The Dichotomous Teacher

Students explore the Web 2.0

I am caught between two worlds. I have a functioning traditional classroom with most of the things you would expect in a progressive learning environment. But I step next door into the connected classroom and I am met with a shadowy vision of what the future will look like, only it isn’t the future. It is where I teach half the time. It is like half my brain is analog and half is digital. I feel disconnected.

I don’t know how to teach in this web 2.0 world. It is cold comfort to realize that nobody does! There are pioneers out there doing amazing things, but no consensus exists about which is the right way to go about this digital adventure. The technology, medium, and philosophy are new and evolving. The netbooks we use are more powerful than the laptops of 4 years ago. The flow of information through email, Elluminate, Bridgit, and video conferencing is different to traditional classroom interaction. With internet search engines, such as Google, students have instant access to a vast knowledge base. We don’t need to teach knowledge; we need to teach process. But what does that mean?

And so everyday I take those two steps to the connected classroom and leave the familiarity of a 150 year old traditional classroom and move into the future. A future where I struggle to create a scope and sequence of skills and experiences to shepherd the students. I flounder setting multimedia assignments for them to create. And I am perplexed as to the best way of collecting and grading those assignments.

But I do wake up in the morning excited about the day’s challenges and opportunities. The kids are enthusiastic, parents are supportive and administration is confident about the program. A measure of academic success is discipline issues requiring attention. There has been no discipline issues in the connected classroom. Even when dealing with 75 students in a virtual conference the kids are engaged. Parents have had nothing but positive things to say about the program. They openly express their gratitude for the opportunities that the students are receiving.  Administration has bent over backwards to make this program a success. There has been no pressure, only encouragement and support. So why do I feel like my right and left brain are heading off in different directions?

Connected classrooms places the connected team somewhere that we haven’t been before. It forces us far beyond our comfort zones and asks us to learn new skills and invent others. It makes us reflect and question everything we do in the traditional classroom. We ask ourselves constantly, does this need to be done and if so, could it be done better in a digital format? We see the future and it challenges our assumptions of who we are as teachers and what we do. It is both uncomfortable and exhilarating. And some days it makes me feel a little crazy.

Connecting Classrooms – Bravely Going Where No Classroom Has Gone Before

Technology brings a tide of disruptive innovation.

We just finished our three day planning session for the Connected Classroom project. We are embarking on a process of connecting three rural classrooms with each other and the world via the internet. Each class has been allocated a set of laptops, a suite of video conferencing programs, a room with conferencing cameras, and a SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Technical support for this program is in place and just about every detail has been thought of and addressed including a steady supply of home baked goodies from our lead principal Teresa Downs.

While no one likes to give up summer holidays these past three days have been very good. The first day we looked at the research around the subject and began the process of developing a shared view. Collaboration is going to be the key to this project. We are team teaching at a distance. Team teaching always requires meaningful consultation, how much more when you are physically isolated. One of the first things we did was set out a schedule of virtual meetings to keep in close contact with everyone on the team.

Our second day was a hands-on exploration of the hardware, software and intellectual process of connecting over a distance. I had some trepidation about the tools that we were being given, but that soon turned into excitement as the usability and power of them became evident. Using the video conferencing system was an easy combination of turning on a TV and making a phone call. We spent an hour or so playing with the video conferencing system and came away confident that that we could make it work.  We also had expert instruction from Tracy Ramsay on Elluminate Live. Elluminate is a virtual meeting software solution that is full of features that allow groups to have web based meetings at no cost. Bridgit, a conferencing software package, allows the remote use of a SMART Board at a distance. Our brains were brimming over with information, but it was clear that we had the necessary tools. The rest of the day was spent focusing on ensuring that these tools would be used to meet the needs of our students in this revolutionary digital age.

Our final day was spent planning. We developed a shared vision of expectations for both students, educators and administrators involved. We created a scope and sequence for a process that we had never experienced and could barely imagine. We set out schedules for meetings and blocked off time in our timetables for instruction. We sketched out the content that we would like to cover and set goals to implement instructional strategies. It was pretty heady stuff for mid August!

In the end we left with a feeling that we were embarking on one of the most exciting educational and professional adventures of our careers. We felt confident that the tools were in place, and that we were part of a team that would create amazing learning opportunities for students unimagined ten years ago. And yes on this voyage of discovery there might be the odd challenging Klingon to deal with, but we would overcome and triumph. Now does anyone remember where the USB microphone plugs in?

Disruptive Innovation

Rural Communities Celebrate Diversity

 

Michael B. Horn is an academic, writer and generally brilliant guy who gave a talk at the Virtual Schools conference in Vancouver about Disruptive Innovation. His presentation was about how social or technological changes unexpectedly come along and cause existing systems to crash. He used models from the business world which were both illustrative and shocking.

 

I have written before about the newspaper industry and how the internet has almost completely undermined its model of operation. One of the main problems is that the newspaper companies are unable to let go of their attachment to the word “paper” and create a new model based on just “news”. This is perfect example of a disruptive technology and the difficulty that previously successful companies have adapting to the new reality.

 

Education as we know it has been around for a century, with very little structural change. But change is coming. We see most of the change happening at the upper levels with universities, colleges and high schools being forced to restructure around delivering courses via distance learning.  Rural students are perhaps the biggest winners in this new technology because, provided there is a relatively fast internet connection, any student can be connected to a vibrant and efficient learning program. This can be a two-edged sword for rural schools. In the future students could remain in their home community and participate in enriched distance learning at a small local high school, or that school might be shut down while distance learning instruction was provided to the student at home. The latter option would be limited but very cost-effective.

 

Around the province and around the continent distance learning is the fastest growing segment in education. And with continued refinements in methodology and technology it is poised to grow even faster. Fortunately for educators we are not faced with the immediate extinction that The Boston Globe is–a situation that has evolved in just a couple of years.  However, even primary education is likely to be radically changed in the next 10 years. Opportunities to provide rural students with cutting edge instruction will be easily within our reach. Our survival as teachers may depend on whether we are ready and able to take advantage of those opportunities.