Leading with Technology
The circle of trust
Dr Therese Keane, Lecturer/Developer Educational Technology,
Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, Swinburne University of Technology
Imagine sitting down to the ‘distant’ past of 2007 with the aim of
writing your five year Information Communication Technology (ICT)
strategic plan. As netbooks are on the horizon their affordable cost,
light weight and smaller size, mean that you can start to think about
introducing a one child to one computer program (1:1).
Of course the other thing that might lead you to consider this is the
Election promise to fund a Digital Education Revolution (DER) which
will enable secondary schools to provide every student in Years 9-12
with a computer. Those small and affordable netbooks seem perfect
for such a program.
Meanwhile, in June 2007, Apple released the iPhone which included
multi-media, a camera, wireless internet connection and Bluetooth
along with a touch screen. There was also the promise to further
enhance the phone’s functionality by adding more apps. Although
this phone caused a stir on release it was not going to have an
impact on your 2007-2012 Strategic Plan.
Then in 2010, the iPad was launched and reportedly sold over
1,000,000 devices in the first three months of its release. While
the iPad was designed as a consumption device rather than an
educational tool in mind, they have become prevalent in classrooms
as schools find uses for them. The 2007 plan is looking very out of
date now.
Given the nature of the ever-changing technological landscape,
how does a school plan and begin to document a 3-5 year ICT
Strategic Plan? How does a school plan to ensure they catch the
next technological wave to remain innovative? With all the new
technologies coming into prominence, who do Principals turn to for
advice that is impartial, non biased, and accurate?
The most obvious people in the immediate school scenario, or
the traditional ‘circle of trust’ is the ICT Leader and the Network
Administrator, but how do they keep up with the ever changing
landscape? What is the basis of their advice? A Network
Administrator’s knowledge is dependent on what it is they have to do.
The rapidly escalating rate of technological change means that prior
knowledge is less useful than it has been. For example, there is not
a lot of prior knowledge to rely on when rolling out an iPad program in
a school. As the device is very new, and the deployment is different
to other devices, there is not an abundant amount of information that
can be used to assist in the deployment of the program in a school.
Vendors can only assist to an extent. They can assist with examining
hardware and software and making a judgement on whether the
extra performance is worth the cost; upselling service agreements;
and pointing you in the right direction as to which package might be
best for the school. However, where vendors struggle is the ability
to compare devices such as netbooks and iPads, as this is a difficult
task. Comparing what teachers do with each device in each subject
to determine the right fit is hard to do as it is like comparing apples
with oranges. Ultimately, the school needs to have a clear idea of
what it is they want before approaching the vendor.
Another way of acquiring information is by attending large educational
technologies conferences such as the ISTE (International Society for
Technology in Education) Annual Conference and Exposition held
in San Diego, United States. Generally, though, the trade shows
only offer what is the current wave of innovation. It is less likely that
the mid-term or far-term technological horizon will be exhibited. For
example, the 2012 ISTE conference in San Diego was full of mobile
tablet devices which are part of the current trend. Large educational
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technology conferences do not often provide a glimpse of the next
innovation wave.
The New Media Consortium has produced a yearly report since 2009
specifically for schools (K-12) that makes short-term, mid-term and
long-term predictions about educational technologies. An advisory
board of forty-six technology experts spanning twenty-two countries
including two Australian representatives compile the annual reports.
In the 2009 Horizon Report, the two short-term innovations were
collaborative environments and online communication tools; the
mid-term innovations were cloud computing and mobiles; and the
long-term were smart objects and the personal web. Obviously, it
is easier to predict the short-term innovations as other timelines can
blow out however the short and medium term trends have proven
fairly accurate.
In the 2012 Horizon Report, the two short-term educational
technologies are mobile devices and apps, and the implementation
of tablet computing. In the mid-term horizon, the advisory board
has predicted that game-based learning and Personal Learning
Environments (PLEs) will become more mainstream, and in the long-
term Augmented Reality (AR) and natural user interfaces.
Whether the predictions made in the Horizon Report come to fruition
or not, the report is well worth considering. Moreover, each report
contains a discussion of the issues involved with embracing the new
technologies.
To enhance the process of decision-making and ensure that students
are involved, forming a Committee of students to provide their
opinions about what they believe may be the next innovation would
provide a fresh perspective.
Whilst acknowledging that technology will keep on evolving and that
change will continue to take place at accelerated pace, school leaders
need to be mindful of the core reasons they are using technology, for
teaching and learning.
The problem of rapidly changing technology is that we run the risk
of asking the wrong question. If our question is, will the new device
allow me to do what the old device did? - then we are probably asking
the wrong question. The right question is more along the lines of,
what do we want our technology to do for teaching and learning? By
examining new technology through this focus, we are more likely to
look at considerations around change with a great deal more clarity.
References
1. Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development
and Youth Affairs. http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_
resources/AICTEC_JMS_on_ICT_in_Aust_Ed_and_Training.
pdf
2. Generation Yes. Generation Yes programs provide youth
the opportunity to improve education through technology.
http://genyes.org/
3. The New Media Consortium. http://www.nmc.org/publications
4. The Horizon K-12 2009 Report:
http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2009/
5. The Horizon K-12 2010 Report:
http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2010/
6. The Horizon K-12 2011Report:
http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf
7. The Horizon K-12 2012 Report:
http://www.nmc.org/publications/2012-horizon-report-k12
The Australian Educational Leader Volume 34 Number 4 2012