As a primary teacher, much of the technology being
discussed would benefit my students too.
If we make the investment in getting the new technology, whatever it may
be, I think it will also be very important to make the investment in providing
appropriate staffing and/or training to support the technology. At my school, for instance, all the teachers
currently share a mobile cart filled with laptop computers for student use. Earlier this year I brought the cart into my
classroom for a lesson. It began with
each of my 23 students getting a laptop to use.
By the end of the lesson, only 12 of the laptops were working
properly--some had not been properly charged, some just froze up... It was a
very frustrating experience. If
we had a staff member whose job duties specifically included oversight of this
type of technology, or if we had some sort of "technology" teacher or
lab to help with these types of lessons, things could run much more smoothly.
On an unrelated note, I have been to a few presentations
recently about the future of education.
Many of them have referred to Steve Jobs's 2005 commencement address at
Stanford. If you've never seen it, it is
worth checking out. Just go to YouTube
and type "Steve Jobs Stanford." (R Schaen)
Mr Schaen (sorry, force of habit)-
ReplyDeleteYour note sparked a thought. As I noted in our meeting, I lead an innovation group within P&G. Our "core competencies" are invention and communication. While we use cutting edge technology to both invent and communicate our ideas, we have several 3rd party agencies who help us create content and manage our technical assets. Having these agencies enables my team to focus on leveraging their strengths.
I wonder, regardless of what specific technical solutions are employed, if we shouldn't consider using an agency(ies) to manage the procurement, maintenance, training, etc.; thus, enabling you to focus on managing and delivering the content to maximum effect?
Judd
We currently have a tech department that troubleshoots and has been very responsive for me when problems are noted. (After the problems with the laptops I mentioned, for instance, they quickly came and checked things out.) As we get more and more technology in the schools, we will have to think about the type of staffing that best supports our needs. So, when people make visits to other schools, one thing that they might want to look at is how those schools are staffed to help out with technology needs.
ReplyDelete