Channel 9

Parents Matter

Mitch Benson — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:36:00 GMT

I frequently think about virtual learning environments, what they are, why they matter, what impact they may have on teaching, learning... and the administration of schools and universities. There's a great deal of debate about their (as if there's a category of product called "VLE" to which we can all agree) utility given the effort and cost often required to implement and adopt.

I recently had an opportunity to spend the day with some senior education leaders and policy makers from Europe. One of the common threads they shared was an unyielding belief (one they intuitively knew but also had research to support) that PARENTS (and their aspirational involvement) are critical to the success of all students. Their position wasn't so much centered on how VLE's may augment the formal or informal learning process... but on how we draw parents into the relationship, leverage their innate aspirations for their children and engage them in a productive, proactive and positive community.

I'm encouraged by insight like the following from an Independent article published today:

"Teachers use the gateway to plan lessons, contact parents and each other and mark school work from home. Pupils can upload their homework for marking and benefit from an e-portfolio of all their computer work, while parents can access their children's work, check on their attendance and behaviour and even look at pictures of school trips. Unless you invited parents in every week there's no way they'd have such a window into the life of the school..."

Technology that Empowers: Texting for Democracy

Mitch Benson — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:08:33 GMT

In the Philippines, mobile devices and text messaging are enabling groups of activists, some thousands strong, to bring their message into the public's view with much less effort and much more precision than ever. Using the devices to organize and orchestrate their demonstrations, they are able to outwit oppressive forces and broadcast their message... one I particulary like from the Philippines:

Books, not bullets.

The article by Mary Jordan of the Washington Post is here.

What's Wrong with the Train the Teacher Paradigm?

Mitch Benson — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 18:20:36 GMT

Maybe nothing.

Egypt is certainly undertaking a massive scale effort to equip teachers with necessary, potentially transformational, ICT skills.

From the article, "One shortcoming the EEI aims to overcome is the lack of communication among students, teachers, administrators, district managers and parents. Another is developing interactive educational material that services the learning objects in order to make an impact."

Egypt posits two challenges, no? The first is to facilitate communication and community. The second is a question of content production and delivery. Both problems have dimensions that encompass skills and infrastructure. The infrastructure challenges have many solutions. The solutions of which I am fond are pretty good ones. The skills question, however, is one where I'm less versed and certainly less qualified.

But... being unqualified rarely keeps me from talking.

I'd suggest that there are alternative approaches we should all be evaluating that might change our methods when equipping a nation's teachers with ICT skills. But these other approaches create a whole new universe of questions... especially around the skills that a nation's students may or may not already possess.

I don't have the answers. I come with many questions.

Building an Equitable Society

Mitch Benson — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 16:33:43 GMT

How's that for a goal? An effort in Namibia is continuing to do just that. They also talk much about ICT transforming learning, building the knowledge-based society, exciting students, increasing attendance, and providing a new model for economic development. This is the stuff that gets me out of my bed in the morning...

Hello, ROI and the Technology Leader's Role

Mitch Benson — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 04:06:42 GMT

Thanks for joining me "on10".

I’ll let loose over the ensuing weeks with tidbits about me, who I am, why any of you should care, and what I care about. With luck, you’ll find it relevant, smart, funny and engaging. If you don’t, I’ll know why the admins quietly revoke my privileges; and all my posts land in the bit-bucket.

I am not a well practiced blogger. My personal blog doesn’t have a single post. This could be good for you. It could also be a train-wreck in the making. In either case, it should be entertaining for all of us.

Let’s get started…

Technology in the classroom takes many forms. I wish I could save $1M a year with ideas as simple as this (however difficult they may be to actually implement).

Here's another take on near-term ROI when making technology investments that enable and support the “mission systems” of schools and colleges.

Speaking of technology projects aligned with the requirements of the institution instead of being done for their own sake, this snippet from Christopher Koch on cio.com.au articulates well what I think about when pondering the ideal corporate or institutional CIO…

Gaining credibility as a business strategist requires that CIOs shake an old habit: their self-identification with technology. "You have to be allied with the company first and technology second," says Dow Chemical's Kepler. "You have to be viewed by the CEO as someone who defines success not in terms of technology implementations but in terms of success for the company." That means subsuming a passion for technology to a passion for business. "You have to be seen as being dispassionate about technology," says Kepler. "If you're going to take a risk on building an untested enabling technology, you have to have a great understanding of the business. The high failure rates of new technologies come from missing the connection between the success of the technology and the goals of the company."

I know it speaks in terms of "business" (and I hated being preached to about what I could learn from the "private sector"), but tell me it doesn't make a mountain of sense in the academic world...