A Case Study - One Problem With Multiple Tech Solutions

Just a quick post to think through an instructional issue and to note the various ways our minds work in the technology industry. This occurred in one of my school districts and I'm sure that others have dealt with something similar. As you read, think about alternative solutions you might come up with and compare various pros and cons.

Scenario: A district has a problematic student that disrupts class on a regular basis. The student has been sent to in-school suspension or similar settings. To complicate matters, the students has been flagged as having special needs and, as such, there are limits on the number of times the student can be sentenced to in-school suspension as a solution to the disruption. The district wants to find some way to remotely deliver instruction to this student, as the student has certainly learned that "acting out" in the traditional classroom setting is a ticket out of class. The proposal is that the district would place this student in some supervised setting but still allow for instruction to be delivered remotely to that location.

One suggestion: How about two laptops with webcams and Skype? This provides some advantages. The student could potentially see/hear the teachers and the hardware could be used in other areas once this issue is more permanently resolved. Of course, I need to be sure that the teachers are well versed in using Skype and are checking that their audio and video settings are properly configured. I'm not sure about the quality of the audio and video. Also, the student's end has to be configured and the laptop itself might provide sufficient temptation for the student to drift elsewhere on the web to avoid instruction. This could work and has worked in other cases, but this was not the route that the district chose.

Another suggestion: Could we purchase a couple of iPod touch devices and use the FaceTime application to remotely communicate? To be honest, I wanted the district to test this option, as I believe it has some promise. The potential advantages over the previous option is that the iPods would be more portable than the laptops and the FaceTime application should theoretically be easier to use than the Skype/laptop combination. There were concerns about the screen size, but we noted the fact that you could use an adapter cable to connect the iPod to a larger video source such as a television. We would have needed to test the network and learn the process for two FaceTime users to connect without either being a true phone-based connection. I wasn't sure if that connection would have been over the district LAN after the initial connection or if it would have somehow needed to go out to the web and back in, which really wouldn't make sense. It's an intriguing option, but not what this district chose.

The chosen solution in this case: The district has connected a Uniden video surveillance system and is using the cameras and monitor to serve their needs. To be very specific, they bought this system. As I understand it, the cameras are moved from room to room and do an adequate job of providing audio and video connectivity for the student to be exposed to the classroom instruction. Also, the student isn't given direct access to the surveillance monitor. Apparently, the monitor has composite A/V connections which are hooked to a television for the student to watch.

I know this could lead to any number of posts about lost interaction, cost involved and other topics, but that wasn't my point to the post. I simply found it interesting that several technology-related options surfaced to try to solve a particular business problem. It happens every day and you probably have your own examples. I'm not saying that this is even the best solution - this is just one district's approach and it seems to be working for them. They made decisions based on cost, the ease of use for all involved and based on the quality and type of content that they wanted to deliver. I found it interesting and hope you do as well. Take care!

National Education Technology Plan - Continuing the Look at Infrastructure

In a previous blog post, I looked at the first two recommendations in the 'infrastructure' section of the National Education Technology Plan. I thought I'd take a moment to highlight the other items noted in this section. The third recommendation in this section is:

Support the development and use of open educational resources to promote innovative and creative opportunities for all learners and accelerate the development and adoption of new open technology-based learning tools and courses.

Note that the word "open" is mentioned twice. From what I've seen, there's a connection that needs to be made between the wealth of freely available educational resources on the Internet and the educational standards that are set at the state and national level. There's work that needs to be done to tie resources to standards. I've heard many people point out that a whole lot of "teaching to the test" takes place in our classrooms. As it pertains to this recommendation, would you argue that a whole lot of "teaching to the textbook" takes place. I'm sure it's easier to purchase a textbook and cover the content, chapter by chapter, without paying much attention to the content standards that are expected to be covered. The log is that the textbook must cover the content; otherwise, why would I be provided with this book? The free resources are out there, but most teachers aren't going to volunteer to be the ones to tie them to particular content areas and replace a textbook that they may have. It would seem that it can be done, though. Who will take that challenge? It is being done in Vail, Arizona.

The next recommendation:

Build state and local education agency capacity for evolving an infrastructure for learning.

Part of this recommendation focuses on the need to transform from in-house data centers to more powerful cloud-based centers. It makes sense that, if you followed the other recommendations and had widespread broadband, a device for everyone and open-source teaching materials that, yes, you need cloud-based data centers. One thing we've done in Kentucky is transition to Microsoft's Live@edu for email and other collaborative tools. Kentucky's standard SIS package, Infinite Campus, is externally hosted for many districts as well. Districts have also moved to subscription-based models for several pieces of instructional software. I've heard of web-based modules for HVAC software and, if it hasn't happened already, I'd say this is the direction that library management software and transportation software will head as well.

More to come as time allows...