We need the pauses - for society to adjust
Thursday, November 28, 2013 at 05:10AM According to the survey looking at consumers' mobile behavior, 63 percent of the 1,000 Americans surveyed said they check their smartphone at least once every hour. Nine percent said they check every five minutes. http://www.smartplanet.com October 22, 2013
In his post Taking Advantage of the Pause, Jeff Utecht shares this graphic:
and reflects...
...we go through moments of great technological growth…usually around new hardware….and then we have these plateau periods. They might not be as flat as they look in this image…but there are definitely slower periods I think of innovation as we prepare for the next disruption.
I would like to think that each new technology (or incarnation of a computing power that Jeff lays out) has been accompanied by new educational uses of technology - that the "new thing" really did disrupt old and ineffective teaching practices.*
The plateaus are needed, not necessarily to allow educators or reformers to plan, but for the greater society to adapt to and accept the new technology. Unless the technology is valued by the larger population, it will not be accepted in school. Too many of us forget that society shapes schools - schools do not shape society. (Even the old belief that education creates a more egalitarian social structure, has pretty much been exposed as a myth.)
Schools will not adopt a technology use until society as a whole as adopted it. Smartphones and tablets are increasingly being used in a variety of ways (all over the SAMR model spectrum) in our district. Inspired leadership by our tech integrations specialists, curriculum director and professional development coordinator deserve much of the credit.
But I also think we have to recognize that society has accepted the ubiquity of such devices. This graphic (Huff Post) is telling:
So while it serves consultants, pundits, and bloggers well and gives many educational leaders the illusion of "progress," trying to make an societally unaccepted technology an agent for change is unproductive. As the opening quote suggests, mobile, ubiquitous technologies like smartphones and tablets are now part of the American culture. And so it follows they are being rapidly adopted in schools as well. Not jut the devices, but the belief that the ability to instantly acquire factual information is a more important skill than rote memorization.
If Jeff's model is correct (looks good except for laptops and the Internet being out of sequence), wearable computing next. The GoogleGlass or what not will be found useful in education. But it will take Moms and Dads and younger teachers finding wearablity normal before that happens. Expect resistance:
Teacher: 1,2,3 eyes on me.
Students respond: 1,2 eyes on you. (Yeah, right.)
Jeff, I like the "pauses" too. Just for a different reason.
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* In my experience, technology is additive rather than disruptive. Just as we still have labs of desktop computers, we still have teachers who lecture. As some teachers begin to "gamify" their teaching practices, how many are still using traditional computer games? The graphics may have improved, but has Oregon Trail really changed in its 40 years of existance?
Circa 1974 on Apple II (an earlier version ran on a minicomputer in 1971)
iOS version, 2009
Reader Comments (6)
No resistance here. I understand where people are coming from when they say that new technology like Google Glass is a bit creepy, but I just can't wait. It's awesome and I can't wait to have my pair. I just need to wait until the cost comes down.
And I guess this makes me old, but I like the graphics on the original Oregon Trail much better. Nostalgia...
Hi Shannon,
Knowing how long it took before I got a smartphone, Google Glass may be very far in my future.
And yes, I like the old graphics too, but I am sure it is my memory of watching kids using the program that I really like.
Hope you have a happy holiday season,
Doug
Thanks Doug,
I wonder....is the rate that society is adopting these tools out pacing education? My wife's school here in Seattle still has chalk boards. A school district to the north of Seattle is still running Windows '98.
Society adopted whiteboards and more modern operating systems years ago....I thought anyway until I came back here and started working in public schools in America again.
Society has...or is....adopting the idea that computers can do much of the work we use to have to do. Schools haven't reacting in changing how we prepare students for the work force that has changed. I mean when you have a tractor that can drive itself how many farmers do you need? http://www.agweb.com/article/harvest_report_self-driving_tractors_help_farmers_in_fall_2013_NAA_Nate_Birt/
Or a better question might be what new skills does a farmer need to have to be a farmer?
I like where you took this idea and agree with you that these pauses can be seen as adoption periods for both society and education. They are needed and I'm glad we get them.
As for the Internet before laptops on the diagram. I did go back and forth on this one but finally put it this way as the widespread adoption of laptops really didn't come until late 1990's even though there was a 23lb one you could have lugged around in 1972. :)
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the feedback. It's a mistake to think society is any more uniform in its adoption of technology than are schools. I appreciate that reminder. As I remember from a trip through the South not that many years ago, I still saw mules being used to do field work.
I had a pre-windows PC laptop, I believe, in 1989 or 1990. I think I got my first vax account for the internet in about 1991 or 1992. Too close to call on those technologies, I think. Both of these together started the entire move in education and elsewhere to ubiquitous computing.
Hope things are going well and you have a happy holiday season,
Doug
Hi Doug
I'm "middle-age" and consider myself pretty open to new things. I like to try new things. Sometimes I like it and I keep it. Other times I try it and say "ugh & no way"--but at least I tried it.
When my kids are confronted with new foods, they always had to take at least 1 bite before refusing.
As for these Google Glasses, I've reached my limits, I'm afraid. The thought of having a room full of people with Google Glasses on makes me think "sick" and I mean it when I say "sick" (versus just "ugh") (sorry Jeff!). Is humanity doomed to be more like machines overtime and less like humans? I hope I won't live long enough to grapple with these issues. I told my kids that when they are parents, they'll be telling their kids to put down their Google Glasses (instead of myself telling them to put down their phones). "Good luck!" I told them.
The Simpsons did a segment on Google Glasses. They called them Oogle Goggles. http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/27/the-simpsons-get-and-relentlessly-mock-google-glass-4279590/
Our school librarian does the "1, 2, 3, Eyes on Me". Funny you should bring that up.
I found those stats on phone interesting. I don't own a smartphone and I only turn on my dumbphone (phone calls and simple SMS only) when I leave the house. Being connected 24/7 sounds exhausting. I don't know why people would need to check their phones every 5 minutes. With glasses, they can check their notifications every minute. Is that progress or is that insanity?
Is it the quest for progress leading the way? What exactly is driving this all? Maybe we need to answer the question, "What is leading all this tech and what is driving it?" Then, we have to decide whether we want this ladder leaning against this wall. I enjoy tech and I get excited about what it can do for education but it's the quest for more authentic education for our students leading the way in my journey. I don't see where Google Glasses comes into this. The next step will be when we start micro-chipping ourselves...
Hi Vivian,
Always a pleasure to hear from you!
Actually, I am rather looking forward to a mature version of GoogleGlass - if for no other reason than they might help me remember people's names when I see them. I am terrible at names, so having facial recognition tied to a contacts list for me would be great. I'd also people made eye contact with me, even artificially, than talk to me while looking at their damn phones. I find that very insulting.
What I do think will be needed are a set of very good "glass" etiquette guidelines, including the use of a light or other means of letting people know when the glasses are "on."
What's driving this? Profit. Novelty. An innate need for human beings to be informed. I've yet to see a humanistic use for GoogleGlass in education, but then I am a man of small imagination.
Take care!
Doug