Google Apps for Education

As I've been thinking more and more about the benefits of having a 1:1 classroom, I have begun exploring possible ways to make this happen.  The first step is identifying the type of equipment I would like to use, then the next is to acquire the funding necessary to purchase the equipment.  Then the largest challenge likely comes once I have the devices - implementing them in a way that enhances learning.

After doing some research, and trying to decide between laptops and tablets, I am going to pursue a classroom set of Google Chromebooks.  These laptops are very cheap due to the Chrome OS, the lack of software, and the use of cloud storage.  Google also has very good support for using these devices in education.  In researching the Chromebooks, I came across Google Apps for Education, which I had heard about but hadn't looked into seriously.  While early in their development, Google Apps seem to have a tremendous amount of potential.  They can provide email, cloud storage, learning management systems, and more for schools and school systems.  I decided to explore getting a Google Apps account, and quickly discovered that Montgomery County Public Schools already has accounts set up for all teachers, although they have yet to make any attempt to implement these tools.  There will be a significant addition to the tools this fall with Google Classroom, and I am eager to see the impact this can make if I am able to use this feature:

Chromebooks taking advantage of Google Apps can't happen without funding, however.  I have explored grant options to secure the necessary funds, and will be pursuing a community grant through the Best Buy Children's Foundation.

Hopefully this will be a successful effort and I can use this technology to improve outcomes for my students and reduce the achievement gap.

One-to-One Computer-to-Student Ratios in Classrooms

The future of education seems to be moving towards more and more use of computers in classrooms, whether this seen through desktop computers, laptop computers, or other mobile devices.  You can see some of where this could eventually end up in a video created by glass company Corning:

Of course, we are a long way from students having the kind of interactive desks seen in this video.  However, if this is the direction in which we are heading, it is useful to find ways in the present to begin embracing the tools we do have that can move us towards our destination.  It is important for educators to develop curricula in which students are working with computers to enhance learning and demonstrate their knowledge.  An occasional trip to the computer lab will not be enough to accomplish this task, or be enough to properly prepare our students for the reality and economy of the 21st century.

What we can do is attempt to move towards a one-to-one student-to-computer ratio in most classes.  This will be challenging for many classrooms, schools, and districts, but technology implementation in education never happens all at once.  We need bold educators who can secure the necessary funding and develop curricula that takes advantage of these technologies to support student learning.

However, neither proposition is easy.  Even when schools have been able to gain the funding necessary to attempt these types of programs, there have been mixed results.  When there are failures, we must learn from them and improve implementation the next time.  As much of a fantasy as Corning's video may be, reality is heading in that direction.  It is up to educators to be prepared and ahead of the curve, rather than constantly playing catch-up in a way that holds back rather than challenges our students.

Here is a sampling of sources that explore the world of one-to-one computing in education:

Education Week Q & A

One-To-One Computing: Lessons Learned, Pitfalls to Avoid

One-to-One Computing and Classroom Management

The Future of Assistive Technology

There has been a dramatic evolution in assistive technology for people with disabilities over the last 100 years, and the pace of change indicates that there will be amazing advances in the coming decades as well.  In education, these developments have open up new possibilities for every type of student, opening up education to those that were formerly considered "unteachable" and leading to technologies that improved education as a whole.

Some of these technologies, once considered revolutionary, we now consider commonplace - hearing aids, braille, and electric wheelchairs come to mind.  These were developed in the first half of the twentieth century, but since 1950 the advances in computer technology have opened up a new world.  Yet, text-to-speech software has existed since the late 1960s (Kurzweil Educational Systems is nearly 20 years old), computers have first started to appear in classrooms more than 30 years ago, and even Smart Boards first debuted in the early 1990s.  Although these tools were adopted at relatively slow rates and varied wildly from school to school and district to district, all of them are relatively commonplace in education today.

Thus, the question facing educators today is how to find and embrace the next wave of technology, both for assistive purposes and for education as a whole.  In the last five years, a combination of processing power (and chip size) and touch screen technology has led to the debuts of products like the SMART Table and iPad.  These seem to be the greatest indicators of where educational technology is going.  One can actually now envision future scenarios where every student desk has built in touch-screen computing, with the ability to send student work to the class SMART Board or Table with the swipe of a finger.

While many of these advances will inevitably lead to flashy usage that lacks depth or purpose, providing little added value, properly trained and supported teachers will be able to make incredible use of these tools.  Struggling readers will be able to plug their headphones into their desks for instant text-to-speech conversion.  Students who need teacher assistance will be able to activate a flashing light on their desktop or ping the teacher's tablet, eliminating the need to keep a hand raised and making it easier for self-conscious students to ask for help.

The possibilities really seem limitless at this point, but teachers (and districts) will need guidance.  Luckily, districts such as Montgomery County (MD) have offices like High Incidence Accessible Technology (HIAT), which support teachers in locating and implementing appropriate technologies to meet students' needs.  The Assistive Technology Specialists in departments like this one will be key players in the way these new technologies shape the future of education, and hopefully other districts will follow this model and teachers will become aware of the existence and benefits of such experts.

Instructional Technology Blog - Week 1 Reflection

Since I already have a classroom blog, I decided to start this blog with a focus on Instructional Technology.  I can use this blog to save or bookmark information about software, hardware, and other tools that I find interesting; share resources with colleagues; and engage in discussions about how to effectively implement technology in the classroom.

Although I have prior experience with blogging, I learned a lot about the possible educational applications blogging offers.  I would like to experiment with having students create their own blogs as a way to turn in and archive work.  In addition, the idea that blogging (as a way to write about what we read and link to things we like) provides students with needed close reading and interpretation skills is important.  This thinking has caused a slight shift for me in how I view blogging.  While I previously looked at it more as a tech-enabled journal, blogs are really capable of so much more.  I look forward to exploring the possibilities.