Comments on: Dissecting a K-12 Technology Vision

By: Tim Youngblood

Tim Youngblood — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:02:01 +0000

@Barry: You are 2 for 2 on your comment. I am simultaneously grateful that much of past efforts have been on modernizing the environment for the classroom and instructor (the last mile is expensive!), while remaining suspect that education is stuck in their business as usual approach to their understanding of the developments over the last 10 or even 3 years. It is as if education doesn't know where to go next and your second point is exactly correct: it is the data! (see my blog post on this topic). In particular, I am focused on delivering a number of curriculum management services that allows real time analysis of mastery with mapping across state standards and conceptual frameworks. To me (and my partners) this is the killer app for education.

By: David Tran

David Tran — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:07:05 +0000

@Jim, I don’t think these resources should be completely separate – for example, some textbooks come with online components, and simply giving teachers access to templates to edit/customize materials they photocopy out of textbooks could add tremendous value.

@Barry: “I think empowering teachers has to be a key tenet of any technology plan. You need them comfortable and driving the ideas on how technology can enrich the classroom experience.”
I wholeheartedly agree – any technology you create must have low prerequisites for user adoption. The end goal is to make teachers’ lives easier, but give them complex technical systems to learn.

By: Barry Bruins

Barry Bruins — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 02:29:13 +0000

Tom,
Looks like a good statement of direction that should last awhile. I had two reactions to it:

1) I first wired an elementary school back in ‘95/96 when Netday was big and ended up tying 23 schools together with volunteers. What I noticed was one of the key benefits was providing the teachers/staff a modern work environment. I think empowering teachers has to be a key tenet of any technology plan. You need them comfortable and driving the ideas on how technology can enrich the classroom experience.

2) I don’t think technology is nearly as important as teaching the management of information. Technology is a means. Information and Knowledge are the ends. This is where are schools need help. How to get kids to be able to navigate, access and discern the fidelity of information and then use it to some end. So I think the technology plan needs to have more about teaching the students how to be masters of the information that comes into their lives.

Barry

By: Tom Bittman

Tom Bittman — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:49:44 +0000

Thanks, Jim. This space intentionally left wide open. There actually is another committee focused on curriculum, and this vision feeds into that (we want to inspire change, but not define it here). Our thinking was at least about using technology as an integral part of the curriculum, not necessarily changing the curriculum – using collaboration tools, wikis, blogs, Youtube, Facebook, access and publish online, etc. But the curriculum itself should morph – another exercise.

By: Jim Lundy

Jim Lundy — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:28:13 +0000

Tom, on this section, Integrating Technology and Curriculum, I see almost no words on how Curriculum is being integrated.

Based on what is written, you might say Integrating Technology and Increasing Collaboration.

Very few school districts understand how to tie technology to curriculum because they don’t have the money to buy both textbooks and online courses (or parts of online courses).

If the idea is to allow access to information sources to enhance what is being taught, then I would say that.