Complexity

Inspired by one of Mary Mehsikomer's old test papers...

In whose best interest? - ITV implementation

Tuesday was an historic day for my district. It was the first time we ever offered a class over Interactive Television during prime time of the school day to high school students.

And It was a qualified success. The equipment needed tweaking, there was no instructor as promised, and there were no textbooks, but the network connection worked and the kids seemed excited to be in Chinese II this year. I exhausted my vast knowledge of Mandarin (or maybe it was Cantonese) by teaching the nine students to say and define "moo goo gai pan."

Although ITV has been successfully used for over 20 years by our smaller neighboring districts, Mankato schools never took the plunge for a variety of reasons.

• As a larger district with three high schools, our incidence of low enrollment classes has never been great - we have the population to offer French III and AP Trig.
  
• With a state university and community college in town, most high school kids preferred to drive to campus and mingle with the big dogs rather than take college classes online.
  
• ITV offerings are "revenue negative" to districts whose students take them except to the district offering them, and our teachers and administrators have never exhibited enthusiasm for offering classes to other districts using the medium. In fact, with increased math and science requirements, fewer electives can be taken by students and there is greater competition for students by current teachers now offering elective classes in world languages, tech ed, art, and other areas. ITV offerings are viewed as unwelcome competition.

And while it was not a deciding factor, I personally found teaching college courses over ITV less satisfying that F2F instruction. Somehow I wound up with a stiff neck and a paranoid feeling that technology was out to get me after every class. I had a hard time promoting a technology that I myself do not much care for.

Studies show that ITV is more or less equal in effectiveness to F2F instruction, so its use is more of a political/philosophical decision rather than a pedagogical one. By offering Chinese II via ITV, even at the possible expense of the teachers of other electives in our district, we've chosen student needs over staff concerns.

I believe that was a good decision. Too often when it comes to technology and other innovations, staff comfort, school finances, and fear of the new trumps student and family needs. 

But I'll bet you knew that already.

Palin and censorship

The Blue Skunk tries to stay as apolitical as possible (weak stomach) but when this came across the state listserv this morning, the intellectual freedom fighter in me couldn't resist sharing it.

Excerpt from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/us/politics/03wasilla.html

Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.

Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin's first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. "They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her," Ms. Kilkenny said.

The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to "resist all efforts at censorship," Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support. Ms. Emmons, who left her job and Wasilla a couple of years later, declined to comment for this article.

In 1996, Ms. Palin suggested to the local paper, The Frontiersman, that the conversations about banning books were "rhetorical."

Wouldn't it be ironic if the books Gov. Palin was trying to get rid of were on sex education for teens?

I guess I will have to break my pledge to vote for the first hottie to run for Prez.