29. December 2008 by The Advisor.

We are almost into a new year, a new semester, and a new administration. The new President-Elect has made much fanfare of his plans to increase funding to schools particularly in the area of ed tech. So, with a potential new ed tech bounty about to be bestowed on America’s schools, it’s fit to ask the question: Are the schools ready? Do they have a plan for what they will do around technology?

Most importantly, are teachers prepared and ready to use more technology? Academic research on this question would suggest otherwise.

A 2003 study by Elliot Soloway, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan who studies the effect of technology in education found that 65% of teachers said they used computers less than 15 minutes a week in their classes. More recently, a study of math and reading software in 132 poor, urban schools, conducted over four years, released by Mathematica Policy Research and SRI International last year, found that test scores didn’t improve significantly in classrooms that used the products.

Much of this can be attributed to a combination of the selection of poor ed tech products and little to no teacher professional development around effective use of the products. In many classrooms, students are using fancy new laptops to fill-in online worksheets, take online multiple choice tests, or view less than compelling online media. All of which can be done just as easily, and often more effectively,without using technology. Likewise, even if the technology is innovative in approach and compelling in design, if teachers aren’t trained on how to use it, it won’t get used.

Part of the problem here is how ed tech is purchased. Typically the sale is from publishing company or tech vendor to the the district with little involvement from teachers. In many cases, teachers are unaware that their district purchased technology for them to use. It is not uncommon for vendors to report that technology products sit unused by schools years after the purchase with access codes to the software sitting at a central office somewhere never having been distributed to the teachers who were supposed to use it.

Also, many tech products are grafted over existing curriculum rather than being part of a ground-up revision of the curriculum.  As such, they become an afterthought or an optional extra that gets dropped the minute there’s a crunch for time or resources.

The solution to this lies with the schools themselves. To be successful with technology, schools will need to rework their curriculum to deeply integrate technology into all aspects of teaching and learning in the school. Then, they will need to get very serious about extensive teacher training around technology to ensure that every teacher in the school is ready to execute on the new integrated technology approach.

The degree to which this task is embraced and fulfilled will determine if ed tech becomes an integrated part of every students learning experience or goes the way of the filmstrip.

Posted in Technology Trends, General News, Publishing Industry, Government, Lesson Plans | Print | 1 Comment »

28. May 2008 by The Advisor.

A constant theme in educational technology is the high cost of equipment, bandwidth and digital resources. Schools know they need to invest more in technology, automation systems, and digital content, but funding for infrastructure, hardware, and digital content is often hard to come by.

 But what if funding wasn’t an issue?

 Microsoft announced this week that it will make Office 2007 compatible with the Open Document Format (ODF). ODF is the document format that open source document software programs use for word processing files, spreadsheets and the like. So now, a school can use free software to create documents and still be able to share them with people using Office.

 What this does is eliminate another barrier to universal adoption of digital tools in schools. Office too expensive for your budget? Download free open-source document software and get access to similar tools for free. Is a vendor’s learning management system too expensive for your school to afford? Download and install Moodle and have a world-class LMS for free.

Moodle, in fact, is a good case in point. The America’s Digital Schools study found that LMS systems are gaining in popularity with schools nationwide. In terms of market share, Plato Learning was in the lead with almost 34% market share. The number two system, however, was Moodle with 32%. Despite the millions Plato has spent on advertising, marketing, and sales, they are only beating a free system with no marketing or sales staff by 2%.

Schools are often too quick to turn to vendors with high-priced solutions that then require extensive grant writing, budget wrangling, and sometime tax-levy increases to purchase. With a little creative analysis of the available alternatives, many more schools could fully equip themselves with first class digital tools.

 Google Docs anyone?

Posted in Technology Trends, General News, Publishing Industry | Print | 1 Comment »