Arguments Against Standardization

JD and I have been sitting around the past couple of months planning, plotting and evangelizing the idea of a BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) program for Brebeuf Jesuit. Our educational passion playing out in terms of equipping students with the critical skills to access, evaluate and use technology tools based on personal learning style and needs. Then Ed Tech Magazine comes along and publishes an article entitled “Standard Issue” by Heather B. Hayes (http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/issues/february-march-2011/standard-issue.html) – touting the benefits of standardizing technology tools across classrooms. Well did this get us heated up! And so we blog…

From our educational point of view, while we appreciate that standardization can make life easier for IT departments, and to some extent may lower tech anxiety among teachers, we think standardization is a great disservice to our students (…and to any teachers who prefers a Macintosh computer, or the newest processor, or an Android device). With the rise of mobile technologies geared to individualized needs, the earlier we can facilitate access and evaluation of unique tools by our students, the better prepared they will be to make their own technology decisions. Students need to develop the ability to process their information/productivity need, access tools which might meet the need, evaluate the tools to meet that need and analyze the success or failure of the outcomes (say it with me “critical thinking skills”). Handing them a uniform technology platform does not encourage or facilitate this process. The world is not standardized. The world is fluid and the tools students will use every changing. Developing flexibility of technology skills will allow our students to navigate any technology tool.

From our techie point of view, draw-backs to standardization jumped out at us from the article. The economic benefits of standardization espoused by the article only work in a significant way for large school districts. Economy of scale does not kick in for building specific infrastructure. Small schools like Brebeuf Jesuit do not generate sales large enough to make standardization a truly cost saving venture. Furthermore, even for large districts (who admittedly might save money buying 500 interactive whiteboards at once), why would you standardize if you recognize the technology will change in 2 years (note: how silly will these administrators feel if they find out that a computer and wireless projector with 90% of the functionality of an IWB can be purchased for LESS money than a computer, projector, and keep-the-teacher-at-the-front-of-the-room-like-the-good-old-days SMARTBoard)? If you truly commit to standardization, say on laptops, they will all need to be replaced at the same time. Most schools, for financial reasons will make a 20% replacement rotation … this is not standardization. You may have up to 5 generations of technology rotating at any time. Any school district that purchases one large blast of technology will pay for it down the road when replacement hits all at once. Seems short sighted.

At Brebeuf Jesuit, our general approach is a 3-4 year rotation cycle. We replace 1/3 of X with whatever cutting edge is ... it doesn’t give us standardization but it does give us the ability to have 1/3 of our building be state of the art* while the other 2/3rds simply feels a little old. Finally, we can experiment with new technologies** without fear of taking a bath on those that don’t work***. Flexible purchasing not only meets the needs of unique teaching and learning experiences, but allows us to innovate and respond to learner needs in a much more fluid manner. Locking in to a standard platform or device negatively impacts this fluidity (much of the decision making process might be outlined in another post, but when the teachers and students drive the decision making, the conversation becomes more about universal accessibility to programs, data, and hardware…and occasionally Adobe Flash).

We agree that standardization can make life much easier for the hardware techs. For example, we have universal projector mounts in our classrooms. We can change projectors to meet the needs of teachers, the budget, and the network as a whole without changing the mounts each year. But we chose to buy universal mounts to provide the flexibility to buy projectors that meet the needs of the classroom that grows and expands.

The needs of teaching and learning must be the paramount decision maker – not comfort level of the IT department.


* This year’s “State of the Art” were the Lenovo touchscreen tablets with stylus and/or finger input
** Independent pilots are being run with iPad, GalaxyTab, cloud-based online solutions (Microsoft Live@edu), etc.
*** The last classroom based IWB was purchased by the school seven years ago. Currently 2 of the 15 whiteboards are used as anything more than a screen, clicker, and rough note taker. Microsoft OneNote and stylus based tablet computing is the standard in most classrooms.

Definitions:
IWB - Interactive White Board

Cura Personalis : A New Year Reflection

So my plan was to start blogging again on Ed Tech sorts of things. I had all kinds of ideas jotted in my iPad Notetaker app and was ready to pontificate on topics of integration, strategies for determining technology needs, classroom trends... the usual for this type of blog. But then, a colleague lost a fast and furious battle with cancer and suddenly my little world of integration seemed very little after all.

Sunday evening, during an impromptu prayer service held for the school community, the gathered were invited to reflect on the life of this educator. Reflection is a key process in Ignatian education. Upon reflection of new experience, the learner is invited to step back and discern where God is leading her/him, what action this new experience may generate, and how this new experience will fit with established values, morays, and actions (I am greatly generalizing the process here). On my personal reflection, one element of Sunday night's process stands out. Only students, past and present, were moved to speak. Every student addressed this educator's ability to focus on the individual in front of him. They mentioned feeling like the most important person in the world at that precise moment. The ability to listen, to care, to advocate for were the qualities of this man's being students (with raw grief) spoke aloud.

As technology education specialists, I think we often miss the point these students illuminated. It's not about who has the glitziest tools. It's not encouraging a flood of online activities. It's about students. It's about shaping and guiding and advocating for young people to grow into the most successful "them" possible. Ignatian education strives for cura personalis, generally interpreted to mean "care of the whole person". Listening to our students Sunday evening, I witnessed that process in action. They praised a life for the care given to every individual student.

So in this new year, I invite us all to reflect on our integration decisions. Are they made with students in care? Take time to talk to students as individuals. Take time to focus on them as if they are the most important people in the world. Because quite frankly - they are.

An Innovation Paradox

I work with an amazing community of technology innovators. Students are early adaptors of technology and most show up with new tools asking me how they can integrate this technology into learning. Faculty member are as energized and curious as the students. By far, the most prevalent technology of the year revolves around “apps”. These small applications sit on smartphones and iPads allow the user to quickly run a single focus program to meet a social, informational or recreational need.

Great! As an educational technology geek I would love to encourage this enthusiasm for apps. But I ran into a snag piloting the iPad… network security. I ran into a snag with my new Android smartphone… network security. Because apps communicate back and forth with their developer site, our proxy server would need to whitelist every single developer site. With roughly 1000 users in the building carrying at least one mobile device… well, the math is a little beyond me but at the least it would be a full time job to keep up with those sites.

And this is the innovation paradox; schools are charged with keeping children safe in electronic environments while creating innovative 21st century experiences. I wish I had the answer for this one. I can say that for now – it doesn’t include apps.

Thinking About MultiChannel Learners

The line between casual use of technology and professional/educational use has blurred. We are not longer as compartmentalized as in past generations. We carry one Blackberry to both communication with business colleagues and play Mp3 music and audio books. We are enamored of netbooks which keep us connected to family, friends and the workplace while sitting in airport lounges. Some of us even use even Skype with our grandparents!

The school day no longer ends at 3:15. Our students are posting online assignments at all hours of the day and night. They are blogging, video conferencing, file sharing, collaborating, and creating at home, at school, in the car (hopefully not when driving!). Those of us in IT departments are on call 24/7 thanks to smartphones. Our world is no longer home - school - practice - home. We are connected to all elements at all times.

I am not addressing the moral implications of this connectivity. Whether it is “good” or “bad” to be so multi-channel connected is not my purpose. I argue that it’s happened so we as educators might as well make the best of things. If we are to engage our students and prepare them for the world of their future, we must meet them in their multi-channeled world. This does not mean sacrificing academic rigor. This does not mean abandoning the past 500 years of educational theory. This does mean being willing to release some of our patrician control of the process. This does mean engaging students within the context of their world - whether we fully understand it or not!

Class is over! Now on to life...

As many of you are realizing this week, Edublogs disabled the embedding features in their free accounts. Since paying for a campus or pro account is not in the ole budget for 2010-11... I am going to work a bit more in this platform. Let's try embedding video....

This is our favorite test video for Brebeuf IT. I think you all might enjoy as well.

Reflections on My Participation in an Online Learning Community

At the beginning of this course, I joined the Global Education Collaborative. As a community of educators looking to work past geographic boundaries, cross-cultural student learning is the emphasis. Beginning is easy. I lurked in this group for several months and enjoying the passive learning experience. In order to branch into developing level of engagement, my plan required me to post to discussion groups at least 4 times a month. I also hoped to find a project to participate in. I am pleased to report I did succeed with my plan (well, most of it at least).

The original plan is below with reflection of my actual activity:

January 2010:
• Refresh account and review new elements to the community
Done – simple enough


February 2010:
• Contribute to at least 4 discussion threads.

Contributed to thread Synchronous Collaboration: http://globaleducation.ning.com/forum/topics/synchronous-collaboration

Contributed to the thread Becoming a Tech Coach: http://globaleducation.ning.com/forum/topics/becoming-a-tech-coach

Contributed to conversations on the Kids for Haiti global web conference. Communicated via the Ning group, Twitter and email.
http://globaleducation.ning.com/forum/topics/international-vc-and-webcast

• Check site once a week for new information.

Done


March 2010:
• Identify, evaluate and contact one collaborative project leader.

Participated in the Kids for Haiti web conference (actually happened in March)
http://www.magpi.net/Community/Programs/Crisis-Haiti-What-Can-YOU-Do-Help

• Contribute to at least 4 discussions threads.

Teens Talk Facebook
http://globaleducation.ning.com/video/teens-talk-facebook

And then I rather dropped off the discussion map… I got busy and with no one responding to the threads I had already participate in, I moved on. I do follow the GEC on Twitter http://twitter.com/GlobalEdNing

• Check site once a week for new information.
I did do this


As for local learning community, I am an active member in Central Indiana TEAM. Created by the Central Indiana Educational Service Center, this group is made up of mostly district IT professionals with a few of us independent schools floating in and out. We meet 4 times a year in person. We also maintain a wiki at http://centralindianateam.pbworks.com. We stay in touch via the wiki and listserv. I attend all meetings and actively post to the wiki. I missed the February meeting as I was presenting at the Indiana Association of Independent Schools – but I have been asked to upload my handouts and presentation materials. I am hosting the meeting on April 23 here at Brebeuf. TEAM discussed best practices for training and development, cost-saving tools, and Indiana Department of Education statutes. We support each other and laugh a great deal about our day jobs. I enjoy the network of like-minded individuals.

"Give It a Ponder" Campaign

For me, any conversations on public service announcements must include the new LG annoucements staring James Lipton. I do not know if these work for younger viewers but this 40 year old thinks they are hilarious! I especially like that the psa does not use fear but simply asks young people to think before they act. Not a bad lesson in general.


http://www.giveitaponder.com/with/#/youtube/