This past week Illinois Vision 20/20 announced the launch of
its 21st Century Learning Center.
It is a free resource for high school teachers that provides lesson
plans, lecture and videos in a multitude of disciplines. Through iTunes U, students and teachers can
now access materials they may not have had resources for in the past or be able
to enrich their current course offerings.
This is truly a step in the right direction. Using technology to bridge gaps for teachers
and students to enhance learning. What a
concept.
Despite these breakthroughs, some schools still do not
embrace the possibilities that technology can bring them. In schools we still hold on to outdated
methods and approaches in the name of routine and proven student outcomes. Usually those outcomes are content delivery
with a degree of control over the students.
But as our society, workforce and attitudes change with the times
schools as a whole are slow to follow.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many schools doing this right. But still we look at them as exceptions and
not the rule. Educators might look at
innovative programs as just a show to be watched and not an example to be
followed. Or, they dismiss the
possibility of replicating innovation because of a lack of resources or
staff. I say do what is within your
reach. It may not seem like much if you
don’t have much but it’s far better than doing nothing.
I’ve had the opportunity to coach on and off in my career
and if there is one thing I learned it’s that you survey the landscape and find
a way to win with what you have. This
year my school building went back to a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) approach to
the technology gap in our school. We don’t
have much and like most Illinois school getting more is not exactly an
option. To ensure that technology is a
fixture in our school, the students bring their own devices to use. This sparks a lot of conversation about how
and what the students would use their devices for. How do teachers control their behavior? And certainly, how do we reach them if we are
not always the experts ourselves? This
was a great session at EdCamp West Frankfort and many viewpoints were
considered, all of which had merit.
But let’s say we continue with debate and do nothing in our
building. Who are we failing? The obvious answer is our students. If we use my poor coaching analogy from above
we could say we like talking about winning but we really don’t have the courage
to be winners. This is what a winning
attitude towards BYOD looks like:
· - Students learn far differently than we did. They can multitask and engage on multiple
levels.
· - Mobile devices are not only their tool of choice
but it will be for a long time.
· - Students need responsible adults to teach them
digital citizenship. (Teachers and Parents)
· - Students need to be treated like the digital
natives that they are.
For us, our resources are our teachers, students and their
attitudes towards technology in learning.
This can have a much farther reach than money to buy gadgets. I fully anticipate there to be bumps in the road
and conflict as we move forward but the end result should be engaged learning
through student owned devices. That’s
how we will win with what we have.
