Where to next???

When we get to the point when devices don't matter anymore what is the real thing that the whole digital revolution is going to deliver.  A digital device in every students hand is just the start, it opens the door for those of us that understand the other aspects of technology to give real guidance to our schools about what can be achieved.

The things which are giving business the biggest bonuses from IT are not replacing the secretaries Typewriter with a Word Processing PC.  The sort of advanced analytics that businesses are now starting to apply to their data will provide the next transformation of education. 

This is going to require far more acceptance within education of the vision of technology specialists as this revolution will happen away from the classroom to benefit the classroom.  Teachers will most likely not be the  drivers of these changes.  This is about delivering the promise that was proposed by the LMS but could not be delivered until every educational resource is digitally delivered, consumed and produced.

BYOD? Really?

I have just been on a conference and talking to lots of schools about BYOD.  When I say BYOD I mean a "bring anything you want, you know what you will learn best with" scenario where the student or their parents take total responsibility for the type of device that the student uses.

I must say that I don't get it. 

Why would you look at BYOD in a School?  To my mind it is a path fraught with danger and problems.  From what I can see none of the problems are technical as far as getting devices connected and working.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that teachers will be the one' s that are responsible for all levels of tech support as it will not be possible for a IT department to offer any support for devices beyond making sure that they can connect. 

the teacher then has to be able to tell from looking at any device that it isn't a 3G only device which can access the Internet unfettered by pesky filters or monitoring software. 

It is possible that there are 1 or 2 teachers in the Education System who could manage that task but most are not going to be able to so will simply ignore technology totally.  The devices will not be incorporated into the learning, technology would move back to the labs and we could all go home happy.

I will keep the thoughts flowing on the 1 : 1 versus BYOD argument.

Momentum change in 2011

I have noticed this year (2011) that the driver of momentum for changes in the use of technology (in the classroom) is quickly moving from the visionaries and technologists onto the classroom teacher.  I am confident this is because the consumerisation of Technology, caused by the growth in iOS and Android platforms, has simplified the interaction and reduced the need for technology skills. 

The impetus for moving forward is now something that a significant number of ICT specialists feel should be contained.  I am certainly in that state of mind at the moment, even as the consumerisation and simplification of interaction between person and device continues there is still some significant shortfalls in the way these changes would be impacted in the classroom.  By this I mean that the importance of a reliable and secure environment for students to be able to learn in is still the primary goal of our IT infrastructure.  The new generations of personal devices will impact on our ability to deliver that basic goal.  The standardisation of the interface between teacher and student, the monitoring of activity and many common applications are simply not available at the moment on these devices.  It is also very difficult to work out which is the study device and which device is the personal device with a 3G connection that doesn’t even connect to the School’s infrastructure.