Thursday, February 5, 2015

Article Review for EDU 6220

November, A. (2013, February 13). Why Schools Must Move Beyond One-to-One Computing | November Learning. Retrieved February 6, 2015, from http://novemberlearning.com/educational-resources-for-educators/teaching-and-learning-articles/why-schools-must-move-beyond-one-to-one-computing/

I chose this article because it basically hit on everything that we were talking about in class this week.  The article starts from a superintendent's point of view as he goes around to surrounding districts to see if his own district is truly ready for 1:1 implementation.  The results he finds are, “Horrible, horrible, horrible implementation from every program I visited. All of them were about the stuff, with a total lack of vision” (November, 2014).  The big idea from this week-VISION!   In most of the districts the superintendent visited, the 1:1 implementation was focused on the tool itself, instead of the desired outcome.  How are we going to push learning in the classroom even further?  What tool can we use to compliment the curriculum that we currently have?  These are the questions that school districts need to be asking, not “What is the newest and greatest tech tool?”  One powerful quote that I pulled from this article is as follows, “Even a corporate high-tech executive observes that too many schools are in “spray and pray” mode with one-to- one computing: “Spray” on the technology, and then “pray” that you get an increase in learning” (November, 2014).  This connects with what Ray had said in class, that so many people think technology will “fix” our problems with students who fall behind.  The article goes on to say that a significant improvement will not occur just by adding new devices.  Instead, an entire change in the culture of teaching and learning needs to take place.  

The phase that stuck with me after reading this article was how we need to shift from the saying of “one-to-one” to “one-to-world.”  This simple change makes us as educators focus on why we are making this technology focused transition in the first place.  The “One-to-world” terminology focuses not on the staff development of the technology, but instead on staff development to design activities that are more empowering for our students.  I honestly think this new terminology is pretty cool, and I think I may start using this phrase around my building.  “One-to-world” centers on the collaboration piece that is now open to students with the new technology available.

I honestly don’t know where my district stands on the 1:1 issue, which kind of bothers me.  I was involved in a Chromebook pilot last year that was supposed to simulate a 1:1 classroom, except I had to share the Chromebooks with another teacher.  The only result of this pilot was the purchase of an additional Chromebook cart for the current school year.  I don’t know how far we are away from the 1:1 trajectory and I would like to think that we are taking our time because we are trying to answer all the right questions first.