Somewhere between Old Things in Old Ways and Old Things in New Ways

Found my way to a December 2005 Edutopia article on the evolution of technology in the classroom. Marc Prensky describes the stages of adopting and adapting that must take place if we're going to use technology well and for "educational progress."

From "Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Tech for the Classroom"
1) Dabbling
2) Old Things in Old Ways
3) Old Things in New Ways
4) New Things in New Ways

Where do you fit in?

My outreach program is definitely stuck in Old Things in Old Ways. In fact, due to budget constraints and trying to "model lessons in simple ways that can be recreated by the classroom teacher" I am mostly stuck in the position of "Dabbling".

Evaluating my current program and goals I'd like to see implemented to improve the educational value:

1) Dabbling

I want to try using video to enhance the presentations. I count this in Dabbling and not New Things because without funding for a projector and time to implement video thoroughly in the program, it doesn't feel like much of a commitment.

I have been trying to work on ways to put our pre-lesson materials on our website so teachers can prep their classes for the program and have access to appropriate additional materials, but am being held back by time and access to our site development.

2) Old Things in Old Ways

Scheduling and confirming programs with schools is done through email, and my calendar is on my Google account. These are useful ways to make the job easier, but could also be done with pencil, paper, and a phone. Not really anything innovative.

Pre-Lesson materials are typed and emailed to teachers. Again, nothing innovative. The one nod to technology that exists is that by sending as a pdf, these materials can have embedded html links to additional resources that are easy to use.

3) Old Things in New Ways

The Resources binder is now a CD of pdfs, allowing teachers more flexibility in their use, and easier access, rather than flipping through a 2" or 3" binder.

4) New Things in New Ways

I would love to get a projector and be able to show really cool videos to enhance the presentations that introduce the classes. "When we begin adding digital demonstrations through video and Flash animation, we are giving students new, better ways to get information." (Prensky, 2005). I can stand there and show them a model of the heart, have them draw the flow of blood on the drawing of the heart in front of them, but wouldn't it be better to show them this: "Human Atlas: How the Heart Works" before they do that?

Also, they are required to do a lot of writing for the class that I wish they could do on a computer instead. They need to write their hypothesis, experimental design, data collect, procedure, and data analysis. It's all valuable information, and the practice of writing it is important to the inquiry process. They don't know it, but they're really learning some valuable skills while doing all that writing. However, many of these students struggle so much with the act of writing and spelling that they are unable to focus on the science skills they're learning. There is a value to learning to write, but is this the time and place to practice those skills? If students were able to type their data and procedures, we would spend less time correcting spelling or improperly written numbers, and be able to focus more on the processes they're using for science. They can get their ideas down on the paper more quickly, instead of agonizing over the formation of the letters and words. And editing is easier, as we talk about being sure to get all the steps of the process into the plan and they see they've missed something, we need to decide is it easier to erase everything and start over, or try to squeeze something in and use messy looking arrows to show that this step should have happened before that one? With a computer, they could just insert the necessary information.

I would love to be working in classrooms where students could create their work samples on a computer instead of on paper. And we could save a lot of trees in the process! Some might say this is still an "Old Things in Old Ways", but I see that the educational progress - the students gaining experience, ability to focus on the content and not the writing - brings this out of "Old" and into "New." It creates the 'real world scenario' in their classroom and they get to be part of it.

The debate on learning and using handwriting (printing or cursive) versus teaching students typing earlier and emphasizing it as the medium they're more likely to use outside of school and a skill they will need more often is extensive. Here are just a few places where you can read more about the debate: LiquidLearning.com, eLearning Technology.

Resources:
Prensky, Marc. 2005 "Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Tech for the Classroom" Edutopia.com. Available: http://www.edutopia.org/adopt-and-adapt