Educational Technology - ICT in Education - Comments

Terry Freedman comments on What's RSS and why is it useful?

Terry Freedman — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:03:04 +0000

thx. http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/rss.xml

david comments on Managing Change: The Importance of Vision

david — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:21:58 +0000

"Moreover, the research, and experience, tells us that the vision has to be shared by all, not just the lone ravings of a madman. Ideally, then, it should have been developed by all."
This is important, but the fact is that in a school many staff will not really agree with any vision that involves students and teachers using more new technology to improve education. So what do you do? You can try and take them through a process of discussion of and engagement with the issues. You may or may not achieve any change. More likely you won't be given the time to do this because of competing initiatives. Alternatively if the Head has a vision they will at least be able to implement the framework to allow that vision to be operationalised. Some will be won over in the implementation. So what you need is a vision+ as many people as possible involved in the formulation of the vision + "Power" if the collective vision is tending towards workbooks and copying from the board!

Juokingi Paveiksliukai comments on What's RSS and why is it useful?

Juokingi Paveiksliukai — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:47:41 +0000

Hi guy where to get RSS feed narrator, i'm interested too?
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Derek comments on Managing Change: The Importance of Vision

Derek — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:09:53 +0000

Hi Terry
I think there's the potential to confuse a number of key issues here. Firstly, I believe there is an important difference between a vision and a set of guiding principals. The latter provide a framework for achieving the former - but are not synonymous. Second, a new initiative may reflect the presence of a vision, but does not in and of itself represent a vision. In the proper order of things a new initiative (or any number of them for that matter) should be implemented as a strategic approach to pursuing a vision. The reason we have so much confusion created by so many, seemingly unrelated or competing initiatives is that they are so often simply the result of a "good idea", or at best, a "short horizon" vision. Neither of these things are conducive to long term, sustainable change. I've written on my blog about the need for "long horizon" vision as a key to leading learning in the digital world. (http://blog.core-ed.net/derek/2010/02/leading-learning-in-a-digital-world.html) Sadly, many of today's leaders are not being guided, inspired or led by a long horizon vision, but instead fall prey to short term social, political or economic imperatives and the knee jerk pursuit of 'short horizon' visions.

Terry Freedman comments on Managing Change: The Importance of Vision

Terry Freedman — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:27:42 +0000

corrected now, thanks for pointing it out

electronic cigarette comments on Managing Change: The Importance of Vision

electronic cigarette — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:18:47 +0000

I agree about the vision but was it mispelled on purpose? you can reach me at www.electronic-cigarettes-now.com

Terry Freedman comments on Managing Change: Engaging The Teachers

Terry Freedman — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:27:38 +0000

Once again, I agree with you, David. Except: I personally have always found it not cost-effective in terms of time and energy to work with really relectuntant teachers. Also, do you think a school should RELY on osmosis? What about in a split-site school, for instance? I think schools can be proactive in helping to spread good practice. I agree with you about pockets of excellence though. I'll need to give this some thought: at the moment I am heading to a conference where I'm giving a preso. Thx for your ongoiing comments -- they are keeping me on my toes!

david comments on Managing Change: Engaging The Teachers

david — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:06:04 +0000

I think you overlook the tech profile of the school. It's not just an individual thing.Where 3/4 of staff are tech minded and use ICT everyday in a variety of ways, they will easily learn from each other almost by osmosis. Where a critcical mass has not been achieved - eg <10% are tech minded, you will encounter more resistance. The SMT profile will interact with the staff tech profile. You can work to motivate individuals but the bottom line is the school profile, not pockets of excellence etc
the profile can in fact be self reinforcing- eg cutting edge teachers want to work in cutting edge schools, and some schools haven't yet entered the 20th century let alone the 21st....

Terry Freedman comments on Managing Change: Engaging The Teachers

Terry Freedman — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:55:19 +0000

Thx, Noah, you've given some very helpful examples and insights. I think the idea of learning tech for its own sake has its place, but not exclusively!

Noah Joseph comments on Managing Change: Engaging The Teachers

Noah Joseph — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:24:07 +0000

"One way in which to achieve that is to make sure that the technology is used in a relevant way, and not merely for its own sake." I completely agree with this point, and feel that it is so often overlooked. I remember when I took classes that taught technology for it's own sake, and usually what I learned was completely useless within a couple years. Using technology to engage students, such as your example of Nintendo Dogs, is very important. Using it as a way to guide and assist learning in other areas is much more useful because it not only expands content area knowledge, it uses technology in real-world situations. Just as math is being taught in more real-world ways these days, the same should be true for technology. As with math, technology is not used in a vacuum, and so it should not be taught that way.

I also agree with the comment by Doug, when he talks about needing technology to transform current teaching practice. Kids today are so exposed to technology that it has changed the way they learn. It is harder for them to sit still for long periods, and since technology is somewhat responsible for that, it only makes sense that technology is used to teach (and reach) these modern students. And your point on teacher engagement cannot be overdone, it is the critical piece to this. So many ideas in education are forced on teachers, without giving them the proper training and assistance. They are usually left out of the decision-making process as well. Since teachers are the ones implementing technology in classrooms, they need to be part of the process from start to finish.