I skype weekly with Jeff Nugent who is the associate director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Virginia Commonwealth University. Jeff and I have connections as international educators and from the instructional technology program at the University of Virginia. We share thoughts on our separate but connected worlds of education as we work with our teacher partners to design instruction.
The following are some notes that Jeff took after our last call with my responses.
Jeff- The notion of the “Digital Divide” (in educational / social context) has been transformed in radical ways, ways that make it more subtle and difficult to detect. It is no longer about access / boxes / wires…its about making meaning on the web. Its about organizing the open web in ways that make it a meaningful learning environment. To me this means understanding how to connect, create and participate in meaningful ways with others on the web…it is about participation, exchange and social interaction. This is NOT a given…I contend that students need to learn how to do this. If they don’t get it at home, and they don’t get it at school….they don’t get it….EVER. The divide is subtle and I fear…expanding.
David- Jamie McKenzie termed the over purchasing of computers and then leaving them with limited teacher training or instructional technology support as “screen saver disease” as that is what one often viewed in empty computer labs in American public schools. It was one thing to simply not use the hardware and newly connected Internet, it is now the case as Jeff points out that some students are gaining rich learning experiences via teachers and whole schools supporting the building of online learning communities. Others are not.
Beside the learning that takes place in well-structured forums and wikis, online journaling with one’s teacher, blogging on current events, there is the whole world of various literacies as connected students access online databases, search for visuals to support their ideas, concept map Essential Questions, storyboard learning projects with their teams, choose the right tool to meet their needs- the list goes on and on of what a learning 2.0 environment can offer a student. The skills gained in this environment are transferable to the ones the will be using as employers look for students with 21st century skills.
Jeff- School administrative leaders must be centrally involved, knowledgeable and concerned about the educational value of the web. My view is that if you are a school principal you MUST be one of the most savvy web researchers at your school. This means having many of the fundamental understandings that you and I routinely take for granted.
David- Jeff and I spoke a little about the pre-service teacher training that takes place at UVA. It was recently celebrated as an innovative program be the George Lucas Educational Foundation. I asked Jeff about what is happening at the Ed Leadership program at VCU as he we reacted to a recent post by Jeff Utecht on adminstrators realizing the value of hiring networked educators. We had the same reaction of administrators probably having limited experience in the blogosphere and not really understanding what a well-connected teacher blogger can bring to a school. Jeff clearly hit it on the head that administrators need to be the instructional leaders of their schools which in today’s world means being networked into the benefits of the read/write Web.
Jeff- I think the conversation needs to include school level leaders (principals, admins.), and I don’t see where this is happening. There is a lot of focus on preparing the individual classroom teacher, however I do not see Educational Leadership programs in schools of education engaging school leaders in the kind of dialogue / inquiry that results in them taking seriously the radical transformations we are witnessing. I am wondering what the question is that needs to be asked the answer to which results in them saying: “I must engage my faculty and students in this process us understanding, creating and participating on the web because it is fundamentally transforming all aspects of society…if my students don’t get this here they will emerge form my school disadvantaged.”
David- Jeff really ties all our points together very nicely in the statement above.
Jeff- I really enjoy the dialogue I’ve seen unfold on the Edu-blogger playing field. However, much of the talk about technology focuses on tools that are cool and their potential uses in the classroom. I think this kind of stuff is interesting, and of value to some classroom teachers, and those of us who promote it and try to make sense of it. At the same time I think this stuff is often at too fine a level of granularity to be of central interest to school admins. It rolls off of them like – as my father was fond of saying – “water off a duck’s ass.” There needs to be a more fundamental experience – in their preparation as school leaders – that helps them make the tough decisions about where they stand in relation to education technology. I don’t think they are ever really encouraged / forced to ask the questions.
David- I will add that I am finding too much “tool talk” in the posts I follow. I realize that the leaders in the field need to speak in broad terms to try and entice teachers in professional development settings to try something new. From an instructional technologist’s perspective, our training is to focus on the individual needs of the teacher or group of teachers working towards some learning goals for their students. As we partner and work from the teachers’ expertise, our learning community often becomes a rich environment for creativity and new strategies to support student understanding. The tools slowly work their way into the process. I can say that it certainly would make a big difference if administrators are sitting in on those conversations asking questions about learning outcomes and the best ways to build personal learning environments for the children.
Jeff- When they get into a leadership position, where do principals look for guidance about the role IT should play in the school? How should it be used? Who is in charge? Who decides? I think more often than not they off-load this decision to the system admins. (or maybe worse they really have no say). Managing boxes and wires, and securing the network – have little to nothing to do with decisions about the meaningful and powerful uses of technology in education…yet at the same time this has everything to do with it. Locked down networks become the mental model for understanding how technology should be viewed. They succumb…
David- great point, Jeff. I think you point to the next step in the evolution of the instructional/educational technologist. I consistently find in my reading of journal articles and blogs that the IT/ET is present in many schools in the US and in international schools. However, I have yet to hear of a Director of Educational Technology position until recently. Some schools try to combine the educational role with that of the technology infrastructure upkeep just as schools once tried to do the same with computer and printer repairs for the Technology Coordinator and hope he/she had some time to work on the educational side.
The International School of Bangkok is advertising a Director of Educational Technology now. I would think this individual will be the go to person at that school along with the Curriculum Director when the administrator needs big picture advice and guidance to support learning in the school. One can only hope that more schools follow ISB’s leadership to separate the need for leadership in educational technology and infrastructure into two positions.
Being an educator raising our children overseas in international and American Schools really works for our family. However, one aspect of this lifestyle I struggle with is the bubble that sometimes surrounds us as we go to school each day, attend co-curricular activities and spend much of our time with fellow expatriates.