I was initially intrigued by the idea of an open sourcehigh school, as I watched the videos about the various open source schools popping up around the country. However, the videos were not clear about the fact that the students did not actually attend a physical school -- the students sit at home or in a library and view the curriculum over a computer while a teacher can be several cities or even countries away, and there are no fellow students around. I thought the videos showed students in a classroom, so when the teachers interviewed started talking about "brick and mortar" schools, I became very confused. I ended up doing further research, and found other websites that explained the concept of these open source high schools in more depth, and by the time I was done reading, my opinion had drastically changed. I do not think that the concept of the open high school will work overall.
First, if students are not in a physical classroom with teachers looking over their shoulder, not all students will be motivated to do the work. The students that will do the work are the bright, motivated students who don't need extra attention. So, we are giving the already bright and motivated students an advantage with the open high school, but I think it is presenting a disadvantage to any student who may need that extra motivation or they will not succeed. Also, there are students who may not have grown up with access to technology, and may have a learning curve disadvantage. If they don't have a teacher physically standing there showing them how to use the technology, how can we guarantee they will be successful with the technology?
Further, I agree with other comments I have seen that students, especially at the high school age, need socialization skills. I think it is already a problem that teenagers spend so much time on cell phones, texting, and instant messaging. They are already losing the ability to have a face to face conversation. I go out to dinner with my younger sister who grew up with more access to this technology than I did, and I can barely get her to have a 20 minute conversation with me because she can't stop looking at her phone every 5 seconds. This drives me crazy, and will surely impact her ability to get a real job someday. Even students who are home-schooled tend to meet at physical locations for P.E. or other social activities, because of the importance of socialization.
Therefore, I don't think that education should move towards these open high schools in this format, where the teacher is not in the same room as the student. Now, if the students were in the same building as the teacher, and they all had computers and were still doing their work on computers in a paperless setting, but still with the teacher there to help them one-on-one, and with other students there to socialize with -- that would be different. I think having the free and open source software to build curriculum from is wonderful, and more school districts should use it, regardless of whether they are an open school or not. They could save so much money!
My husband is a computer programmer and a huge proponent of open source software (I have heard many tirades on the "evils" of EULAs and big software companies), and the open source software community can definitely benefit the education field, both in the creative programs it can contribute (if a teacher needs a feature in a program, they can just mention they need it in a forum, and I bet someone can add it) and in the money that can be saved by using open source software.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
How Much Should We Focus on Technology in the Classroom?
There is a strong view that today's children are so plugged in to the digital age that they have trouble connecting in school without the use of technology to keep their interest. I was amazed to read that the graduating class of 2011 had the lowest SAT scores in reading in history. This is truly a problem. There is obviously an issue with today's youth in that they are so used to interacting with each other via computer, phone, etc., and receiving their information via the same means. I also read that a study showed that only 2% of students surveyed admitted using a book to do research for research projects -- presumably meaning they use the internet for their research.
There are so many points that could be covered on this topic, but the main one I want to discuss is that I am not sure I agree that teachers need to focus so much on integrating technology into the classroom in order to allow students to achieve. Yes, I think technology should be introduced judiciously in order to gain student's attention and in the appropriate places, but it is also important for students to regain those skills in reading that they have so clearly lost based on their SAT scores. For instance, going back to the research paper example -- by doing research via search engines, when you plug a term into a search engine, you are typically taken to the answer you need directly. You lose the opportunity to find ancillary information that may become relevant to your paper or make it better that you would have if you had to dig through books to find the information you needed.
We have been reading a book in my grade level Professional Learning Community called Focus by Mike Schmoker that discusses getting back to the basics in class and cutting out all the technology and getting back to just the reading and writing -- "finding simplicity in the Age of Distraction." (a free version is available for download on Schmoker's website here http://zenhabits.net/focus-book/). He talks about classrooms around the country that have gone back to a formulaic teaching pattern, using simple technology such as overhead projectors, that have raised their teaching scores tremendously.
All that said, I think technology has its place. I can see using a smart board to get kids' interest in my third grade classroom. But I can also see going too far and having the technology distract them from what they are supposed to be learning (they are easily distracted). When it comes to using social media, such as the high schoolers using Facebook, you have to walk a very fine line. Most school districts have social network sites blocked (for a good reason) so it would be hard to have students use them as in class tools.
Technology is wonderful for communication purposes. I love being able to email weekly newsletters to those parents with email access, although that is only about half of the parents. It is great to shoot off a quick email to parents at the end of the day. We have a class website where I upload the newsletter and update a class calendar. I can put parent information or other pertinent class information.
Overall, I think technology should be used sparingly in the classroom, and used in the appropriate manner.
There are so many points that could be covered on this topic, but the main one I want to discuss is that I am not sure I agree that teachers need to focus so much on integrating technology into the classroom in order to allow students to achieve. Yes, I think technology should be introduced judiciously in order to gain student's attention and in the appropriate places, but it is also important for students to regain those skills in reading that they have so clearly lost based on their SAT scores. For instance, going back to the research paper example -- by doing research via search engines, when you plug a term into a search engine, you are typically taken to the answer you need directly. You lose the opportunity to find ancillary information that may become relevant to your paper or make it better that you would have if you had to dig through books to find the information you needed.
We have been reading a book in my grade level Professional Learning Community called Focus by Mike Schmoker that discusses getting back to the basics in class and cutting out all the technology and getting back to just the reading and writing -- "finding simplicity in the Age of Distraction." (a free version is available for download on Schmoker's website here http://zenhabits.net/focus-book/). He talks about classrooms around the country that have gone back to a formulaic teaching pattern, using simple technology such as overhead projectors, that have raised their teaching scores tremendously.
All that said, I think technology has its place. I can see using a smart board to get kids' interest in my third grade classroom. But I can also see going too far and having the technology distract them from what they are supposed to be learning (they are easily distracted). When it comes to using social media, such as the high schoolers using Facebook, you have to walk a very fine line. Most school districts have social network sites blocked (for a good reason) so it would be hard to have students use them as in class tools.
Technology is wonderful for communication purposes. I love being able to email weekly newsletters to those parents with email access, although that is only about half of the parents. It is great to shoot off a quick email to parents at the end of the day. We have a class website where I upload the newsletter and update a class calendar. I can put parent information or other pertinent class information.
Overall, I think technology should be used sparingly in the classroom, and used in the appropriate manner.
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