Techlearning blog

Agreed. Unfortunately so many schools are married to a package that someone jumped on 5-10 years ago. As you stated so clearly, the vision behind and assessment of tools, like teacher web pages, does not exist.

We seem to be "pot committed" and unable to see that cutting losses will be better for everyone in the long run.

Good article.

I always enjoy reading your thoughts.....and again, you have done quite well.

Towards the end of your post you said "get an expectation that having a digital component to student learning is absolutely necessary" which is completely setting my thoughts into overload!! If that becomes our norm, our daily expectation, and we teach everyday with that idea in our mind -- think of what we could do!!! Think of what our students WILL do!!

You make us think, David, and I appreciate that. But more importantly, you help us grow -- and for that, you need to be applauded.

Good article. Thank you for sharing.

Totally agree. I've seen way too many of those rarely updated teacher web pages. You say schools should "Get an approachable and usable tool." Would you mind posting a few examples of what you have in mind? Thanks!

Jen: I think that a digital component to a class is absolutely critical. Notice I didn't say Web page. There are lots of tools for creating an online presence for a class besides creating a Web page with HTML, as you know. So to address the next comment:

Pam: I would suggest a Content Management System (CMS)- sometimes called a Learning Management System (LMS). Moodle is an example of that-and it contains many of the requisite tools required to establish a Web presence that focuses on learning, and not just productivity alone. I'm interested in maximum use of technology, and putting technology in the hands of students. So, how is that done? I'd do it with an interface that provides low barriers to entry, a collection of tools in one place, and the potential for teachers to grow and apply the tool (CMS) in more sophisticated ways. It does not mean, in my opinion, expecting teachers to use many different tools, scattered across the Web, all with different learning curves.

Hi David,
Your post brought back many memories of Hypercard. It was that application that initiated my educational technology journey within Australia and also overseas.
Your observations regarding HyperCard take-up and web publishing take-up are spot on.
I actually think the Wordpress blogging tool is actually not a bad way to get teachers started with online pub lishing. The fact that users of Wordpress can also easily create static web pages and set a static page as the start point for the Wordpress site is quite useful.
Recently WebNode was launched and this package allows users to easily create a web site from within a browser. There are issues with content ownership however. http://www.webnode.com/en/
Both these solutions eliminate the need to know coding, ftp and remote file management. Teachers would still need to learn about image and media file processing of course. That would be a challenge in itself.
Cheers,
John Larkin

This is a helpful post. You've helped to draw some of my own scattered thoughts together. I particularly like the practical and doable suggestion at the end of the post.

These are such exciting time that it's easy to overwhelm with all that we want to suggest and share. There is wisdom in narrowing the focus and sharing a single effective tool for starters.

John: I think a blog can be part of the solution, but then again, I'll say that its not only about a teacher presence, but it should be about a course presence. I'm interested in putting students in contact with the technology, and using the various tools as platforms for learning. Blogs, while easy to publish with, do not provide the suite of tools I think are required to effectively build the learning experiences students need. I think it has to be more than a blog...

Paul: All this needs to be manageable on many levels, and that applies to all aspects of the school community (teachers, admins, students, and parents). What do you want to accomplish? That's the question. For me, it's technology in the hands of kids within a solid lesson design. Focus on the lesson design and the assessment of the students, and not expend all the energy on the tool just to get something online.

David, I would concur with John. Blogs are arguably the easiest way for teachers to get stuff on the Web, along with wikis. WordPress and TypePad both support static pages - this would get most teachers a long, long way. Over time you can teach them how to get fancier with their blogs (e.g., embed YouTube, Animoto, VoiceThread, or whatever), which would then be a jumping off point for those interested in going deeper. I understand your point about a more full-fledged learning management system, content management system, or even more of a parent portal-like thing, but hey, we gotta start somewhere and blogs give you an awful lot of functionality for the low cost and low learning curve. I do agree that there's absolutely no reason for most teachers to learn HTML. Ever.

Scott: I understand getting out there and getting started. What I'm interested in is sustainability, and in my experience, if I can offer a technology solution that solves an instructional issue and adds value, then I have a good start towards that. In my opinion, blogs can get you started but eventually you'll have to use additional tools, so now you've added some barriers for implementation. It just strikes me that using a blog is very teacher-based, with limited tools available for student learning (certainly an exception is the blog use of Darren Kuropatwa). Again, I'm talking about a course presence here, versus a teacher Web page. In my mind, it's different. If all you are interested in is a teacher presence, I would agree that a blog would be fine. In my role as IT Coordinator, I have to implement systems that have low barriers and the potential for high return relative to student learning. I'm not sure a blog gets that done if looking for a course presence that is suitable across an organization, and delivers a suite of tools/capability that can be utilized by all.

I may be completely wrong on this. Not the first time...

Hey David... Good stuff as usual. Your post hits a personal nerve of mine because it falls back on how badly "professional development" is done with teachers.

Professional development needs to happen when, where and on what a teacher needs specific to their particular needs.

We offer class after class outside the context of when teachers need it. I don't care what is being taught, this is bad practice.

Learning how to create a web page with HTML, Dreamweaver or some other package is good if the teacher has a particular desire, interest and need to improve learning in their classrooms through a static web page. Perhaps a teacher is awe struck with the idea of creating a webquest from scratch. Help them get their because they have a desire!

The question shouldn't be what tool to start people on. The question should be, what do you want to improve, do better, or get on board with?

Teachers don't jump on board with technology because we force them to learn something through mandatory professional development. They jump on board because they see benefit to using the technology.

School districts that have tech savvy administration are generally more successful with using technology because the administrators model the use and teachers learn that the technology is beneficial.

You talk about how schools don't make using technology mission critical and I completely agree. Jeff Utecht wrote once about having time for teachers to experiment with technology. We don't provide them with that time. We don't really give very good incentives to use technology.

I find it fascinating that our school has 3 custodians dedicated to cleaning and maintaing the building and not a single person dedicated to cleaning and maintaining the schools computers.

Why do public companies have such a bigger ratio of tech positions that focus on training, troubleshooting, and maintenance than public schools? It is more than money!

Every school district needs to create several positions with the responsibility of working with teachers and classes to help them use technology more efficiently. The position requires a lot of technical skills but also a heavy background in curriculum development. This position needs to be part of the planning process from creation to completion and grading. I know your not a fan of the title Integration Specialist so call it what you want.

David's comments all ring very true, but I would add one more: Does anyone bother looking at teacher web pages? Last year I created a site for my 5th grade special education class. I updated it every week, included links for parents about trips and activities they might enjoy that related to our curriculum, and embedded interactive content to help students review each week's lessons. But no matter how often I mentioned the site, almost none of my students or their parents bothered visiting it on a regular basis. I continued to maintain the site, since I figured if it was helping even one or two students, that was still worth my time, but it was very discouraging. This year I am teaching 2nd grade, and my students are just beginning to read, so I have not had as much incentive to maintain the site. Does anyone else have this problem? I considered putting a counter on the site so I would have better data on usage, but instead I just sent home a survey. Only one parent responded.

I retired from the Marine Corps about 5 years ago and have been teaching since. I was appalled at how far behind the education system is in the use of computers and technology in general. Teachers are laggards when it comes to the use of technology and I believe the education system in general fails to realize the cost saving associated with technology, you know like digitizing forms, transcripts or heaven forbid posting grades online. You hit the nail right on the head with the use of wikis and bloggs. I use them with my kids as much as possible, but the teachers refuse to learn them. The LSM is a great idea and one I am working on now. This is not rocket science, hell I am 50 years old and if I can figure it out anybody can!

Your post is sad, but true. I built my first teacher website over ten years ago and then spent many years since offering web design workshops for other teachers. While some teacher’s sites took off, too many others ended up as neglected orphans.

Now I’m excited about print on demand publications that help teachers and students write for an authentic audience. Much more fun - books have a retro appeal in the digital era.

I agree with not trying to get teachers to be web programmers, but my district has actually come up with a good solution to the issues that you presented.

We use a content management system (CMS) for web page design. At first, I was frusterated being a computer science guy, due to the lack of "creativity" that was NOT allowed by the pre-designed boxes and skins on the web pages. However, in the past 2 years, this simple design has not only allowed me to post a ton of instructional material for my students to use, it has also allowed many teachers to use their web site who would otherwise not be using one at all. The only current issue for me is that when I make a change to the site, I have to wait for someone in the tech dept. to approve and post it to the web for me. They are generally quick about it (updates several times per day), but it would be nice to have real-time updating.

I highly reccomend this type of system for districts looking to simplify the teacher web site issue.

Here' a 'low-tech' solution: Forget programs/apps for webpage building and design. If you can create a document in MS Word, you can create a webpage (simply save as a 'web page' from the dropdown menu). Depending on your school's intranet, you can save the document to your folder and 'voila'! it appears on the school's website.

Yes, consistency would be nice, but our teachers are as diverse as our students.

Schools generally don't have the tech support that business has simply because schools are not businesses, and the business model doesn't work for schools. If a business had to exist with our financial reality, at least the one in California, the smart thing for them to do would be to simply close up shop. We do not have the financial resourses to get top notch tech people, so we do the best we can with what we have. Those of us who have an interest in technology use within the learning enviorment, at any grade level, use it. Those who don't aren't likely to. It is absurd to imply that technology is the answer to educational issues. The most important piece of technology in the classroom is the teacher. Without excellent teaching, no combination of technology, techno tools, administrative support, or money will improve education.

As one of those folks who worked on embedding HyperCard-created lessons, then HyperStudio-created lessons and activities, then WebStudio-created pages, and so on.... I agree that the use of software applications outside the typical classroom routine to create learning environments is a "no-win" task due to the time and effort involved. In addition to blogs and CMS/LMS solutions which still have some of the same non-connected characteristics as the earlier applications to typical classroom work, consider the use of portal technology. Our students and teachers are presented with their personal portal page upon log-in. This "page" connects to our student information system for classes and schedules, to our assessment system for grades and attendance and contains lesson activities that teachers create from their own resources or leverage from connections to our curriculum planning systems. These activities can be posted to an entire class, grade level, or to an individual student as the teacher determines. Class email, discussion study groups, and in the next few months, built-in blogs and wikis, allow the students and teachers to be fully engaged in the work of the day in a digital sense. And, of course, this interface is also the exact same interface students and teachers receive when they connect to the network from home, libraries, coffee shops and friends' houses.

When the technology is truly embedded in the learning environment, teachers do contribute readily to content and activity creation and collaboration and students reap the benefits of having a personalized digital environment that supports individual and group work - just the way they learn outside of school.

We ended up going to Australia to find a company whose product supported our digital vision - www.editure.com

I am going to venture a step further and suggest that most teachers "courses" in a CMS are no more than a webpage. Teachers put handouts, notes or links into their CMS "course" and they believe they are using a blended learning model. In effect they have created a password protected webpage. I agree that "course presence must be much larger in scope" and I am concerned that in 10 years we will be writing the same thing about CMS in the traditional classroom.

Good to finally hear David and others address technology staff development. I think what most people forget is that schools were primarily created to develop youth not faculty. Having been a teacher for 40 years I do know the value teachers play in the education process but much of my professional life is now spent preparing students to support teachers and peers in utilizing technology in powerful, constructivist learning environments. The schools and districts that I see best using webpages are those that have rules that only students can post to any district webpage. If a teacher or administrator wants something posted on a site they have to go through a student certified to post.

I guess it boils down to whether you want a school where teachers produce things or students produce things. Also remember that students make up about 92% of a school's population. Even if they had equal technology skills to the remaining 8% (adults) they would have 92% of all the tech expertise in the district. Until schools stop wasting this expertise and start nurturing it, not much will change.

What a great post. It reminded me of when I first went to blogging workshops and came back to my district jazzed. I created this awesome training blog with which all of my teachers could get involved. It was a blog that could get timely information to them in a quick and productive way... So I put the whole weekend into building the first 4 or 5 posts to make a good look and feel. I had the pump primed, went into school...

only to find out that my own district blocked blogs.

How many of our reformative endeavors become lost chunks of our lives floating off into the ethernet? I went back to email.

I agree with you, you provides a great info, what a great post

Ah, David, you've done it again: Given us food for thought and slapped us upside the virtual heads. We need discussion about this, and we need examples of not just moderately but _highly_ successful ways to charge teachers with connecting. Yes, I realize I'm highly _overconnected_, but its always been my goal to help teachers connect, and my track record, like that of most of us, is just short of dismal. We've tried Adobe Contribute, outsourcing to GIMnet, and using wikis and blogs (not blocked at our school) but nothing's really clicking. Teacher pages are stagnant and dated and one grade level page actually had the wrong teacher in the welcome page picture for months without it being noticed.

This begs another question: are parents really up to migrating to online communication? Our school newsletter went completely eNews this year, but there's growing concern communication isn't really communicating. I'm sure there'll be a committee formed to research that...Sigh...

Thanks for your insights, as always. You're de best...

Good morning,
I like to start by saying that I am not a teacher. I am a tech. From some of the comments that I have read, The district I work for is very fortunate when it comes to technology. We have a leader in our superintendent who is very tech savy and works very hard to make sure the staff gets the hardware and software they need (as well as a lot of training) to integrate technology into the curriculum. As far as teachers creating web pages, as someone stated before, it is quite simple to do with office 2003 or even older versions. Granted, there would be no consistent look to the web site but a template can be provided to achieve this goal. There are many solutions, like school center, which make the process as simple as filling out a form. The district maintains the professional look of their web presence and students get the benefit of being able to go to their teacher pages to gain access to the lessons and resources made available online. you could even use free online tools to publish content. There is absolutely NO NEED for a teacher to learn to be progammers just to publish or maintain a web page.