This look back on 2005 by the folks at e-School News is worth a look over...and maybe a bit of debate, considering where you sit in the educational spectrum. Some of it is pretty obvious and relevant to the day-to-day. Some of it is less accessible to the average student or teacher or parent, but still very much at play in the larger world of technology and education. And perhaps some of it is...well...heady, techno-specific, and left to others to debate. Here's the list:
10. Schools seek legal alternatives to peer-to-peer file sharing.
Probably relevant to universities, rather than K-12. Probably more of a bandwidth-usage issue than a moral issue, if you get down to it, although the legal pressures post-secondary institutions are facing certainly bring morality into the mix.
9. Soaring energy costs fuel the use of 'smart' technologies in schools.
No doubt a rising set of issues in the world of school design and maintenance, whether you're looking to be innovative on the front-end of master planning or looking to deal with life cycle costs in an innovative manner. The "high performance school" advocates will be very pleased to see this on the list, as will the LEED fans.
8. Expansion of federal wiretapping law could siphon billions from schools.
Truth be told, I felt like I was watching a Fox news promo. Fear. Wiretapping. Siphon precious school funds. Your kids could be on the street. But, needed to let go of whatever assumptions might have been there and look more closely at their reasoning. Here's what I found: Essentially, any K-12 or higher ed institution that uses IP computer networks to transmit voice communications are facing the heavy task of restructuring their networks to allow federal wiretaps. And this means money. Okay, I get it.
7. Data theft plagues school IT networks.
In March, 120,000 alumni of Boston College were warned that personal information might have been stolen through hackers, including addresses and social secuity #'s. Soon after, officials at the Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, learned of hackers carrying off with records from thousands of international students. And not too long ago, 59,000 individuals had similar info stolen from a computer at California State. Needless to say, since schools -- not just universities, either -- are key resevoirs for much of our identity info in this country, I am not surprised that this made the list. I sense that identity theft will continue to be an issue, as well as the use of ID badges and 'tagging' for kids in K-12 schools, and all the many arguments for and against that will follow.
6. Indiana paces school Linux use.
Any Microsoft fans out there? Worth keeping an eye on. Anyone who is in no way, shape or form a 'software code' kind of person and wonders what all the hype is? Well, understand it or not, get good and friendly with Linux, and not just how to handle it at the next spelling bee. It brings together the camps of financing, security, and administrative data management all into one dance...and needless to say, it will have an impact on the future of how schools manage themselves. Semantic web design is the next phrase, but one thing at a time so learn about Linux first, and then move on deeper into the matrix. But don't forget...it was the state of Indiana that got public education there first. Go Hoosiers!
5. Amid controversy, Google shelves its ambitious book-scanning project.
Content and information is the big game in education, whether you are a publisher, librarian, teacher, kid, or theorist...because at the end of the day if all information and content becomes a) available, b) downloadedable, and c) free or nearly free, then the entire 'arrangement' of being a student in school changes, and school's relationship with information changes, and teachers must re-frame their role, and frankly the 'future of learning' is a new ball of worms or snakes or cats or whatever you wish to call it. But this is about Google. And since Google plans on organizing all the world's info into one single database, even if they don't say that, then it's interesting to see them back off. Microsoft wouldn't have. But then again, Google is prone to actually want to partner and collaborate, so I guess it's par for their cultural course. But keep an eye on this. It's just a matter of time when we'll no longer be asking 'how much' when it comes to content and info.
4. Globalization drives U.S. school reform efforts.
Here it comes. Seriously. 3. 2. 1. "Flat world" referencers...here's your chance. Thomas Friedman fanatics...time to jump up and down once again. 21st century work force advocates...go, go, go get 'em! China. India. Walmart. You name it -- it's flat and global and part of the matrix. The way I see it is pretty simple. The future of work (and thinking) will depend more and more on 'how you think' than 'what you know'. Call it what you will. Thomas-Friedman-up-and-down all night long all you want. Bio-ethic-transference-processor-consultant job titles until the sun comes down. Semantics and book-of-the-month-club fanatics aside, teach your kids 'how to think' first. Let the future help them decide how to apply that skill. And get good and cozy with 'boundaries' of all shapes and sizes disappearing at the same rate that humans across the globe look for teams, sides, and territories to occupy for good and bad.
3. $100 laptop, if successful, could revolutionize school computing.
First, let's take off the kid gloves here. "...if successful" -- take a stand. "...could revolutionize..." -- again, stand up and have an opinion. Okay, enough of that. Not shocked in the least that MIT's $100 laptop (the 'little green' machine) is in the top-3, although many would argue it's #1 or frankly just a media blitz fad that will fade. But I think e-School News has it's duck in the right rows here. Gov. Romney of Mass. jumped on the bandwagon immediately to 'sign up' the entire state of Mass. to receive these laptops. Only one problem: the original intention was for 3rd world (or developing, to be PC) countries to have access so that their own kids could somehow level the playing field for 'access.' Seems ironic at least that Mass, a state that clearly has its eyes on education as well as any of its peers, would try to stretch the digital divide even further. But no matter, Negroponte and the rest of the MIT team and their endless partners may have the real deal here. Stay tuned!!!
2. Eighty years after Scopes, science instruction again goes on trial.
Ever read anything about the Scopes trial? A worthy research project...especially in light of what the people at that time, those for and against the issue, those that were at the trial and those who covered it, actually thought it was all about. I think most people would be surprised. History has a funny way of ramping up issues far beyond what they may have been at the time. Poor science class. Between the debate on 'intelligent design' and the constant attack that American kids are the worst of the worst when it comes to international tests in science and a constant reminder that we're not creating enough scientists and researchers to match the rest of the world, someone ought to raise a beaker in support of science labs of all shapes and sizes. And maybe in the process we can begin to shift away from the traditional 'wet lab' and begin to embrace the coming day of 'digital labs' in K-12 schools. But I'll save that for another day.
1. Hurricanes ravage Gulf Coast schools.
Man, talk about a shock. Not because it deserves this attention...but because it's being listed as #1 by an ed-tech group when so many other things could typically grab the spotlight. And after talking with Terry Smithson of Intel on the phone recently, I am convinced that the tech community has quickly seen 'an opportunity' (hopefully for good, and not for marketing purposes) to have an impact of excellence on these truly deserving school communities. Good for e-School News for putting this one at the top. All 'wonders of technology' aside, if a kid has no home, no school, no community, the rest pales in comparison!
If you want to look into this list more closely...and I strongly suggest that you do, especially for e-School News' own commentary and the wide range of links/sources they offer as background...go to these 2 links:
Your thoughts? Your predictions for 2006? Now that would be an interesting place to start talking!
While it is surely debatable whether eSchooNews' choice of the Gulf Coast hurricanes as the top edtech story of 2005 will look off-base or prescient in years to come, I might have framed the story differently. Indeed, in my opinion, among the issues that the devestation shed light on are (a) the role that technology and edtech played and continues to play in education-related relief and recovery efforts, and (b), the ongoing barriers - policy and pragmatic/practical - to the use of technology in K-12 education, even when those edtech solutions are well/best matched to student and teacher needs. The fact that about 372,000 K-12 students were displaced, many across district- and (more significantly) state-lines all at the same time and involuntarily shed significant light onto those policy barriers.
One of the relief efforts mentioned in the eSchoolNews article is vSKOOL (http://www.vskool.org), a philanthropic consortium that we played a lead role in launching and managing. One part of the vSKOOL efforts has been to launch a blog to share news and commentary about the status of K-12 schools and students affected by the hurricanes and to advocate for techology's role in providing relief. The vSKOOL blog (http://www.vskool.org/www/vskoolblog.html) was named a finalist for the 2005 Edublog awards, and folks may be interested in reading some of our posts for additional thoughts.
No doubt, as time passes, stories will emerge of those in the community who see the rebuilding as a terrific sales and marketing opportunity. They will make promises about how technology alone can and will transform Gulf Coast schools. My opinion is that these promises will not and cannot be met in large part - unless and until state and local policies in the region are better coordinated and more open to alternative approaches to meeting the goal of improving student learning.
Unfortunately, it is not out of the realm of possibility that a disaster of this scale will occur again at some point in the future - hurricanes will return; the avian flu will strike; terrorists will succeed in mounting an attack; what have you. We can only hope that our educational system learns how to be more nimble in responding to the needs of its students in these situations in the future.
Posted by: Douglas Levin | January 06, 2006 at 05:42 PM