tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post1934212565693084074..comments2024-02-16T08:32:46.618+00:00Comments on Donald Clark Plan B: Hedge your BETTs – the 7 paradoxes of technology in educationDonald Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00796341486328270474noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post-13914395462168684012010-01-20T15:10:41.825+00:002010-01-20T15:10:41.825+00:00There was an Open Source Village so if there is lo...There was an Open Source Village so if there is local purchasing this might help. My impression is that Windows is locked in at a high level.<br /><br />Will Learning Technologies be much different? should the training department just let people go home to browse the web?<br /><br />Why not combine the two shows? BETT is drifitng into Olympia 2. Is the learning theory very different for schools and/or adults?will789gbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15235107715610126666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post-91503824585831772382010-01-20T10:50:45.274+00:002010-01-20T10:50:45.274+00:00Bob - this obsession with screens behind teachers ...Bob - this obsession with screens behind teachers is weird. Coffield has shown that the impact of this technology is miserly given the investment. I've become quite simplistic in my old age believing that that focused, well designed content with lots of formal assessment does the job - one on one with the student. I've got my kids through maths, and the three sciences in a school by feeding them content in this way, as the teachers don't believe in homework. I'm pretty sure they'll get straight As/A+s. BBC Bitesize, SAMlearning, MyMaths etc. do the job, weak though they all are. Imagine what we could do with worldclass educational content.Donald Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00796341486328270474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post-20314862380206782012010-01-20T10:42:41.034+00:002010-01-20T10:42:41.034+00:00Alex - I agree with almost all that you say here. ...Alex - I agree with almost all that you say here. My points revolve around the idea that schools, as currently structured and funded, are essentially clusters of classrooms built around teachers. This is a round hole for the square peg of technology. I'm certainly not in favour of free-wheeling, feral learning. In fact, I'd prefer a more structured approach with less fanciful 'teaching methods' and more focused 'learning'.<br /><br />I do, however, think that teaching (not teachers) in their current role, are a problem. For example, I disagree that teachers are under great scrutiny. OFSTED is light touch, teachers know when they are due to arrive, and a huge amount of preparation goes into 'cheating' the system. In any case these inspections are not frequent. Teachers have also fought appraisals for years - something that was normalised in other professions decades ago. The fact that so few teachers ever get dismissed for poor teaching shows that scrutiny is ineffective.<br /><br />I certainly don't want to do away with teachers and don't see this as an either/or debate. What I do believe, is that teaching NEEDS to be supplemented by autonomous learning, and that is best served by technology. My kids attend a state school where 'homework' is pretty rare. The teachers have largely given up on the idea of students working on their own at home. The middle class parents, provide that homework themselves and hire tutors, while the rest suffer badly (we had a dramatic drop in our GCSE results last year). This is what happens when teachers are allowed to 'do it for themselves' without any scrutiny.Donald Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00796341486328270474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post-42123039098750237762010-01-20T10:25:03.324+00:002010-01-20T10:25:03.324+00:00I share many of your feelings about BETT. But I do...I share many of your feelings about BETT. But I don't find the 'Another Brick in the Wall' philosophy entirely convincing. <br /><br />Our legal system indicates that children need to be guided and taught, that they aren't able to tell the difference between what they want and what they need. If that's true, and I think it is, children are going to need some control over what they learn. I'm all for an education system that leads these young people to be autonomous and self directing, but that needs teaching too.<br /><br />Some children want to escape from school - not the majority in my experience, and that includes some pretty challenging environments. Some children also want to escape parental control but no-one would suggest a feral existence as a response to that. Even with our badly structured school system the majority of children enjoy school.<br /><br />Perhaps you are overstating your argument to better make your case. I think there are very real dangers in implying that teachers are the problem. I hope you don't really believe that large numbers of teachers think technology is a bad thing. I think you're wrong. I know that if you work with schools you most certainly will know that teachers are very highly scrutinised. Most of them welcome the opportunity to develop their practice. Your arguments seem to be an encouragement to those who'd do away with teachers and replace them with a computer-moderated monadic education system. I'm sure this isn't what you intend.Alex Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052509459608113801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post-52257130116641850002010-01-16T11:39:44.647+00:002010-01-16T11:39:44.647+00:00Thoughtful, if mournful, post Donald. Made me refe...Thoughtful, if mournful, post Donald. Made me refer back to my <a href="http://larsislearning.blogspot.com/2008/11/black-swans-barriers-to-effective.html" rel="nofollow">Black Swan</a> article of November 2008 where I optimistically suggested that an educational "black swan" event is needed to effect real change. Still not happened but...I guess with the radical cuts in HE funding, graduates seriously questioning the value of their qualifications (and the debt incurred in the process), students at school free to communicated with anyone, anywhere, anytime through their mobile devices, then surely many of the ancient pillars that prop up our education systems will crumble, and we will tumble into a chaotic transition towards a new self organising world where the responsibility for learning is genuinely personal, fluid, adaptable and crucially builds on genuine self-motivation. <br /><br />No pain, no gain.Lars Hylandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14863947707581345099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post-72594322220542339922010-01-15T17:08:39.713+00:002010-01-15T17:08:39.713+00:00Hey Up Donald and Seb, just on the way back from B...Hey Up Donald and Seb, just on the way back from BETT and still bewildered at the dominance of projection technologies and "interactive"(sic)boards.<br /><br />It is a technology push trade show and costs a fortune to exhibit. <br /><br />Olympia is many years past its best!<br /><br />Spent most of my time in seminar programme which was dull with DCSF and NCL speakers not turning up!! and no technology being used other than powerpoint.<br /><br />The total cost of BETT(time,travel,hotels etc) is phenomenal and would be better spent elsewhere.<br />Emap and Besa must be laughing all the way to the bank(LLoyds or RBS?)Bob Harrisonhttp://www.setuk.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post-67116784072655412412010-01-15T14:42:48.895+00:002010-01-15T14:42:48.895+00:00Good observations. It is as if the internet doesn&...Good observations. It is as if the internet doesn't exist at all and the RM people in purple shirts were doing exactly what you described as were others.Donald Clarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00796341486328270474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21077063.post-82228039200105901692010-01-15T14:13:18.799+00:002010-01-15T14:13:18.799+00:00Donald,
I spent a few hours at BETT on Wednesday....Donald,<br /><br />I spent a few hours at BETT on Wednesday. The main thing that seems to have changed since I first went in 1996 or 1997 is that the men with microphones and headphones running sales presentations no longer have pony tails. (That and the "elephant in the room" fact that the Internet now provides a rich environment for learning.) <br /><br />What struck me hard was the way that big vendors are selling stuff designed to be used on a big scale into the small units that are schools; whilst small specialised vendors are trying to hack it in space that has its tone set by the glitzy stands of the big vendors. <br /><br />Meanwhile, in the main (and of course there are exceptions to this), purchasers have relatively little nous about how to decide what will actually work well, and, as you say, even if they did, many purchase decisions are being taken too low down in the value chain, and for a system that is not designed to use technology for learning well in any case.<br /><br />SebSeb Schmollerhttp://fm.schmoller.net/noreply@blogger.com