Will Richardson wrote, on March 30, about the need for more research on the instructional value of blogging. The entry pointed to a very interesting post from Kairosnews, where the author (Clancy somebody) reported on conclusions drawn by a group of educators concerning several aspects of the practice.
The one that most struck me and the one that was quoted by Richardson was entitled Weblogs and Professionalism. You can read it in its entirety at Kairosnews or just the part that Will quoted in his blog. But the salient points are:
we need to move the profession towards a space where we’re more aware of blogging as professional activity. …how can we start thinking about blogging as professionals?
The problem with this recommendation is that most teachers today would hear someone suggest and wonder, “Why?” Aside from the legitimate excuse that they do not have time, most teachers would see no need for blogging — no benefit to their classroom.
This is one place where we need a new story. In some of my presentations (including Telling the New Story), I introduce a picture of my senior English teacher, Vera B. Hoyle. It’s a pretty scary picture, so I usually prepare the audience. But the point I make is that she taught exactly the same thing, in exactly the same way, on just about the same day of every year of her 42 year career. …and in the industrial age, this was fine, because the curriculum and our teaching strategies did not change.
Today, the world is the curriculum, and the world is changing every day. In a time of rapid change, education must become highly adaptable, a place where teachers can retool their classrooms every day. The time issue must be solved. It’s a very simple problem (granted that the solution would not be simple) that, if solved, would have a dramatic impact on teaching and learning. But a significant part of that impact would come from the professional discourse that would be necessary in order for teachers to productively manage adaptable classrooms. It would come out of well thought-out and compellingly written (and illustrated) conversations from teachers who are paying attention, reflecting on their observations, sharing their insights concerning the impact on teaching and learning, sharing, and continuing the conversation.
We need to be building a context (a story) that makes it obvious to teachers that they should be blogging, and that they need the time to blog and retool.
I think the story needs to revolve around freedom and the ability to have an open mind and even to learn to enjoy risk. How does a teacher feel free to teach? How does one develop an open mind? How can risk feel good? I feel that many times teachers do not embrace new ideas or technologies because of fear. There is a watchdog at our gate and it is called – testing! As we build our curriculum around practice and drill and those horrid 5-paragraph essays, we are reluctant to leave the monotonous daily routine of something safe and sure, though not necessarily effective. We get in a rut. For me, the best teaching days were those days when I’ve had it with doing something for the standard, the rubric, the test. It was when we experienced writing poetry for poetry’s sake; or played around with animation to prove a point. What joy! What rapture! and what learning went on! Blogging is a very new frontier for me. I am working on my open mind, and currently enjoying the risk that I am taking in commenting – hopefully that will allow me to be free to experience the joy of teaching and learning.
Excellent point, David! I hear many teachers and administrators that I work with here in Southeast Georgia complain about the issue of time. There’s no doubt that it’s scarce. Many of the tasks that consume educators’ free moments (i.e., scheduling, documenting, disseminating information, et cetera) can often be addressed with the skillful application of technology. In many cases, a lot of leverage for change can be found by helping administrators and other school leaders make better use of the existing technological resources that sit idle about them. Merely showing principals how to use productivity tools to automate irksome tasks so that they have more opportunities to get out and visit classrooms can make a huge difference as to whether teachers adopt and use other tech-enhanced strategies such as blogging or podcasting. A building administrator that knows the value of integrating technology to enhance efficiency and effectiveness is more likely to facilitate similar changes in classrooms and media centers. When teachers discover the same effectsâ€â€better communication with parents, more self-directed learners, and increased community supportâ€â€as was the case with some wonderful educators I work with at Screven County Elementary School in Sylvania, Georgia, the results are encouraging.
I’ve been investigating the concept of Professional Blogging and came upon this interesting dialogue of the topic with this unique focus on teachers and blogs.
I have the sneaky suspicion that the administrators of schools are going to find themselves removed from the loop of the educational cycle. Over and over administrators of school systems constantly find themselves behind the technology curve or chasing the tail. Sometimes the blame can be fairly assessed on the shoulderds of the administrators, but many times the blame has much deeper and systematic roots.
The technologies evolving on the internet and in information systems are ramping up so quickly and being adopted by such vasts groups of people that I suspect the technology and it benefits may eclipse administrators and level the playing field (to steal from The World is Flat) and put teachers into more direct contact with their students utilizing these tools without the support network of an educational structure as we know it today, but instead supported by a much more efficient virtual system that is capable of adapting.
Many people make the mistake of stating that computers can not replace teachers, and in the current day and age this continues to hold true. Five hundred years from now, I hope it will be true, however I can envision a situation in the next 5-15 years where the people in the middle, the support and administrative staff of educational institutions are replaced by technology.
The direct value added contribution as the above article suggests is employed by the teacher that can identify the new context and reformulate the message to fit that context, delivering a lesson timed to deliver the maximum impact. Too many institutions are burdened with things that take away from a teachers ability to perform this skill and the marketplace of students and parents of students will eventually go to the next available market that has a better solution.
Many parents and students might be labeled as early adopters of this trend as home schooling starts to spread. It has some momentum based on religious ideals, however many of these programs when executed well do deliver results and do have the potential to turn out the desired end result, an educated student.
Technology enables this process to continue and in an open sourced environment it can be refined, rebuilt, and improved 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on seven continents all year long. The trend is relatively new, however can the concept of an educational institution limited by its own walls, or administration or local government compete with this type of mass organization?
Will the two trends merge together at some point in the future? If so, I suspect that they hybrid model will include a teacher and an open sourced infrastructure of support and materials that do not include an educational institution and possibly do not include actual bricks and mortar schools.
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