Advancing Technology?

When we think of innovation, we often think of technology. A colleague of mine, however, said she believes online learning will move away from feature-full learning management systems like Blackboard  toward a more organic notion of learning with tools like twitter and pbwiki.

It gave me food for thought. If we think about learning in this context, it actually becomes more flexible, but less “organized.” This makes me go back to the need for individualized learning. There are learners out there who succeed and thrive in environments like Blackboard. Others don’t. If we adopted a more open environment, yet a different set of learners would excel and we might leave the current Blackboard learners in the dust.

No answers here, just exploration. We are fortunate to live in a time with choices and innovation and new tools to try every day. Speaking of such, I haven’t logged in to Twitter for over a week now. Better get twittering (or is it tweeting?).

The Space In Between

I recently read The Whole Brain by Daniel Pink. In his book, Pink discusses the role of creativity in the work place and suggests corporations today need creative problem solving expertise on the payroll. He shares stories from large companies that are hiring individuals with MFAs to sit on product development teams and problem-solving committees.

So what are we doing with our children to encourage creativity? I would like to think every child has the opportunity to enjoy the traditional classes considered creative: art classes that include drawing, painting and three-dimensional work; music; and dance. These classes provide acceptable environments for exploration and individual expression (usually).

But what about in math class or language arts? How much individual freedom do we provide our students? And do we encourage them to think creatively?

There has been a push for critical thinking in education, but what about creative thinking? How do you teach creativity? How do we help children to see that there may be an answer to a problem "in between" the two obvious solutions?

I was in my thirties before I started stretching my mind and considering other possibilities in addition to the obvious choices. Having my own children helped a lot. They can be very creative with solutions if you listen. For example, when deciding whether or not to attend a specific function there are the obvious choices--go or don't go. But is there something in between? Could I go for just part of the event? Could someone go for me and report back? It opened a wide range of possibilities when I started to consider the "gray" area between the common black and white solutions we are given in most circumstances.

As we move into a decade where we are searching for many answers to some pretty big problems, the creative solutions that will be required have to come from somewhere. I suggest we look to our children and I suggest we look to our schools to create environments where creative thinking is valued and encouraged.

"The significat problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking with which we created them."

-Albert Einstein (attributed)

Use the comment field to share examples of creative problem-solving or unusual solutions.

Into the Wilderness

I am currently working on a project that entails collaborating with cell phone companies and the unique industry that revolves around this service. I think the cell phone is by and large the technology of choice for people between the ages of 14 and 35 and we need to find innovative and pedagogically helpful ways to incorporate them into the classroom.

This journey into the world of the cell phone industry, however, is not for the light of heart. The industry is young and pricing models, fees, and service levels have not quite settled into predictable and user friendly arrangements.

I suspect, though, that any new industry is going to be fraught with these hurdles AND that these same hurdles can be overcome. Any great advancement has been led by pioneers who are willing to endure sleepless nights, deadline delays, budget overages, and software bugs.

I continue to focus on the end of the journey, one where we have students engaged in classroom activities and enthusiastically using their cell pones as learning tools. Where teachers easily incorporate the tool into the curriculm and find its use advantagous to the learning process. And, where an industry and society accept the device as something that belongs in the classroom, not something to keep in one's locker or pocket.

Hopefully that day is right around the corner. But for today, I am making my way through the wilderness of software development in the world of SMS aggregators, developers, cell phone carriers, and system errors with machete in hand!

User Interface Blues

I spent the last few days immersed in a course management system. It is a good application overall but I was interestingly relieved when I saw interface inconsistencies—made me feel a little less concerned with the perfection of the product I am working on.

I have a great team of developers through ACAP Global working tirelessly to bring about my vision of perfection. The whole process of designing and developing software has been a learning opportunity for me. I have spent most of my adult life teaching people how to use all kinds of software applications from Web 2.0 tools to Adobe Photoshop. The ability to easily adopt a new tool is one indicator of its quality and often the reason for its success. I am therefore attempting to create this attribute in our new product.

Teachers in particular need tools that are easy-to-use and easy-to-learn. I know there are many professionals who are overworked and underpaid, but teachers have to rank near the top. Their jobs never end as they grade papers at night, plan for the next day, or have phone calls with parents. The last thing they want is to have to spend lots of time learning a new technology.

Educational technology is getting a fair amount of press with the stimulus bill. Here’s to easy-to-use, easy-to-learn technology for educators!

Use the comment field to share some of your favorite technology tools.