Sitting in a meeting about a plan to implement online textbooks for Social Studies classes in all of our middle and high schools is somewhat depressing.
The discussion is almost entirely centered on extending the traditional teaching model – teacher-directed, one-way information transfer – as we now have with paper books. We’re planning to put all this technology (including allowing students to bring their own) into classrooms so that teachers can continue to assign “read chapter 3 and answer the questions at the end”.
I don’t call that “impact”, a popular term in connection with this project.
However, my optimistic side is also thinking that once everything is in place, it provides a great opportunity for teachers to begin seeing that these devices now in the hands of every kid don’t have to be used just for delivery of content.
Maybe we can help them realize the power of kids as creators and not just consumers.
Probably not what the school board had in mind but…
Your optimistic side is right. Getting the devices out there is a big step that removes an obstacle that most teachers couldn’t surmount on their own. There won’t be a sudden large revolution, but each step forward further enables the teachers who are ready to move forward.
This is the point at which I find myself. I am admittedly an early adopter of technology in my classroom. We have a class set of ipads at our school, which is in essence mine because not many other teachers use them. I participated in Apple’s Digital Learning Program, which lends you ten Macbooks, ten iPod touches, a digital camera and a video camera for a month. What the kids did with it was phenomenal.
In response to your textbook quandry, my geography class created their own textbook this year. I created a wiki and they research the material and posted the content. It was great.
I’ve also written a post on blog on this topic: http://teachtech2011.blogspot.com/2011/01/consumers-vs-producers.html
Keep up the optimism
I think this is the point that many educators are wrestling with with their admin and districts. We don’t need to just change education, we need to reinvent it. What has the laptop done that has made it different with an actual textbook? Other than making it lighter what does creating a PDF text do for a student. Thanks for the post. Hope it makes an actual ‘impact’.
I’ve sat in those meetings before. It definitely is a slow adoption because it’s difficult to change a mind-set – and that’s what it is.
The best way I have seen that done, is to continue being a role model. Keep your enthusiasm high and keep sharing what your students are doing! When one or two teachers start picking up one or two things and implementing them, then it will start to change the mind set.
Would you mind sharing your wiki? I’d love to see what your students have done!
I agree with the assertion that transferring traditional to online – using the same techniques and strategies – is basically still traditional, but I believe there is common sense in starting where you can (board, fundable decisions) and then stretch those limits.
I also believe the bigger changes come when our networks support any device – students can use what they have – we have just started this in one our our smaller schools, trial group. Great success and we are expanding campus wide in the 11-12 school year! Using the cloud for storage and sharing facilitates where we are heading!
Indeed, get digital feet in the door and the teachable moments (for admin, board, late adopters…) will follow.
Here is a link to my students’ textbook wiki they created.
It is in french, it is a French as a Second Language course, but you can see the work that was put into it.
https://wiki.nearnorthschools.ca/groups/textedegeo/