Feb 03 2009
Coming! Ready or Not. (fantastic, I think?)
Are you really ready for a little 1:1 action? Learning via laptops that is.
There will soon be a bulk wireless arrival at a school near you, coming, ready or not!
Thanks to Stu Hasic for alerting me to today’s DET newstand. In part it says;
The roll-out will begin this year (2009) with all public high school teachers having a laptop by 2012. The roll-out to teachers complements the laptop program for the state’s 197,000 senior high school students…
… $28 million of Australian Government funding will be used to provide teachers with professional development in the use of the new technology.
Has edutopia been unveiled? Has the world really turned flat? Has the gatekeeper left the building? Somehow I think not, but it is another significant educational step for 1 million DET NSW users.
No more messy computer room bookings, no more connectivity issues, no more ‘not enough working reliable’ computers, no more work in pairs (or groups of 6 or more) no more equity and access issues at home, no more no more no more, excuses why we never use ICT even?
In no way will this happen rapidly but new questions are being asked of us and the stakes are raised considerably higher because of this roll out. Who is ready? Who actually wants to change pedagogy now the basic toolbox is provided? Or is it all sounding too much like hard work?
The news is also somewhat bitter sweet and raises more questions than it answers. That to me is a positive development for it will, no should, challenge all teachers to consciously engage and ask, what will I do with these devices in my classroom to enhance learning?
Three options I can see;
- Dust catching paper weights or
- expensive electronic pencils or
- one embodiment of a connected 21st century learner.
Which will you pick folks for the ball is now in our courts. We have some TPL time, some budget allocated, the tools are coming soon but is the neccessary human wherewithal also present? I wonder.
Or do you see these laptops as the 2009 version of stealth pedagogical bombers? Have they snuck in under misaligned teacher radars and will they drop a few clangers before we get a handle on their correct deployment? You betcha, its all part of the steep learning curve. Providing we don’t indiscriminantly shoot them down as they fly in overhead and land. These are not mysterious WMD, hiding under a Dubya Bush, I believe they are here to help and I’d hate to think enfilading friendly fire will slow their arrival.
Deep down I am an optimist, an educational idealist, some say dreamer and ”it will all work out well in the end kinda guy”. Always have been, but on this one I am still tentative, raw even, concerned but concurrently excited. It’s a weird feeling really.
I have a fantastic new toy I want to share with my playmates, but I am not so sure we are playing the same game or even reading the same rule book. Daily examples of antiquated thinking are really starting to test my patience with overt blockers who don’t want to get it. I am getting testy with expert web1.0ers who still think ICT is about MS, IE7, proprietary software, email and a screen, a simple non human interactive device for geeks.
The human connectivism of PLN’s is real. It is through these human connections we have access to empowered learners taking responsibilty, not passively waiting to be told what to do next or worse TTWADI, read the script, thanks for your work as usual Tomaz.
That is one major shift in attitude needed if, specifically these laptops, and more widely the read/write web are to ultimately make even minor dents in the pedagogical fortresses some are entrenched behind.
But the “lets give it a go, make mistakes together and I am prepared to change if you teach me crew” are the ones coming along for the bumpy learning ride. Luckily in our place I feel that’s the majority. Let go and relax a bit folks, don’t say can’t or won’t and realise no one has all the answers. There will be stuff ups, clangers and disruptions to traditional learning roles, but I am excited by that not afraid.
Is our place ready? Will these be used well? I am saying a resounding YES! but it will take time, trust and support.
For those unfamiliar with DET NSW here is their (very old school website1.0) summary of ICT. (my red highlight warns of the political rhetoric and glib spiel contained in such releases. DET NSW your website1.0 IS broken, badly, fix it and align it to something like smart classrooms from the QLD DETs)
Computers in NSW public schoolsThe NSW Government will spend more than $1.2 billion on IT in public schools over the next four years.The program will make NSW public schools one of the largest and fastest school IT networks in the world, e.g.:
- 1 million school and TAFE student email accounts
- All public schools connected to the internet
- A program to buy 100,000 classroom computers plus an additional 20,000 for primary schools over four years
- 600 Connected Classrooms to date – a program to provide every Government school with an interactive whiteboard, videoconferencing facilities and online learning tools
- A $36 million investment each year in teacher training, including IT training
- The roll out of laptops to high school students and teachers.
The $1.2 billion investment is part of the NSW Government’s plan to provide quality teaching and learning that keeps pace with developments in technology, (ha ha pity your own website doesn’t, irony anyone?) and provides public school students with a world-class education.
(No RSS/link/share buttons could be found on this DET NSW webpage1.0, is that indicating anything to anyone else? Do THEY get it? I am really questioning that openly as a serious concern)
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Edutopia!! Can I borrow that??
One step, a biggish one. I was surprised to find wireless net access at my new school, we will near the top of the labtop (thingys) rollout. I can not wait. I have delicious and edublogs set up, but have to trudge off to the wonderful library (that needs a refit)…
Step two? Yep, the training and the ability of DET to lead via their own wesbites.
‘Words words words’ are easy…I’m up for the ride…
Expensive electronic pencils…I’ve seen this alot. Publishing is only one very very small aspect of ICT, but it may be the way to grab some more teachers in, as an entree (almost lifeskill level). The maincourse and dessert are what we should be preparing for.
I have to reply with a tweet from @moodleman the one and only JS Ridden a couple of days old:
“IT In Education – In corporate u throw money at problems till they go away. In education you throw problems until the money goes away.
”
When our students & their parents (a critical mass of them) really get it how this 2.0 stuff could be used for learning (I reckon many of them still don’t because they know school as nothing else but what it is and has been for so long) all this will flow easier.
We, the 2.0 spruikers among the chalkie-types can certainly do our bit but watch when parents start to ask things like “are you preparing my kid for the future or are you just telling her how it all was 30yrs ago”.
For now, these computer riches are welcome, even though there may be (a lot of) political posturing and glib language. But watch what happens when those human riches start cranking up!
I wait for the day when I can inaudibly mutter under my breath “I told you so’ and then get on with what I love doing – teaching, learning and working out how to live.
Cheers mate, glad you like the Afro monkey
Troy
Your enthusiasm is infectious and badly needed in many places.
I have waited 12 months now for the long promised DETNSW online “tools” suite. I am anxious to see how powerful they are in terms of meeting our blog/wiki/collaboration needs.
If the promise to deliver easy web1.5 in a cloistered DET sanitised environment well then I guess we have to be happy and use what we have. I can also see enormous benefit in the DET controlling our web1.5 experiences for it should eliminate the “too hard” cry me downs from providing yet another excuse why they are not engaging.
Realistically epencils is fine as an entree, but if we know that, we should already be pushing for a higher level engagement from the start otherwise that is the level they’ll stay.
Tomaz
Yeah Affro Monk is cool, but wish he’d had the courage to reach for that narna! Naysayers, pffff! who needs ‘em.
People at our place who want change a little quicker have been targetting kids and parents as imporatnt movers and shakers to ask the hard questions you suggest. Gee it works, fast.
The human side is critically important. I’ll be using the Beyond Borders site (moodle based!) for an online collaboration with learners in other systems as one focus for 2009.
happy learning all
cheers