A Great Opportunity — and What Really Needs to Happen Next
OPSBA’s “What If? Technology in the 21st Century Classroom”
Now with regards to a shared vision for educational technology, let me say that I’ve been trying to sort out the big picture here in my district and in Ontario for some time now. (I was involved in a Ministry of Education project for a five year term a number of years back, and so I had an opportunity at that point to gain some small insight into things then. But more recently, no.) And so perhaps you can imagine my enthusiasm when I came across a document entitled “What If? Technology in the 21st Century Classroom,” published by the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA).
Prepared by a cross-province group of trustees, directors, and technology heads, the OPSBA document was released on April 28th, 2009, and although the downloadable PDF version of the document was curiously dated April 1st, I decided that it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke, and was thus worthy of serious consideration. What If? is clearly targeted at engaging groups such as the Ontario Ministry of Education, the various teachers’ groups, and the general public in a discussion about some very important questions about role of technology in education and learning in the current and near future. The document attempts to create a space for dialogue among various stakeholders by presenting an achievable vision of edTech for Ontario classrooms. The vision highlights various initiatives underway in different Districts within the province.
While the whole document bears reading, my first inclination is to draw the readers attention to the numbered pages 25-27, where a “day in the life” portrayal of the envisioned near-21st Century school is portrayed. You’ll note references to various technologies such as SMART Interactive Whiteboards and WiFi-enabled 1:1 netbooks, but the specified tech is presented as part of an integrated vision that includes variations in classroom structure, learning experiences, day-to-day activities undertaken by students, teachers, and administrators, and reflects an amalgam of various bits and pieces currently in play within different Ontario districts. (see the section titled Classroom 2.0: Technology Engages Student Learning, by Mark Bailey, pgs 25-27. Bailey is a both a Trustee and an infoTech expert. If interested, you can hear him interviewed by the CBC, including a few call-ins from the public by following this link.) Coming in at a bit less than 30 booklet-sized pages (~15 page PDF), What If? can be purused in a decent time frame — and is well worth the time if you have any interest (Ontario educator or otherwise) in seeing what such a group can present as a realistic and tentative straw model.
An excerpt from the “day in the life” portrayal:
As they do every time, the 20 students filing into Nora Smith’s grade 8 history classroom each grab a random netbook off the rack and head to their assigned four-student team station. Jack sits at his assigned space, plugs his netbook into the power cord built into the desk and logs in wirelessly to the central server, using a username and password. The central server’s timetable database recognizes that Jack is in history class and identifies the three other members of his student team based on information that Smith submitted earlier in the year.
The screen on Jack’s netbook is populated with several pieces of relevant information, broken down into windows. First, there is the overview of today’s lesson. Next, Jack’s personal documents and multimedia files related to the class are listed. Finally, there is an instant messaging box that connects Jack to his team and to their teacher. Jack notes that today’s lesson is titled “The Life of Louis Riel.”
(What If? Technology in the 21st Century Classroom, pg. 25, paragraph 2)
And this is where I see a Great Opportunity — and What Really Needs to Happen Next.
Because, you see, this document, for all its wonderful potential, has been unleashed, accompanied by a press release, in a very close-to-traditional 1.0 media manner. Yes, it is posted on a website for ready access. Yes, it was supported by the CBC radio interview. And it does invite input, right there on page 20, buried in a paragraph, with a simple email address link (ITinSchools@opsba.org). What’s missing, in the 2009 Web 2.0 world, is an online space for public commenting and open, interactive discussion. That would go a long way to letting everyone participate in crowdsourcing input for a truly collective, shared vision. Yeah, Ontario is a big province, with many voices to potentially contribute and discuss. But that’s the great strength of our new 2.0 world, engaging folks and providing an opportunity for collaboration.
I’ve just now sent an email to ITinSchools@opsba.org, suggesting that they do set up a comment stream. In the meantime, if you take the time to review the document (do!), perhaps we can collect a few comments down below, perhaps discussing the content and your process in the interim.
The other thing that needs to happen, is that folks (in Ontario specifically) need to see that the document is shared with and discussed by those who need to read it and think about it. The evening I first read the document, I sent off emails to my principal, our senior IT guy, and the president of our ETFO office, along with a few of my local edTech tweeps, commenting on the document and pointing them to the press release and actual PDF document.
Maybe this is old hat for you, and maybe your district is actively engaged in discussing What If? and planning some next steps in direct response to it. If so, I’m sure we’d be interested in hearing about what you’re up to. (Comments?) If not, who would you see as key players in your district that you think need to ponder the What If? question? Maybe they just need an extra invite to get involved in the discussion?
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
— Michelangelo
