EDSS 530

UPDATE: The majority of the posts for EDSS-530 can be found on the home page of this blog. 


EDCHAT  POST #1

Trying to follow edchat is one of the more difficult tasks a new teacher can undertake. However, with so many different conversations and posts occurring simultaneously, I found myself homing in on one post in particular. The post read “School's function is 2create workers 2 fuel our economy, we need 2 change school, because the workers we need have changed as well.”

My initial reaction to this statement is that it seems to be logical, but then it started to sound a little Orwellian to me. Looking at schools as a factory to produce workers is a little narrow in its scope. Sure, we do try and produce individuals that are capable of being productive workers, and contributors to our society, but schools need to strive for so much more. Trade schools are designed to provide the skills a student would need to be successful in a particular occupation. Public schools are tasked with molding students into productive, knowledgeable citizens. Yes, we are creating workers, but we are also creating leaders, artists, writers, inventors, explorers, parents, politicians and everything else that we need as a society to prosper. In short, we are assisting families in turning their children into quality adults.

The final goal of all of these efforts should be to create an independent member of our community, while looking out for the interests of those who can’t fend for themselves. I understand that this is an ideal, and that human nature is a powerful force that cannot always be controlled or focused into a beneficial direction. The adage “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” is all too prevalent in our education system. However, that shouldn’t preclude us from working toward an ideal.

OCEANSIDE HIGH SCHOOL/EL CAMINO HIGH SCHOOL VISITS:

Having never been to Oceanside High School prior to our visit, I was amazed at how the campus resembled a small community college.  It was incredibly modern looking and seemed well designed. The science building was amazing all by itself.

1. How was technology integrated into the curriculum? Do you feel that it promoted student learning?

            The technology was primarily in the form of iPads that the students used at their desks to carry out the day’s instruction. The students immediately came into the classroom and began working “warm-up” questions that the teacher had prepared. The primary use of the technology was for assessment. Students would complete assignments and formal assessments on their iPads, and the teachers could receive immediate feedback on their understandings. This can really help during the formative portions of a lesson or unit. Although the fullest potential for the technology’s use isn’t realized through its incorporation only in assessments, this is a start to a much more student centered, and personalized form of instruction. The amount of feedback a teacher can receive through the use of these tablets, is far greater than any teacher can obtain through verbal communication alone.

2. Is there anything you saw that makes this classroom/school unique?

            The use of the technology isn’t what made the classes unique for me. It was the familiarity and comfort with which the students used the technology that I have not seen previously. They seemed as at ease with the iPads as they would be using pencil/paper for note taking, and completing assignments.

            In contrast, I have observed at several schools that don’t allow students to use any electronic devices. This extends to the computers that might be already present in the classrooms. Their concern is that the students will spend too much time on frivolous activities and not on their schoolwork.  This was shown to not be the case in the classrooms we visited at Oceanside High School. The students were productive and used the iPads appropriately.

3. What did you learn and how does it relate to the class questions?

            I found it interesting that the teachers were committed to ensuring that eventually each student could be issued an iPad, or similar device, to carry with them throughout the day, and take home for homework/additional support. I am having difficulty in understanding why this is so critical to the students’ learning, if they in fact have home computers and are able to access all applications and information from their homes.  My personal belief is that it would be much more effective if they had access to the tablets at school, and utilized their own computers at home.

            If a student is issued a tablet and therefore responsible for its condition, I can only see that a great many students will be responsible for reimbursing the school at the end of the year for damage incurred throughout the year. This can have the effect of not being equitable for all students considering the wide differentiation family financial situations. Where the replacement of a broken iPad for one family might be a non-issue, for another, it may very well be a financial impossibility. Having seen the condition of many students’ smart-phones over the past semester, I am certain that a fair amount of students will be buying the school new iPads if they are permitted to carry them to and from school. In speaking with my current Cooperating Teachers, I have been told that there really isn’t a tech gap among their students’ families. They all have internet access and capable computers at home.  In one of my classes, my CT has supplied web-books for use by each student while physically in the classroom. This has eliminated the need for booking computer lab time, and allowed students to accomplish most of their work digitally.

DISRUPTING CLASS

Chapter 1: Why Schools Struggle to Teach Differently when each Student Learns Differently

1. Explain the difference between interdependence and modularity.  How is education currently organized?  

Interdependence is a way of organizing or creating a system or group that is reliant upon other specifically designed parts for function and integration. One part cannot be changed out with a generic part, nor can a part be changed without causing other areas of the system to be affected. Therefore, the parts of the group or system become proprietary, and unique. This may be the most effective way of building a system, when everything is working in perfect concert, but it does not allow for any deviation or adaptation.  To do so requires the entire system to be reengineered.

Modularity describes a system that has parts that are interchangeable, and replaceable by parts not necessarily designed for the specific purpose of working only with a particular system or product. The author gave an example of the common incandescent light bulb socket. Through its evolution the standard lamp/socket have become a standard that many manufacturers have adopted when designing their own products. This has allowed those who create new products to design them in a more universal way. This allows new products such as compact fluorescent light bulbs to be used in lamps that once used incandescent bulbs. This modularity permits new designs to be integrated into a system that wasn’t necessarily designed them. Many manufacturers are embracing the modular design concept today to cut costs, while still offering specifically designed products by only switching out a few key components.

Currently, the US education system is organized using the interdependence model. Each level of education is dependent upon the other for guidance, policy and design. We have interdependence in the classroom, to follow the set standards developed by the department, the school, and the district. Modifications to curriculum have broad sweeping effects, because of this interdependence. The top down design of most classes, do not leave room for individual modifications to accommodate different learning modalities beyond individual lessons. Our schools and curriculum are designed by individuals who have a particular learning model, and tends to reward those students who happen to share this model for learning. Those who do not learn in the same way as those who designed the system must learn to adapt, or forever struggle to achieve.

Chapter 2: Making the Shift:  Schools meet Society’s need

2. Explain the disruptive innovation theory.  What does this have to do with schools?

Disruptive innovation is when the normal flow of improvement and consumption of a product is disturbed by an innovation that does not directly compete with the product. It is an entirely new product that is focused on a different group of buyers who were not previously consumers of the original product. The example given is the personal computer. When Apple created their first computers they weren’t competing with the computers being sold during that time. Those computers were being sold to, and used by skilled users who had a great need for increased computing power. Apple marketed their computers toward a group that had not previously been users - families. These are consumers who may never have ventured into this market were it not for Apple’s disruptive innovation. This innovation completely changed the computer industry, while simultaneously creating a new one. The mini-computer makers of the past were quickly obsolete, and replaced by these upstarts such as Dell, Compaq and the aforementioned Apple.

As the public education system is essentially a monopoly controlled by public opinion and legislation, disruption is very difficult to implement. It is essentially mandated that there aren’t any non-consumers as the author refers to them. As with any monopoly innovation is stifled. What has been described as innovation has actually been a change in job description, ranging from preserving democracy to eliminating poverty. Periodically, the national idea of the purpose of general education has changed and subsequently our nation’s school’s mission statements have changed to coincide. Technology has been seen as this dramatic game-changer for our education system. However, we still primarily use technology in many of the same ways we have used textbooks or typewriters. The innovative disruptive nature of technology has yet to be fully implemented.

Chapter 3: Crammed Classroom Computers

3.  Why doesn’t cramming computers in schools work?  Explain this in terms of the lessons from Rachmaninoff (what does it mean to compete against nonconsumption?)

By placing computers in every classroom we have on the surface accomplished what previous administrations had envisioned. Unfortunately, as Christensen points out, this isn’t what is required. We need to use technology to enhance education, not simply to replace encyclopedias and typewriters with online search engines and word processing software. We need to look at how we can fully use this technology to revolutionize learning. I see that the speed at which technology is advancing creates a lag between what is available and what teachers know how to use.

By creating the first recordings of musicians like Rachmoninoff, RCA Victor marketed the recordings to those people who did not have the money or geographic ability to experience music live.  These people were non-consumers of the live music. The recordings did not, and could not compete with the live performance. They were a far less satisfying experience when compared to the real thing. However, like all recorded music even today, it is better than nothing. This can be transferred to technology in the classroom. Although we could simply record terrific teachers and present these recordings to classes, we cannot expect the same levels of achievement from the students as when a live teacher is present and interacting with the class.

Chapter 4: Disruptively Deploying Computers

4. Explain the pattern of disruption. 

The pattern of disruption initially competes against non-consumption. This simply means that it has no direct competition, except to cause those who are non-consumers to become consumers of this new innovation. Then the technology improves while simultaneously the costs are reduced. Next there is a cross competition with the original technology that preceded the innovation. Again, this is demonstrated using the Apple computer model. Initially there wasn’t a market for the innovation. Then, following its development and success the costs were reduced, and finally it begins to compete with the original technology (mini-computers). Although no one initially buying an Apple computer would have ever purchased a “mini-computer”, after the new innovation’s growth, it crosses over into direct competition with its progenitor technology. Another example might be the cellular phone and the laptop computer. Smart-phones are now crossing over and taking some sales away from laptop companies. The tablet is yet another example of this pattern. These substitution patterns almost always follow an S-curve pattern. The initial startup is slow, then picks up pace and begins a steep climb of usage and acceptance. As markets become saturated, the curve flattens out.

5. Explain the trap of monolithic instruction.  How does student-centric learning help this problem?

Monolithic instruction does not allow for individualized methods for students with different learning styles. It is based on the idea of covering as many students as possible with one system, and hoping that the others are able to adapt. This type of system has obvious disadvantages for all of those who don’t happen to fall into the majority.

The student-centric approach is focused on the learning needs of the students, and not at what the system dictates. Through technology we can better serve each student by designing lessons that appeal to multiple learning styles. The use of online technology will be critical to this eventual shift in pedagogical methods.

Chapter 5: The System for Student-Centric Learning

6. Explain public education’s commercial system.  What does it mean to say it is a value-chain business?  How does this affect student-centric learning?

The public education’s commercial system model is largely a Value Adding Process (VAP). They bring inputs of materials into one end of their establishments, and transform them by adding value, and deliver higher-value products to their customers at the other end. Students can be seen as the products which are brought in one end (kindergarten) and through years of education they come out the other side (high school graduates) with the added value of that education.

A value chain business is where businesses establish their costs for supplies, manufacturing, labor and other inherent costs associated with doing business and work to establish a cost structure that allows them to sell their products for a profit. This network or chain does not allow disruption because the paradigms of the business are firmly entrenched within the process.

In this model disruption is difficult. However, as computer software and hardware advance, there should be a push toward user-generated content. This would mean that each student could substitute content that best fits their learning profile, and therefore maximize their learning potential. Students will be able to teach other students, and parents will be better able to tutor their children at home. Of course none of this can take place unless a disruptive innovation takes hold as demonstrated in previous examples.

Are Grades Necessary for Learning?

After viewing the Daniel Pink interview video, my initial reaction to this question is only solidified. No, grades are certainly not necessary for learning. However, as Pink points out, grades are supposed to be a way for others to evaluate a student’s level of learning. Unfortunately, grades are actually the goal for nearly every student in our public education system. Grades themselves are not a form of assessment, unless you are trying to assess how well the students are conforming to the rules for receiving an 'A'. Good grades are usually the reward to students who have a certain level of skill coupled with the motivation to work hard enough and produce quality work. Although a certain level of understanding usually comes along with achieving good grades, it is certainly not guaranteed. I believe that the majority of valuable learning doesn’t come from public schools, and even to a lesser degree, from any source which provides some sort of written grade for out demonstrated understanding. My parents taught me to always look both ways when crossing the street, my grade for learning this has been the decidedly low incidence of me getting hit by trucks.

As a parent, on daily basis I can see my daughter’s learning that takes place away from her school. This learning takes place even on the playground. She learns about gravity, inertia and social interaction. For the most part, she isn’t even aware of the learning that is going on. This may very well be the greatest identifier of when quality learning is occurring.  None of this learning is being formally graded, but she is most certainly gaining knowledge. I think the question could be rewarded to be, are grades necessary in schools?

As I stated, although I feel that grades are not required for learning, grades may be needed for quantifying a student’s achievement within a course. We have become reliant upon grades to distinguish good students from bad students, and so much of the academic future for adolescents relies on their grades. As long as universities rely heavily on students’ grades for admissions, we as teachers are required to consider their importance, and to some degree conform to the norms until a better system is adopted by the majority of institutions of higher learning.

Learning In New Media Environments:

From the video, the one line that caught my attention most was “Even when we try to use the media, the media uses us”. This shows the influence of the media, whether it’s the books in the New Guinea village that Dr. Wesch first mentions, or the internet. As much as we try to influence the media, we ourselves are influenced.  This influence is transferred to our classrooms as well. This inclusion is intentional (the use of online videos, for instruction) and unintentional (students utilizing social media sites and applications during and outside of class). The internet has come to provide us “almost” unlimited information to utilize for instruction, and as teachers and leaders, we need to make ourselves knowledgeable on what resources exist. To not utilize these tools is analogous to a mechanic refusing to use the majority of the tools in his toolbox, even though they would make the job easier.

The other key point that I found interesting was how we need to inspire our students to remain curious about the world.  When students participate simply to achieve the goal of a “good grade”, they are not learning for the sake of becoming informed.  We must promote our students’ curiosity whenever possible.  This may require us to use unconventional methods, or to learn and utilize new technologies.

The villagers in New Guinea remind us of what technology truly is. It doesn’t have to be an iPad, or software. Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical use. For the villagers in the video, a book and a method of conducting a census was technology.  We can’t lose sight of the idea that technology is neither good nor evil. It empowers us to utilize it as we will. But like money, technology can be controlled by us, or it can control us. To this end, we must not be fearful of it, and incorporate it in everyway we see a benefit for our students.

As a teacher, leader, and parent, I see the tremendous benefits for the creative use of technology. I want my daughter and my students to be fluent in the latest technology so that they may incorporate it to advance their own learning, and productivity. With the understanding that we control the media and technology, we must also be cognizant of its influence upon our lives. 

Visitors and Residents:


Watch the following video: Visitors and Residents by Dr. White and then write a blog post reflecting on where you are in this continuum and how you see your future on the Internet.  If possible, leave a thoughtful comment on some of your peers' blogs

After viewing the video, I have come to the conclusion that I am definitely a visitor to the internet, and cyberspace as a whole.  Although I probably spend several hours each day utilizing the internet, I do so for specific purposes, and do not have a lasting presence once I leave.  Having watched the development of the internet from its beginnings, I can appreciate the amazing benefits from incorporating it into our daily lives. It will become increasingly more important to me as I utilize it to communicate with my students and their families.  I predict that the internet will continue to change education around the world. Sharing a real world classroom with one’s students is becoming increasingly inconsequential. The reliance on online courses will only grow, and eventually transcend borders. This will likely have a profound effect on global markets, and the financial power of nations.