Source: http://www.sunshinejoy.com/images/Stickers/115366.jpg

Dialogue. It’s the one thing some folks really would rather NOT have. When Jillian Jones wrote the article A New Age in Education, a Napa Valley school district bringing cutting-edge teaching tools into the classroom, did she imagine the reaction?

Jillian wrote:

“How is it that in the United States, where we invented the technology that enables the global workforce in the last 30 years, we are still teaching our children based on teaching techniques developed in the industrial era?” asked Barry Schuler of Napa, former chairman and CEO of America Online. “It is a national embarrassment,” he said. Technology is “basic literacy in the 21st century.” That new vision of basic literacy will soon become a core component in Napa schools.

I can’t disagree with the points Schuler makes above. Technology IS a basic literacy, it SHOULD be a core component of ALL American schools. But the reality is that schools lack the funding to maintain a 1:1 technology initiative in schools, and if they have it, they choose to spend the money on other projects.

Schools SHOULD focus on encouraging students to pursue their passion, but it’s not convenient to do so. It’s easier to run kids through the factory model of education…it just makes better crowd control. Jones goes on to report that:

Particularly in a district where schools like Napa High are already plagued by tech problems, fundraising efforts will be paramount in the expansion of the program.

In reviewing technology programs, it’s so easy to point to them and say, “Look at those kids using technology! Ain’t it great?” and that is the sum of all the “research” that is done. In truth, when you’re preparing kids for a future that is unwritten, where the triumph of a third world country is assured because they’re using technology America’s kids don’t have access to, it’s easy to heighten the fear.

As I reflect on what technology Americans have access to–including internet–I’m astonished that we haven’t done more with what we had. While I truly believe that technology CAN transform teaching, learning and leadership, I think that the conversations that need to be happening just aren’t.

Imagine the chagrin of that school district in Napa, capitalizing on the positive press of “New Tech High Schools”, only to see in the comments below what might be another, less glamorous perspective:

Seriously, people. The school district has routinely failed to manage their technology…they are genuinely incapable. That’s why they use illegal copies of software and can’t ever seem to fix equipment or network issues. Other countries do better than us with only basic technology. I can understand some lab supplies for science classes. Math classes, you only need paper, pencil, and a garbage can. The liberal studies classes don’t even need the garbage can. ”

or

Just do not let the current techology department run this or it will end up just like the current state of NVUSDs technology program. The teachers know the truth. Just ask one. It is very telling when you hire a painter to repair PCs. Overhaul of the technology department should and must be the first priority. Just pull back the curtain and take a look.

When on the one hand an organization reports the positive, but fails to give equal time to the negative, you have to expect the push-back will come. That’s the value in blogs…being able to share half-baked ideas and see what sticks, if anything. It’s about being transparent. So what if yesterday’s entry contradicts today’s…when the world is changing at light-speed, only your commitment to sharing what you’re learning endures. Perhaps, what Education needs is a new age in communication. Perhaps if we start with communication, education will take care of itself?

It’d be nice to think that the advent of blogs will bring this new age about. Tim at Assorted Stuff shares this quote, “What’s important is that the ability for anyone to contribute to the online conversation continues to expand.”

How much transparency is desirable in Education?

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