1. A LOOK AT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY,
OLD TECHNOLOGIES, WYLIE ISD, AND
THE DISTRICT’S STUDENT INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
Classroom 2020:
2. • A look back…
• Wylie ISD Technology Plan
• Student Information Systems
• Model Classroom of the Future
Classroom 2020:
3. Classroom 2020: A look back…
For comparison purposes, our
journey begins before the age of
the internet. Back when life was
simpler and copies came from
the “Ditto” machine...
4. Classroom 2020: A look back…
Technology has made communication
faster and easier. Communication
between teachers and parents,
teachers and administrators, teachers
and students—all of these can happen
much more quickly now.
5. Classroom 2020: A look back…
Technology has made communication
faster and easier. Communication
between teachers and parents,
teachers and administrators, teachers
and students—all of these can happen
much more quickly now.
6. Classroom 2020: A look back…
Click here to read my blog entry
on this topic.
7. Classroom 2020: Iberia Parrish Technology Plan
The roadmap for Iberia Parrish ISD
technology… Goals, Objectives
and Strategies for using
technology to improve student
success.
8. The roadmap for Iberia Parish ISD
technology…
Classroom 2020: IberiaParish ISD Technology Plan
9. The roadmap for Iberia Parrish ISD
technology…
100% of campuses have high-
speed internet and Wi-Fi!
Click here to see my blog entry
on this topic.
Classroom 2020: IberiaParish ISD Technology Plan
10. Classroom 2020: Student Information Systems
• Real-time
• Always Available
• Access for all stake-holders
11. Classroom 2020: Student Information Systems
Parents and students can access
gradebook and attendance
data.
12. Classroom 2020: Student Information Systems
The AISD cloud means it is never a
rainy day for access…
Click here to see my blog entry
on this topic.
13. Classroom 2020: Model Classroom of the Future
What will classrooms be like five
years into the future, in 2020.
While we may not yet be
teaching in an underwater lab,
changes in education are just as
fantastic as those predictions
made in the 70’s.
14. Classroom 2020: Model Classroom of the Future
• Knowledge: Educators must be familiar with
both the successes and the failures of the past.
• To succeed, to fulfill its mandate, to reach and
teach students where they are, education must
learn to be flexible.
15. Classroom 2020: Model Classroom of the Future
Near-term Horizon:
• Cloud Computing
• Mobile Learning
16. Classroom 2020: Model Classroom of the Future
Mid-term Horizon:
• Learning Analytics
• Open Content
17. Classroom 2020: Model Classroom of the Future
Far-term Horizon:
• 3-D Printing
• Virtual Labs
18. Classroom 2020: Model Classroom of the Future
“A personal connection with students is
more important than the technology
used.”
Click here to see my blog entry on this
topic.
19. A PROJECT BY Jacque Prater
FOR THE COURSE EDLD 5362 AT
LAMAR UNIVERSITY.
Classroom 2020:
Editor's Notes
Introduce the topic: the relationship between emerging technology, old technologies, Austin ISD, and the district’s Student Information Systems.
The four key areas
I interviewed Mrs. B., a 1st grade teacher who has been my colleague these past ten-plus years of teaching. She noted many ways that teaching and education have changed with the onset of the internet.
Some characteristics of students have not changed, it seems. They will still get into trouble if left unsupervised in the classroom. Whether it is searching the internet for inappropriate or off-task material, or slipping a comic book inside their history text, students will still take advantage of unmonitored time. In other ways, students are very different. One big difference Mrs. B. mentioned was manners. She thinks, and I agree, in earlier generations students learned manners and respectfulness at home. So much of what was once was the prevue of parents now seems to be the responsibility of schools and teachers. Students have a much greater access to technology than in times past and in some way the immediacy of access seems to have created a culture that expects instant everything. Students seem to be under more pressure academically, but have less chance to learn things like leadership and ethics and responsibility.
I am old enough to remember the scent of ditto fluid from my school days. It was nostalgic to hear her talk about ending the day with purple fingers in a classroom filled with chalk dust. That far back, the mimeograph machine was considered state-of-the-art. It seems we always look to technology to save time and ease our teaching day workload. What seems to have changed is the pace at which technology seems to be evolving. No gently rising curve here. Change seems to be happening exponentially.
I am old enough to remember the scent of ditto fluid from my school days. It was nostalgic to hear her talk about ending the day with purple fingers in a classroom filled with chalk dust. That far back, the mimeograph machine was considered state-of-the-art. It seems we always look to technology to save time and ease our teaching day workload. What seems to have changed is the pace at which technology seems to be evolving. No gently rising curve here. Change seems to be happening exponentially.
Infrastructure accounts for 42% of the total budget outlined in this plan. That is a huge percentage, especially considering the lifespan of most technology today. In recent years, funds were used to ensure that campuses had enough student devices to ensure a 1:1 ratio for the grade level with the highest population. In 2009, existing classroom teachers were issued a laptop, as were new-hires as part of the new teacher academy.
In recent years, social media sites such as Facebook have been made available for educational purposes. YouTube and other blocked sites can be accessed by teachers if they enter their credentials, indicating they take responsibility and that the site is appropriate for school use. I take this as a sign that the district recognizes the benefits of using social media sites to engage students. It is also nice to have high-speed internet available in every classroom. The districts initiatives to bring access to resources, including student data, into the hands of educators via the WISD cloud is another example to of the district’s commitment to technology in education.
The district is constantly working to improve infrastructure.
The student information system used by WISD offers a full range of features for everyone from students up through the highest levels of district administration. All data is live and available in real-time. At any given moment, a supervisor or parent can log in and see what is happening. This can create some customer-service concerns, especially when one teacher is consistently entering grades on a regular basis while a different teacher for the same student may only enter grades at the close of the grading period. Our SIS helps us keep up-to-date on student progress and keep parents informed, yet the system is only as useful as the data entered and relies on the human input to be accurate and up-to-date.
As mentioned above, WISD parents are able to access all of their student's educational information in one place, the Parent Cloud. Via the Parent Cloud families have access to Parent Self-Serve for attendance and grade data, online student registration, and “My Messages” which is part of the district’s School Messenger system. At the high-school level where each class records attendance, the system will actually contact parents immediately by phone or email if their student is marked tardy or absent from a class.
In the last three years, WISD has moved to a cloud system and had enabled a single sign-on for most of its applications. One roadblock teachers have encountered is a lag ibn using some of the systems when signing on via the cloud. It seems this extra level of oversight can slow the system. There are also the usual system overload issues at peak times when a large number of teachers are likely to be using the system, such as just after the close of the school day and early Monday morning. All classrooms have hard-wired high-speed connectivity.
This work, in large part, derives from a report by the New Media Consortium (NMC). To quote from their website, “The NMC stimulates and furthers the exploration and use of new media and technologies for learning and creative expression” (2014). NMC publishes a series of “horizon” reports. The report used for this work is NMC Horizon Report > 2013 K-12 Edition by Johnson et al. (2013)
We must pay attention to what is working in our classrooms today. We must examine what needs improvement and take steps to grow. We must look ahead, to the horizon, and beyond; considering the implications of trends in our society. This assignment is an effort to do just that, to look beyond the horizon and give a sense of what a well-designed classroom will look like in 2020.
The days of bureaucratic behemoths waddling along at their plodding pace, indoctrinating students into the great educational white way are over. Change is inevitable and districts that lock themselves in to brand specific apparatus will find themselves struggling to support a mob of unruly dinosaurs in three to five years.
Connectivity will be crucial for classrooms of the future. For students, teacher, parents, and all stakeholders alike, staying connected will be the key to communication. Wi-Fi will be essential. Even more so as cloud computing begins to play a larger role. Regardless of the brand, some sort of “office-suite” software is needed. A cloud-based suite allows access both at home and on campus.
Discussing a mobile devices and a cloud initiative in Oregon, David Weldon believes we “will be one step closer to allowing everyone it serves to share their work anywhere, anytime, and with anyone” (Weldon, 2013). In order to facilitate this level of communication, mobile learning devices will become the norm. Whether purchased by school districts or facilitated through the encouragement of BYOD initiatives, mobile devices are already making an impact in many school districts. Initially there may be some pushback from teachers, campuses, and districts that see personal devices as a distraction; but sound educational policy and appropriate use guidelines should offset this trend. The savings to districts, I believe, will ultimately win-out.
I also see technology creating more collaborative classroom environments. Collaborative work brings a “real-world” feel to the classroom. Technology offers many opportunities for students to take charge be it through social media, blogs, wikis, distance learning, or virtual labs. Classrooms using the “flipped” format have the added advantage of the classroom teacher available as a co-collaborator.
One thing that the internet has done is put millions of bytes of data in the hands of those who need it most. Cloud based systems in particular have made it relatively easy for teachers to access a wealth of information about their students. “The push for data-driven decision making require that the school information system not only serve as the core for all data gathering and analysis, but it also must be customizable and easily integrated so that it can change as districts’ needs change” (Darby & Hughes, 2005). Accurate and up-to-date data creates opportunities to differentiate curriculum to meet students’ needs, especially struggling students. It is very important that the data access be customizable and have the ability to change as needed. What must happen in conjunction with this access to data is professional development on interpreting the data. The field of Learning Analytics comes along at just the right time, allowing technology to begin the analysis of data, freeing teachers to reap the results. Learning analytics will help analyze student learning and behavior.
For a look at the trend toward open content, a direct quote from Edutopia sums the field up nicely,
“OER (Open Educational Resources), a part of the global open content movement, are shared teaching, learning, and research resources available under legally recognized open licenses—free for people to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. Why are OER important? High-quality OER can save teachers significant time and effort on resource development and advance student learning inside and outside the classroom. Further, open sharing of resources has the potential to fuel collaboration, encourage the improvement of available materials, and aid in the dissemination of best practices” (Open Educational Resources, 2013).
As more high-quality open content resources become available, school districts will be hard-pressed to justify the cost of proprietary works. In the interim, many districts are already turning to virtual textbooks that eradicate the cost of printing physical textbooks and saves considerably on the infrastructure needed for storage space and a physical inventory.
The prospect of 3-D printing as a tool in elementary schools seems far-fetched at first glance, yet like many things that seem like science fiction at first glance; this tool will likely become readily available as cost benefit analysis reveals the plus side of 3-D printing in education. The cost of the actual equipment will seem miniscule when compared with the opportunity to create three-dimensional versions of virtually any object imaginable. The capacity for “hands-on” learning becomes immense. The multitude of opportunities for creative work are also inspiring.
Virtual and remote laboratories offer students a laboratory experience without the cost (and danger) on an on-site laboratory. They also remove much of the pressure to “get-it-right” by enabling students to repeat experiments easily (Johnson et al., 2013). Virtual labs are simply another outgrowth of online education. They offer another opportunity for real-world activities in a virtual environment while alleviating some of the financial cost of maintaining a lab.
Trends start with broad strokes of what is coming and begin to narrow the scope by examining what developments are becoming more commonplace. In the end, the specific brand of tool or product is almost irrelevant. Once districts begin to adopt a particular technology model in any volume, market forces will usually create a bevy of clones looking to cash in. Districts, boards, and committees will usually decide on the specific products, hopefully with input from teachers. However, good teachers will continue to help their students make the connections between the curriculum and their lives and their future. Good teachers will connect with their students by tapping into the technological culture current and future generations will inhabit. As the James Madison University Online Best Task Force (2013) mentions in their online course delivery overview, “A personal connection with students is more important than the technology used.”
Trends start with broad strokes of what is coming and begin to narrow the scope by examining what developments are becoming more commonplace. In the end, the specific brand of tool or product is almost irrelevant. Once districts begin to adopt a particular technology model in any volume, market forces will usually create a bevy of clones looking to cash in. Districts, boards, and committees will usually decide on the specific products, hopefully with input from teachers. However, good teachers will continue to help their students make the connections between the curriculum and their lives and their future. Good teachers will connect with their students by tapping into the technological culture current and future generations will inhabit. As the James Madison University Online Best Task Force (2013) mentions in their online course delivery overview, “A personal connection with students is more important than the technology used.
