The peripheral visionary
Monday, March 17, 2014 at 05:38AM I was a peripheral visionary. I could see the future, but only way off to the side.
Steven Wright
We took a few minutes in our tech teams last week to kick around a simple question: Where do we want to be with technology in five years?
Why now? Well, we're re-booting the district's strategic plan and a couple of us are on that team. Budgets for 2014-15 are in the making and we need to do some prioritizing. We're in the process of formulating next year's tech department goals.
And I think we are sensing that some previously unattainable goals just might be imaginable.*
The biggest change I see in this year's planning is that we've really taken to heart that our technology goals are totally in support of our teaching and learning goals. I know - well, duh! That has of course always been our philosophy, but we're starting to get a lot more specific.
So while these maybe in our department's sights for 2019:
- Ubiquitous wi-fi in school and on school buses
- Devices for all children.
- 75% of library materials in digital formats
- 75% of all teaching materials and work flow digital
- Textbooks replaced by Content Management Systems (Moodle, GoogleSites, etc.)
- Print reading series replaced by reading programs
The "so-what" is that making these basic technology changes allows us to potentially make some really interesting, specific pedagogical changes:
- regular, powerful formative assessments in all classrooms
- differentiated materials to support reading levels and learning styles
- peer-to-peer collaboration and review
- project-based learning with products using multiple media
- workflow changes that ease teacher responding
- Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) for all kids with a nod to Personalized Learning Plans (PLPs)
- real time communication and collaboration with parents with connections to meaningful data
- multi-grade collections of student work kept in online portfolios - from ALL students
- 24/7 learning opportunities - blended classrooms - no more snow days
I still have a lot of questions:
- What will effective PD look like to help teachers make these transitions? (My vote is for ILPs for teachers.)
- Which of these pedagogical should be given highest priority?
- Should there be any expectations of all teachers, and if so, how do we guarantee those expectations are met?
- How do we get input, buy-in, and enthusiasm for these ideas from those outside the technology department?
I find it amazing that my last few years in education may be the most exciting years. I personally cannot wait to see what the future holds for our schools, our families, and our community!
Just a reminder, that all ideas expressed on the Blue Skunk are mine alone, not the views of the district.
* I see three major happenings in the next couple years that make these predictions realistic:
- Useful tablets will drop to the sub $100 price range. We are testing these now as potential e-book readers and GoogleApps creators.
- Cell phone providers will offer sub $10 a month home Internet hotspots. Again, this is already happening in urban areas and we're just waiting for it to spread.
- Acceptance on the part of district leadership that technology is integral to meaningful change.
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A few other feeble attempts to peer into the crystal ball....
- Prognostications - 2003
- Forecasting trends (Jan 2007)
- Your brave predictions! (Dec 2008)
- Two sets of predictions (Jan 2009)
- How is the future touching your life today? (Jan 2009)
- Three futures: Skinner Elementary, Duncan Middle School, Dewey High School, and What's the point?
- Miles's Library
- Tony's (and my) brave technology prognostications
Reader Comments (1)
Hi I think technology is the future of the classroom. My son was an IT teacher for 16 years. He has founded www.classcharts.com it is about behavior control in the classroom. You might be interested. Please take a look. any comments would be appreciated. Charles