Do you really need a class on Gmail?

My aunt, my grandson and my Gmail-using mother

Folks are a little nervous around the district.

We announced that we are changing e-mail services - switching from Exchange (with Outlook and Entourage as clients) to the online Gmail portion of Google Apps for Education. The plan was introduced to the administrators on Wednesday and to the rest of the staff on Friday. The big switch happens on December 19th.

While about 10% of most educators enjoy anything new that comes down the pike, the remaining 90% are, often rightly, hesitant, concerned and even a shade resistant. While most people can understand on an intellectual level why such changes are good*, their guts say, "This will be a big pain in the ass. I have better things to do with my time than learn a new program. Such transitions never go a smoothly as they say. An effective, adequate and convenient means of learning new programs never happens." And to a greater or lesser degree, their guts would be right on.

We deliberately chose to switch services just before the district's ten day winter break. Why? I am predicting (hoping) that most of our staff will quickly learn the how to use the basics of Gmail without needing formal instruction - that by spending only a couple hours over break playing with the new tools, most people will quickly get comfortable with the new system and be ready to use it come January 4th.

It's not like e-mail is new concept and Gmail is about as user-friendly as one can get. The basic operations of opening, composing, sending and replying to an e-mail just aren't very difficult. (As I've been assuring people, even my 77-year-old mother uses Gmail.) We are providing links to online help materials, including a very comprehensive set of videos on AtomicLearning. The media specialists will doing some after school workshops for the truly confused and about tasks that may be a little more complex - setting up mailing lists, using labels, sharing calendars, importing calendars and contacts, etc.

I wish I knew an easier way to make changes like these. Good information, good support, good reasons for making changes, a careful choice of product - what else can be done?

I was recently asked to contribute to an article about one's "professional New Year's resolution." I am thinking mine will be to look at how to make change in schools more humane. I've had Canadian educator Michael Fullan recommended to me twice lately. I like his Six Secrets to Change:

1. Love Your Employees
2. Connect Peers with Purpose
3. Capacity Building Prevails
4. Learning Is the Work
5. Transparency Rules
6. Systems Learn

Figuring this out will be more challenging to learn that using Gmail, that's for sure.

* The introduction to staff:

Your technology holiday gift! 

On December 19th, the district will be switching its e-mail service to Gmail – a part of the Google Apps for Education package. Each individual e-mail user in ISD77 will be receiving:

• A full 7 gig of e-mail storage capacity (70 times the current allocation).
• A really easy to use e-mail, calendar, contact, chat, and task interface with lots of new features. (Doug’s 77-year-old mother uses Gmail.)
• The ability to access your account from any computer, netbook, PDA, or smartphone with Internet connectivity
• One-click access to GoogleDocs for creating, sharing, collaboratively editing and storing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and surveys all online.

Your school e-mail address will NOT change. Your saved messages will be imported into Gmail for you. You will be able to import your current contacts and calendar events into Gmail.

Watch over the next couple weeks for more information and instructions on making this transition as smooth as possible for everyone. It’s a great step forward for the district!

Learning & Leading digitally

I really like the way ISTE's Leaning and Lurching Learning & Leading appears in electronic format:

“Computing in the Clouds” Learning & Leading, Dec/Jan 2009/10.

There may be some question about their editorial judgment, but the format is pretty cool! It looks just like the print version with spiffy graphics, it's easy to link to, to navigate, and to print.

Those of us who write for publication in our professional association's journals do so to be read by a broad audience. This means of distribution helps make that happen. Kudos, ISTE.

AASL - are you paying attention? Where is KQ with this???

The unrealized potential of ed tech

Scott McLeod in his post Dear Will. sends a challenge to Will Richardson who will be doing some workshops down in Iowa (Motto: Where it's always just a local phone call to God). Scott asks:

We’re ready for you to take our already-forward-thinking brains into 2015, 2025, or even 2050. We need to hear from you what the new information and technology landscapes are going to look like. We need to hear from you what school organizations could / should / MUST look like. And because you work with schools all over the world, we need to hear from you what innovative schools currently are doing to make the shift.

We can handle whatever you throw at us. Don’t be afraid to E-X-P-A-N-D our brains exponentially by asking us difficult questions and offering us enormous challenges. We need grounding in a future reality, but we also need concrete details about current and potential transformative practices. We need our mental models to be rearranged, reframed, and reconfigured. And, of course we want lots of opportunities for discussion and hands-on experiences. All that is not too much to ask, is it?!

The first thing that comes to mind is that I am damn glad it's not me that has to clean these Augean stables. "Grounding in a future reality"? Good luck, Will!

As much fun as speculating what education might or ought to look like in 2050 (I'll only be 98 years old, after all), I'd suggest energies are better spent in realizing the potential of the technologies and opportunities we have available to us - TODAY. These would be my questions for Will ...

• Why don't we now have an IEP for every child (and every teacher), with tech facilitating this today?
• Why doesn't every child have a laptop or netbook with 24/7 access to tutorials, information, and productivity tools for all learners with genuinely differentiated approaches and resource for each student TODAY?
• Why is not every teacher taking advantage of challenging/engaging game environments and MUVEs TODAY?
• Why is every teacher not taking advantage of a nearly unlimited number of resources to allow the creation of relevant assignments based on personal interests for every child TODAY?
• Why do teachers and students not have 24/7 access to information professionals (librarians) TODAY?
• Why do there only seem to be a few teachers in every school that make creativity, problem-solving and global interactions a priority TODAY?

Why are these things not the norm, but the exception TODAY? It would take no extra funds, no revolution, no scientific breakthroughs, no visioning. Just work.(And I'll bet these things are not universal even in the districts of the administrative geniuses Scott describes.)

My grandson is in school TODAY, so quite frankly, I want to know how education can be different when he walks into his classroom after lunch TODAY - not in 2050.

2050? -  my grandkids may well have grandkids in school by then!

Oh, my 2050 bold predictions:

• Polar bears will be extinct.
• The rich will be getting richer and the poor, poorer.
• Computers will be smaller, faster and cheaper - but not a damn bit smarter.
• Educators will be worried about 2100 instead of 2050.

Help yourself, Will.

Image from: <http://memebox.com/futureblogger/category/Education>