Keeping the first part short - to make life easier. We are currently living in a world where Students are easily bored, lack the realisation of whats important and are being fed half of the information to get them to succeed.
IT should always be about making life easier.
Engagement
A constant term being used to get Students engaged, paying attention and simply not nodding off through boredom. Now although I completely agree, surely the urgency of their future should prevent them from being bored. The more you push for new ways to engage Students, the more new ideas you are having to try. Let's face it, young people are very spoilt in regards to technology and are far used to not being bored. Keeping their minds occupied. They are very rarely just sitting there in the quiet. Problem is though the more "new" ideas are being tested there is a good chance that half of those ideas are failures. Remember - Students and Schools can ill afford time being wasted which is why the Schools that tend to push for new ideas tend to be the ones that are not outstanding and sometimes struggle to hit good.
Half of the Information
This is quite simply an issue in education and partly has to do with the engagement side. The main priority for Schools is Student results and Ofsted - that is the main focus above all else. That's fact and that's what Schools tell Parents. Although some Schools will add terms to make it more fancy like community based - that is the focus. Problem is though that is also the downside.
There is an increased pressure among young people to succeed to avoid failure. This is important after all for them and the School. Strange part that.. when Students are getting too stressed because they feel like this is their only opportunity - it causes health issues. The truth is, today is not the end of the world, tomorrow isn't either and failing at a current subject certainly isn't the only opportunity. Schools are not feeding this to Students and that is a bit of a niggle for me. They really should be told that today isn't your greatest, biggest nor most important period of their life.
This also plays a major part with IT, it's there to make your life easier not to be engaging, not to catch their attention - are teenagers 8 year olds?
What makes life easier
When you record data on a computer and it's saved to a shared area - that's easier compared to the old filing systems in cabinets. Do you remember constantly going to one office or making 1000 copies of everything?
So what is easier? (I've covered some of this in other posts):
- Projectors
- Secure area to store data
- Shared area to store data
- Computer in every classroom
- Available IT areas
- Filtering
Projectors
A simple one, creating work any where in the world on a device to stick it on the projector. I remember a teacher spending 10 minutes doing some thing on a black board, rubbing it off and doing the next part.
Secure area to store data
This area, is available to save important work which can be accessed any where in the world. All you generally need is the ability to use IT to create and modify. You no longer need to carry around dozens of books. This is usually backed up by IT, kept relatively reliable and safe.
Shared area to store data
Quite simply put - sharing a piece of work, from Students to staff. It can be permissioned and setup in such a way that you can store years of files in a single area for your entire department.
Computer access and IT availability
With Schools pushing for more IT every where, all Students and staff need is computer availability. We have several staff areas and one general staffroom. The Students have access to plenty of computers throughout the School and 97% of them have IT access at home. Every classroom has a staff computer which allows every staff member to logon and gain access to their areas. The software installed is the general image for staff, meaning only licenses are the issue.
Filtering
We have a duty of care to protect Students and staff. If you allowed a Student to break the law willingly, they will do it for the sake of it - as shown by endless amount of social media issues (even after educating). Students are children, no matter what they will do things that you don't want them to do. As a result we have a useful filtering system which once fully setup correctly and all "allowed websites" are allowed, you shouldn't really have day to day problems. Although we don't do a allow only setup, we do block quite a bit to prevent any security breaches. Reports are easily created and emailed for any E-Safety problems. And to put it bluntly I do not agree that Schools should allow the doors to be opened, you wouldn't let anyone walk on site would you?
Instant communication, email groups, electronic recording, contacts, tasks and calendars. All available on any device and any where with signal. There is absolutely no reason communication should be a problem in the 21st century when the majority of the Country has access to email.
Assessments, Finance, Attendance and Exams - Data Entries
Although exams have seemed a bit touchy and not so perfect systems, this again is all about making things easier. Attendance can see pre-collated information regarding any Students who have not arrived for registration. They are able to chase up within minutes to find out why Students are not at School. Assessments can also be collated very easily by recording in spreadsheets and data entries. That information can easily be viewed by departments and senior leaders.
All of this would be available at the finger tips of Ofsted and management.
MFD Printing
The ability to print a large document quickly on a machine fit for purpose. We have a biometric system which links up to a Parent Pay system (cashless catering). You walk up to a printer and place your finger on it, logs in and click print. Simple system, the reports can be auto generated every month and sent to the relative departments.
Virtualisation
This system will primarily be available to IT Support, it is how ever a prime example of making life easier. How many times has a request come through for a massive piece of software to be installed but requires it's own server? Installing big packages on certain servers can cause other unknown issues especially when altering IIS/SQL settings. What if it required constant updates and occasional reboots? Keeping server installations away from each other will keep reliability and redundancy high. This also allows a new server to be quickly installed, setup and be readily available.
Internet Access and Wi-Fi
A question, if you wanted to learn about Isaac Newton, how would you do it? Going to a local library which seem to be fast disappearing or go to the shop for a book?
Easy answer: Google
Isaac Newton
This search literally took me three seconds, this can be done for anything and anyone including Mark Twain.
With Wi-Fi you have access to almost anything you need, regarding any subjects. You could pretty much lock your self in a room and revise/learn and study.
Not everyone is Clued Up on IT or Technology
The biggest point, which is true, some teachers don't want to use IT nor have the time to learn. It's very difficult to look through a different lens, very difficult to do it differently especially if there is no proof it's better.
Problem being, it takes time to adapt new technology or new methods. With teachers under constant strain - do they have the time? well they do have CPD time and if correctly planned I'm sure everyone can join in. I have seen many times that people blame confidence, competence, training or even support to why people may not choose to use IT. The fact is, some people simply do not want to use it. I know some one who refuses to touch it with a barge pole, even though I have pushed and pushed. He isn't afraid, he simply doesn't want to. Some may also push the blame towards training but some times people want to come in, teach how they choose to teach and leave it that way.
Should always remember that IT is there to make your life easier but only if you want to learn, want to be a part of it, want to use and believe it can help. A lot of people will insist both ends of IT, that it can benefit you or it can't. Fact is some Schools don't push for change, don't push for technology and those Schools are not being hindered in any way. I know some one that went to a School that is still old fashioned and that School was voted best in the County and one of the top in the Country. Even though this School is seriously lacking in "technology". The Students know they go to that School to learn, to get grades and results to go off on further education.
IT is a Must
So is IT a must have? No. You would have to be pretty narrow minded to believe that you must have IT in Education. When Schools have been succeeding without major technological pushes for the last decade. And this is coming from my self, I use technology every day to make my life easier, I honestly couldn't do my job without it or live my life. The phone I have has all my contacts, work emails and personal emails. I pay my bills on IT, I watch my programs and general entertainment.
Although if IT went tomorrow, it would end my job and career - would certainly make me more qualified to say we don't need it. Would also mean I am not "protecting" my job.
For Schools where the focus is Teaching and Learning - results and Ofsted - it's really important to remember that don't use technology just because you want to instead because you know its a benefit. I strongly believe that IT can push everyone forward, you also have to remember that history has shown us that you don't always need it to learn or to live. You can learn more as a farmer actually doing the job and not sitting looking at computer. Remember although some may say we all must embrace technology, IT doesn't dictate everything in our lives and being without it is just as important as with it.
If Teaching and Learning is truly about preparing young people for the future, should that mean we need to make it clear on topics that we don't like to discuss? A good example would be, making it clear that failing their exams isn't the end of the world? Spending all day and every day working hard isn't necessarily the best way to lead their life?
Even though that entire paragraph risks results, would we as staff show Students what life is really like in regards to "dog eat dog world"? Interesting thing to think about.
You can see the world for what it is, the wonders, the natural life and it's important to remember that IT is there to make your life easier.
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