The Online Learning Freight Train

IT is the return of the Ed Tech Diatribe - missed by millions of peo... um, missed by dozens of people! The blog never went away - I just stopped posting for several months.

There's a freight train coming in educational technology and it's called Online Learning. And it lives in the cloud. Nothing in educational technology has had 1% of the impact this is going to have on learning. I know, I know... blah blah blah. But it's true.

Ed Tech has always had empty promises. It probably began with the overhead or the film strip or film projector. The overhead probably held education back for 30 years because it promoted the idea of "I'll talk, you sit and shaddup" mentality, or the more politically correct label "Sage on the stage." Film strips and films were good additions but the quality of the content was often poor - some old guy talking about the key land features of blah blah blah. Might as well just do a slideshow and let the teacher read the script.

The classroom computer came along and changed very little. The lab came along and changed very little, too. Evidence? Take the average 5th grade class and look at technology usage. Maybe they go "to the lab" to "do technology" once a week. The average classroom computer is used by students when they are "done with their work." Some teachers use online content like Study Island which is not necessarily bad, but often has nothing to do with what the class is currently studying.

But in secondary, online classes have moved from the college level to the high school level, and students are taking them and succeeding. And doing at least as well. The politicians and the public like results. Once it's out there that online classes can get better results, the push will be huge. I expect to see labs in our schools similar to college, where you have a staff member there for questions and students come in and work on whatever class they're taking online.

The average teacher has no idea this is coming. Many students are going to prefer to take their classes online. Research shows that the best class is a blended one, so innovative teachers are starting to use Moodle or other online tools to teach in blended fashion. Which is good, because 20 years from now there will be two kinds of courses - online, and blended. The sage on the stage will be gone. Traditional textbooks will be gone.

But those online courses had better be damn good. The best online course is a fantastic experience for kids. The worst is just as bad as the worst sage on the stage. We still have a lot to learn about online learning. So if you're in ed tech, and you haven't started learning about online learning, today is a good day to start.

Coaching Older Teachers

What do we do with the teacher who doesn't want a laptop and a video projector?

We can take those items and give them to someone who will actually use them, if we're short on those things, I guess. That seems to be the standard response. It's also known as cutting your losses. It's a sad reality but it's reality.

But what if all the teachers already have a laptop and video projector? Then it becomes the teacher essentially saying "I don't want to learn anything new, I'm not doing this" and the coach saying "OK."

Well... that's not good.

But how do you get them interested? You can't force them, unless you've got hire/fire ability.

The answer is to know them. Know what they like and don't like. What is a problem for them? Find some really cool way to use that laptop and projector that will appeal to them, specifically, and share it with them. Help them set it up. If they refuse, set it up for them. Get them hooked on that one thing. It's a baby step, but it's a step at least. They might not get any farther, but it won't be from lack of coaching.

And of course talk to the Principal and get an edict passed down that all teachers have to have a laptop and a projector.

Something Educational

This is an education blog so I'm supposed to blog about something educational. But I'm on mini-vacation.

After school/work today, we packed the kids in the mini-van and drove to Orlando. Stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. BAD thunderstorm. By the time we got to the hotel at Universal, the rain was gone. Right now my family is upstairs getting ready for bed. Me, I'm sitting in the bar downstairs drinking WATER (God forbid I post anything that will COST me my JOB). Yeah, that's it... water. Prove otherwise. Anyway, I'm blogging and thinking about tomorrow.

Love the breakfast buffet. Oh, culinary snobs can snob all over the place, snob all they want - I love breakfast. And I love not waiting. And I love picking exactly what I want. At a good hotel, like this one, the breakfast buffet is pretty good.

Then we do both parks tomorrow, then crash at the hotel, get up Sunday, do whatever we didn't get done at the parks, back to the hotel, get in car, drive home, face a new week. Well, actually, I have a gig Sunday night so it will be a tad crazy. But a fitting end to a mini-vacation/getaway.

Is it a bad idea to recharge your batteries three weeks after the school year starts? You bet!

So much for blogging something educational. Wattdayawant? I'm on vacation!