Technology In Education Online

I’m sitting at the Technology Showcase here in Atlantic City watching the excitement people have shown learning about how using a Moodle and Joomla in their school can open up new opportunities.  The major complaint I’ve heard from people is how restrictive their school districts are when it comes to allowing Web 2.0 tools.

We have to move away from this idea.  Students are leaving us behind when it comes to this technology.  My question is where is the evidence to show that allowing students access to these tools is detrimental?  Instead of restricting students, we should be teaching students how to use these tools responsibly. 

Another thought is how much is this related to not really knowing what all of this about.  Sometimes when people don’t know their first tendency is to lock everything down.  Don’t they understand that it really is OK not knowing everything. In this day and age how can anyone expect to know all of this?

Finally, I think in some instances it really is about power and control. If I dictate what is allowed and what isn’t allowed I am in a very powerful position. This is sometimes the unspoken word behind the reason we become so restrictive. Information is power.

Somehow we must find ways to reach administrators and technology coordinators to break down these barriers.  There needs to be a reeducation of decision makers and a grass-roots effort by educators to change this attitude towards Web 2.0 tools. Those that restrict these tools are missing out on a great opportunity to create a more constructivist approach to education.

OK, here is my frustration…I ‘ve been presenting at conferences on a regular basis for the past couple of years. I’ve setup my website and Moodle. Since setting up my Moodle I’ve had people register from all around the world.  I’ve set up discussion forums, encouraged people to participate, share their ideas, ask questions, etc. The results? Not much participation. So the question becomes (OK, this is where the pity party comes in): How much energy do I put into creating my website and Moodle if I’m having to guess what educators’ needs are? Or, what they would like to see on both sites. I know people are busy with their lives, but I think we need to encourage ourselves, as educators, as much as we encourage our students, to be active participants in our own learning.  If we remain passive receptors of information, how does this encourage learning?  So if there is anyone out there that has some suggestions, I’m listening!

We need to look beyond the factor of what looks good.  Some administrators too often can’t look beyond what appears to be technology integration. What do I mean? Comparing what “we” have with what others have doesn’t equate to being more technologically innovative. Nor does what others have versus what “we” have equate to them being so far ahead of us.  Are we worried about appearance more than content?It becomes a fashion show of hardware. School districts purchase equipment and once it is placed in the classroom it just sits there. Why? Teachers are never trained on how best to use the technology.  Comments such as, “I have five computers in my classroom and twenty-five students. How can I possibly use them?”  Most times these computers wind up being used as a “reward” for students that complete their work quickly.  Or the clamor for interactive white boards and projector units are heard to be a necessary piece of equipment. And what do they wind up being? An expensive overhead projector and transparency unit.

How do you avoid this way of bringing technology into the school? First step is to make a plan whereby teachers are given the opportunity to learn how best to integrate the technology into their classroom.  This step is usually skipped in order to quickly show-off their new equipment.  To exasperate the problem even further in tight budget times, teachers become frustrated because the money is spent on this equipment at the expense of other things including additional teachers to reduce class Until leadership takes a more proactive role in planning, it is inevitable we will repeat this pattern over and over.  We can never move forward until we break this cycle.

OK, so I maybe a little late to the revolution but I’ve got the religion now! Open source is my new found call to arms!  The latest- Joomla!  A great open source resource used to create a website.  In looking at a collaborative approach to web development I looked at several options – Joomla!, Drupal, DotNetNuke, and Mambo.  I settled on Joomla! after setting up some test sites and running through the various options.

At a recent NJAET executive board meeting I demoed a mock site I set up using Joomla! and people were amazed out the power behind it and what it can do.  With the additional extensions that are available, and the ease that they install, I’m convinced that utilizing a CMS is the best solution.  My goal to find ways for educators to collaborate and not work in isolation.  The great thing about Joomla! is that no one needs to be the sole source of disseminating information.  You now have the option to assign a variety of roles to individuals. You can have users, authors, publishers, administrators, etc. all contributing to creating an active website. For those that like to be in charge it means giving up a little bit of the power to allow others to participate. So all of you control freaks out there take a deep breath and plunge right in. You’ll find it all works out for the better in the long run.

As time moves along I find myself moving away from the mega software publishers to open source solutions.  The great thing also is there is a whole new industry out there of people developing additions to these great open source software solutions.  Some of the additional extensions are commercial products. But I’m more open to spending a little to support these developers than continued to feed those hungry giants out there.  So if you’ve been contemplating a transformation of your website, take a look at one of these open source CMS programs.