 30th 31st day of my challenge! I posted a substantive blog post every day for the past 30 31 days. Writing is part of my daily routine and I have put a plan in place to continue to incorporate writing, along with the reading and research that I do to prepare each entry.  I feel more connected to the larger educational world through the work I’ve done this past month. I am more thoughtful about spending Quadrant Two time and am finding the Google Alerts to be a helpful way to get news headlines.  It is interesting to see the trends across various publications. On Wednesdays, I’m going to highlight some of those headlines.

One of my alerts is ipads in education and I’ve been seeing lots of links to local news stories about their local school’s adoption of iPads. Today was no exception:

School board candidates share views
From the Powell Tribune, Powell, Wyoming
The first question asked the candidates to give their views on the use of technology in education, specifically the increased use of iPads. Candidates expressed mixed feelings about iPads, with some questioning their printing-compatibility with …

This one is worth a read.  The candidates are concerned about some very interesting things: the inability to print, a desire to throttle access to “outside interfaces” and the ability to save money on textbooks with a side of concern for students’ backs.  One member did look to the future for students:

“They’re probably pretty handy to have because as people grow up and go to college they’re going to have to have them with their businesses too,” he said.

Not much vision for how these devices might support student learning in the short term and really not any real enthusiasm for them.

Meanwhile, from Park City, UT:

One-to-one initiative to take off
From the Park Record
Following board approval earlier this month, the North Summit School District is moving forward to implement a new program which students in the high school will receive iPads. Using capital funds, the school district will invest $150,000 in providing …

The article gives a few examples of the uses of the iPads but I worry a bit about the focus on comparing them to textbooks:

From education applications to online textbooks, teachers have already been figuring out the best way to use the new technology. It could be a biology class using an app in which students can rotate a three-dimensional diagram of a heart. It could be easier to distribute in-class quizzes. Either way, getting iPads distributed to students will serve as a launching point to bring classrooms that added technological edge.

“These are basically textbooks,” Holmes said, “but each one is a textbook that has video or 3D imaging. When you open a textbook, you just see the picture. Pictures on the iPad come to life, and that’s the point. It is interactive.”

Certainly, interactivity is an important feature of digital devices but interactive textbook ties the device to traditional methods.

Finally, from the Charlton County Herald in Folkston, George:

iPads for everybody — FES gets new technology
From the Charlton County Herald
Every classroom at Folkston Elementary School will have its own iPad this year after 35-40 of the devices were purchased by the Charlton County school system using federal education dollars. “This is the first of our schools to be completely outfitted …

Am I reading this correctly?  One iPad per classroom? An interesting approach…the article doesn’t give much details related to professional development plan or integration ideas.

These all suffer from the same lack of vision. Vague reasons for making large expenditures. No conversations about student learning or instructional support. No discussion of school vision or mission statements and how buying iPads might fulfill them.