Goodbye Desks

Last night, I started to thinking about one of the suggestions I had for improving the classroom with technology in response to the question posed to us at the end of last week's class. I came across a couple of interesting articles about classroom design. The first article, "Open-Ended Learning," takes a look at new school construction. Beyond the photos of the new designs, I found the theory behind them most interesting. In many cases, the buildings were designed to "become part of the learning." And spaces were designed specifically for flexibility. The article also quoted a 1999 study of more than 21,000 students that found a correlation between daylit schools and student performance. I chuckled when I heard this and memories of my teaching experience in a school district in Texas flooded my mind. When I originally applied to Lakeview High School, I imagined myself bringing students outside to read by the beautiful lake or at moments of stress being able to relax by looking out the windows at the sunlight glistening over the calm water. It wasn't until my first tour of the building that I realized that Lakeview not only had no lake, but it had no view...of anything! There were NO windows in ANY classroom. I wonder how this affected students and teachers. I mean, even prisoners get some light, right?

But, daylight or not, most classrooms look the way they did 150 years ago. In my opinion, this is a factor that is preventing us from teaching 21st century skills. Check out IDEO's Ten Tips for Creating a 21st Century Classroom. These are things you could implement in your classroom whether they are supported by technology or not.

In the future, however, we may just need to throw out all the desks! Of course this seems rather extreme, but new technologies like the iPad enable mobility. With this kind of mobility, classrooms no longer have to be confined to a traditional structure, learning environments, don't need to be defined to four walls, and students are free to learn beyond the school building.

Coercing Change

As we decide how we are going to affect change in education with respect to technology, we must recognize the challenges that exist with stakeholders, teachers, administrators, and government. Many districts buy technology and expect that the piecemeal change will eventually lead to a systematic change. However, we cannot expect that technology can just be implemented and that the system will change simply because of its presence.

I would posit that the reason why so many technology programs fail is because they are centered around the tool instead of the process and the environment. The change that is really needed is larger than just putting technology in schools and training teachers how to use it to enhance lessons. The change needs to be much broader. We need to focus on a new model of learning that uses technology to transform education, embraces 21st century skills, and prepare students for the future.

The draft of the 2010 National Technology Plan is on the right path, but it seems to be lacking a section on the funding that the government will be providing in order to achieve these goals. Indeed, they put forth some lofty goals, but I don't think they are impossible. No matter what challenges we face with implementing this broad change (financial, resistance of educators, unwillingness of administrators, etc.), we must recognize that it would be detrimental to wait any longer. As nations around the world continue to surpass the United States in education, we need to realize that not doing anything ensures our decline. Let us not forget that today we educate the leaders of tomorrow. We must make education a priority in order to secure our hegemonic role, remain competitive in world markets, and ultimately protect national security.

It is our civic responsibility to be well educated.

Thomas led a very informative and interesting discussion on Thursday night that left me thinking about some challenges of education that I hadn't thought about in a while. As a high school teacher I was often faced with the challenge of making students want to learn and as I got more experienced I was adept at responding creatively to the question, "Why do I need to know this?" My answers were often witty, some that directly related to the student, while others were matter of fact. Most, however, dealt with the present and immediate gratification that students craved in order to motivate them to want to learn something. If I think about Keller's ARCS model, I was motivating them by providing them with immediate relevancy. I guess I chose this because most teens have difficulty thinking about their lives past this week, unless of course they are thinking about the prom or summer break. But, how should I have responded? Could I have made them understand in a broader sense that it is their civic responsibility to be educated.

You don't have to look far to notice the stereotype that is developing among other countries about the citizens of the United States. Recently, friends in another country shared a YouTube video with me that included a combination of video interviews that asked Americans simple questions about the world in which we live. They laughed hysterically as average citizens didn't know the answers to questions like, "Who is the Vice President of the United States" and "Can you name a country that starts with 'U'" We are even making fun of ourselves. Jay Leno has dedicated a segment in his late night show to exposing Americans who cannot answer common sense questions and know who Paris Hilton is, but have no idea that Paris is in France. And beyond just common sense, we are plagued with information telling us that the US is rapidly falling behind in education compared with other industrialized nations.

So, what can we do? Why is this gap widening? I would argue that in many places around the country, the culture that has developed has a lot to do with this. For some reason we are teaching students the importance of state standardized tests, but we are not teaching students the value and importance of education and the impact that it has on the success of our country. And, If we are not doing this as individuals, we cannot expect a cultural shift. This has to be a united effort between the community, parents, teachers, and students. Students must know that it is within their power to keep their country strong or let it fail. Sure, this isn't going to happen overnight, but by instilling this notion in the youth of today, we can ensure their support as the parents of tomorrow.

I am sure another entry could be devoted to the reasons of this current culture, the challenges with initiating a shift, and the potential outcomes. I would welcome any comments and I think we would benefit from a dialogue on this topic. I have also always been extremely interested in comparative education, so please feel free to share any current articles.

Seriously?

OK, since this is my blog...it seems only appropriate that I use it for the purpose for which it was intended...to RANT! Today, I read a very disturbing article that was printed in the Washington Post. The article, "Wide Web of Diversions gets Laptop Evicted from Lecture Halls," discusses Georgetown Law Professor David Cole's crusade against technology.
Here is my favorite quote from the article: "This is like putting on every student's desk, when you walk into class, five different magazines, several television shows, some shopping opportunities and a phone, and saying, 'Look, if your mind wanders, feel free to pick any of these up and go with it."
1. Mr. Cole, you are ridiculous!
2. Mr. Cole, if your class was interesting enough, maybe their minds wouldn't wander!
3. These are adult learners we are talking about here, I'm pretty sure they are responsible enough to learn the material that they need to...and if they don't they probably shouldn't be at Georgetown Law. Yes, I do understand that there are some issues with younger learners with respect to being responsible digital citizens in the classroom, but these are adults! Stop treating them like children!
4. Wake up and get with the 21st century! Your students are more comfortable using laptops to take notes, looking up information they don't understand, seeking supplemental materials during your lecture. THIS IS THE WAY THEY LEARN AND COMMUNICATE! If you force them to learn the way you prefer to learn you are doing them a huge injustice, not to mention making the material more difficult for them to learn. Why don't you take some time and read some learning theory--don't worry you can find this information in books!
5. Understand that your class is NOT about you, it is about your students. Yes, I am sure you worked hard to get to where you are, but at the end of the day, you are an EDUCATOR...so start doing your job! If your students aren't paying attention, get their attention! Don't just expect them to ride on your every word and drool while staring at your pretty face for 3 hours. If they aren't learning...TEACH THEM!!!
6. As for your love of pens and paper, I am sure you can find another use for them :)

Kirkpatrick in the Context of E-Learning...and other problems

As I read Chapter 10, I kept trying to understand how his Four-Level Model would translate into the world of E-Learning. What would have to be changed in order to evaluate those specific programs and E-Learning environments?

I found this article that may offer some insight, Evaluating E-Learning Programs, An Adaptation of Kirkpatrick's Model to Accommodate E-Learning Environments (Hamtini, 2008).

Check it Out!

Even without considering the changes in environment, I struggled to understand the effectiveness of the different evaluation levels. I thought back to the many surveys I have completed in my life and have watched other professionals complete after a training session. There are many factors that can affect responses. So, what are the challenges associated with gaining true and meaningful responses from participants? What are the biases associated with the evaluator and the supervisor? How do these things play a role in the evaluation process?

I know it seems as if this week's blog is filled with a lot of questions, but please respond and I will follow up with my own opinions as I seek out additional articles that deal with these problems.

Presentation Day!

As soon as I saw the list of topics for the presentation, my eyes were drawn to Motivation. I have always been interested in the motivation of students and specifically how technology can play a role in motivating students. Notice that I tried to be careful with the way that I worded that. Technology, of course, can not be the motivator alone. We cannot expect to design a lesson that uses some kind of technology and expect that alone to make students have the desire to learn. Keller points out that we need to be focused on creating instruction that engages students rather than just entertains. I do, however, think that motivation is a very tricky thing as classes and groups of students are extremely dynamic. Keller's ARCS model provides a great foundation and provides guidance for both instructional designers and teachers to properly create and assess the motivational aspects associated with a lesson. One thing that is not specifically mentioned, but may be assumed if task analysis is performed, is that the designer or teacher must be aware of the specific needs of his or her audience. As a teacher, I know that sometimes what is motivating to one group of students is not motivating to the other group. I have often come up with strategies that completely engage one class, but fails miserably with the next. I am looking forward to the presentation tonight and I hope that we can all engage in a discourse that will be mutually beneficial.

Misinterpreting Marzano

We have often discussed the "trends" in the field and the implications of those "trends" in higher education and research study. But, how does new research affect our K-12 schools? Marzano has been a buzz word in the K12 world for a few years now. And, as research-based instruction has become increasingly important as it is now mandated and thus, has been tied to the budget, state and district officials have called for research-based instruction to be implemented in their schools. As an educator, I see how research-based instruction has the ability to positively affect our students if implemented correctly. In case you missed it, the operative words there were "implemented correctly." If not implemented correctly, the research-based instruction has the ability not only have a negative affect on student learning, but could adversely affect teachers and the way that they teach. For example, the district that I was working for last year mandated that teachers use Marzano's strategies. It wasn't that they wanted us to used research-based instruction, it was that they really didn't show us how. They constantly threw buzz words at us like "instructional goals," "cues," "advance organizers," and "non-linguistic representation" in faculty meetings and development workshops. They told us what these things were, but they gave no indication of how they should be implemented in our classrooms. And, on top of that they gave us ultimatums for not implementing the strategies in our classrooms such as, "Teachers may receive letters in their files if objectives are not visible when administrators enter the classroom." Though this is only one example, the ultimatums put pressure on teachers to use strategies they were not comfortable with and did not fully understand. Therefore, many teachers used the strategies, but in inappropriate and ineffective ways.
Merrill does a good job in chapter 7 of breaking down his principles of instruction, but as I was reading through the chapter, I kept coming back to the problems that the teachers faced last year. We would constantly say, "How can we use this in our own classrooms?" I think that implementing this type of instruction is feasible, but also extremely problematic for subject matter teachers because some subjects lend themselves better to implementing these strategies. I know we are not expected to use every strategy in every lesson, but I think more work needs to be done so that teachers can use these strategies in specific contexts. Moreover, failure to implement theses strategies is directly related to higher-ups who are not well-read in the research. It should be the responsibility of those mandating the use of these strategies to not only fully understand them, but to aid in the transition and implementation process.
I do agree with Merrill, however, the field seems both limiting and extensive. There are many theories and strategies, but a lack of foundation. I, too, hope with the maturation of the instructional design, that the principles can give us the foundation we need for models and prescriptions to come.