I read about a school once that completely replaced their technology staff with their computer science students. One student even took initiative and wrote a program for teachers to more easily submit tech problems! Here’s the article if anyone’s interested:

http://oslookup.org/python/workshops/2000-01/proceedings/papers/elkner/pyYHS.pdf

The answer I keep coming back to is similar to yours, though, it’s about agency. There must be more trust given to both teachers and students to make choices about their own teaching and learning. Yes I know we run the risk of some people making poor choices. But the fear of poor choices creates a system that fails everyone.

Before anyone suggests more professional development seminars and tech-focused conferences though, let me say that I think these are just band-aids for a problem that’s only getting worse. We can keep trying to educate teachers for the recent past, but students need to learn for their future. I think teachers CAN catch up though and help students build the skills they need.

First of all, I think we need to show teachers how to direct their own learning (as many already do), and place the expectation on them that they never stop learning. Many even want to keep learning though, but simply can’t dedicate the time to it. Which brings me to my second point.

To give teachers their time back and empower students to learn beyond the limits of any individual teacher, we have to also show students how to direct their own learning, letting them choose how, when, from whom, and often what they learn. Then teachers can spend more of their time learning themselves, and helping students in ways they’re uniquely qualified for, like inspiring students, helping them identify problems, and finding resources to help them make it over that next hurdle. I don’t think this would be a hard sell for teachers either. It’s a significant cultural shift, but I think this is what we all, as educators, really WANT to spend our time on. It’s what we got into the profession for.

What do you all think? Is this the real problem? If it is, are these steps sufficient to overcome it?

I wish I could encourage the same approach with more people in my district, especially the adults. I find that there is often an expectation for step-by-step training on any technical task that is being asked of teachers. There are a few who, once pointed in the right direction, will take off and figure things out for themselves, but they are definitely the minority. Many of the rest expect descriptions down to the level of each mouse click, and if the process later deviates at all from the training, they tend to be on the phone for support. When I look at the approach to teaching technology of the two groups, I see the same pattern reflected. The minority group are willing to give kids general guidelines and let them figure things out, providing help and guidance as needed. The majority expect to have to give kids the same direction, down to the most minute level, that they would want themselves.

If I were a student in a classroom where the latter approach was in use, I would be a behavior nightmare! At a minimum, I would be constantly jumping ahead, and would probably miss things as a result. Beyond that, I’d probably go looking for more interesting things to do with my computer, which would likely not go over well.

On the other hand, I recognize that the tinkering approach cannot be the sole solution. I know from my own tinkering that sometimes the result is understanding that can resemble swiss cheese – lots of random holes. Sometimes bricolage leads to ways of doing things that, while they may work, may not be the most elegant or efficient way of getting the particular job done. Sometimes they create bigger problems down the road. Example: ten years ago I taught myself Filemaker Pro and built some pretty complex databases for my district. I’ve since worked with FMP developers who’ve sometimes told me “sure that works, but you’d save yourself a big headache and a ton of work if you did it this way instead.”

Another example is internet research. Kids figure out quickly how to search using Google, and can tinker with their search strings to get some refinement. However, after that they can really benefit from more formal instruction on how to do the research process effectively. The result will be that they spend less time on searching and get more effective results, as well as improved critical thinking skills.

We need to recognize the value of tinkering as an approach, but at the same time ensure that we provide the means to find and fill in the “holes” it sometimes leaves. That kind of support is where the skilled teacher becomes absolutely vital to the process.