So this is pretty wild…no sooner do I get done having a great conversation with David Warlick here in Raleigh about the need for some vision at the top, and I mean the real top, about the potential of the Read/Write Web to transform learning when I get an e-mail from Senator Lamarr Alexander’s (R-TN) staff inviting me onto a conference call on Wednesday afternoon with the senator regarding the America COMPETES Act. (Check out this release as well as this one.) I’m sure I’m not the only one invited as bloggers was plural in the e-mail. And the details haven’t been fleshed out yet. But still, say this is a chance to get the ear of a US Senator…talking points, anyone???
Way to go Will! We need access….even the economically disadvantaged (we used to call us poor) need equal access. The world is not flat – it is not a level playing field. Can the government subsidize a project like you spoke of at PETE-C where laptops are refurbished with Linux? Could the government give tax incentives to boroughs/townships that provide wireless networks with very low subscriptions, maybe based upon one’s income?
You’re the man for the job, Will, go to!
Tell them to keep the tubes untied. As Mrs. Durff mentions, lots of schools need access to hardware. What’s essential, too, is that once the hardware’s there, we need to make sure that there’s some content left to work with, that it hasn’t all been blocked out. The best opportunities for our future, and for future American jobs, lie somewhere amidst the intersection of serendipity and opportunity and information and networking and creation and . . . well, we just don’t know what else — so keep those tubes untied so that we’ll be handing our schools the world and not just some pretty computers.
I’d tell him about / ask him about the problems caused by legal ambiguity and fear of liability. Rampant blocking, including of political speech. Ted Stevens is a co-sponsor, so I’d bring up the mixed messages DOPA Jr. sends about technology in education. You could bring up Julie Amero, too in that context.
Make it clear that the Republican Party as a whole is considered hostile to technology in education until they stop introducing bills like DOPA and Bush stops trying to zero out federal funding for ed tech every year.
What a wonderful opportunity! I dread the federal governmenet having any more involvement in education – they always seem to cause more porblems. When I read about global competitiveness, I grow more concerned. There is a wonderful post by a math professor at Souhern Illinois (Jerry Becker) who just published a correspondance from a businessman from India wondering why people bash the U.S. “fuzzy math.” Speaks to the need for CREATIVITY, PROBLEM SOLVING, and CONSTRUCTIVISM. Think PINK, Will!!
Ask him what he is going to do to promote computer science and computational thinking in middle and high schools. We are falling behind in comptuer science and if we don’t start getting kids excited about it in middle school and teach them something of value in high school we are going to lose more ground. When more students take AP latin than AP CS we should be worried. Sure Latin is valuable but we have not real shortage of Latin experts. We are importing CS experts because we are not training enough at home.
Please ask how we can be heard. What will get the attention of politicians so that we can show them about the changes taking place, and schools becoming 24/7/365.
Please ask about funding. How can we continue to service all of our students correctly when special ed., library, arts, and technology funding is disappearing.
Please tell them teachers need the tools, the resources and the TIME, to educate correctly!
Thank you Will!
Technology invention span gets shorter while lifespan gets longer. What kind of education must we give our children when we have no idea what the future will be like? Let’s teach adaptability and partnership skills.
Ask how we are going to compete in a global 21st century economy if ALL our kids and teachers don’t have access to and knowledge of global 21st century tools – NOW. Mention that they should be worried about what happens when China loosens up on access for their citizens and they learn to speak English. Therefore we should take advantage of our freedoms, since China can’t, and use this time to teach our students and citizenry how to use these 21st century tools of learning and doing while we can (I seem to remember about them having more GT students than we have students). We should invest in our future because China, India, et al – are investing in theirs.
(You might also mention to Senator Stevens that the internet isn’t a series of tubes – he’ll appreciate it later … nah, never mind that part).
Continued from the link above, I would suggest these bullets From Three Bullet Dave:
Economy — It’s global, constantly changing, and it increasingly relies on rich information skills.
Our Customers — They are tech savvy, effective collaborators, who are accustomed to a rich, interactive, and dynamic information experience. They know how to play the information. They need to learn how to work the information.
Our Schools — The very nature of information has changed. It is networked, digital, and overwhelming, and it can’t be contained in any folder, book, bookshelf, library, or school. How can we redesign schools (reinvent education) to address and harness this new shape of information?
My 2¢ Worth!
All too often countries look to what goes on in the US for direction. I would suggest that the US look to what other countries are doing with technology for some leads now. I’m repeating some of the stuff above, but the things that have had biggest impact in Scottish schools, particularly those in my area:
* open access to most social networking sites used by educators (Flickr, blogs of all sorts, bubbleshare, wikis…)
* a commitment to constant programming of upgrading of broadband connectivity to *all* schools: 10 MBps for small primaries, 100 MBps for medium secondaries
* disempowering school district boards from making pedagogical decisions on what should/should not be studied and how it is studied.
* empowering of local schools and teachers within those schools to choose how they approach curriculum, how they will make their learners responsible citizens, confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners (that’s the Scottish curriculum, btw 😉
* empowering states (giving them the target?) to see how they will make their *teachers* responsible citizens, confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners.
Hope my view from over the pond is useful and relevant.
Whoa…not a shortage of things to say. But if the organizers of the call still want my participation after reading this (hehe) and the call actually takes place (I haven’t heard back any details yet…) I have a feeling I’ll get about three minutes. To me, none of this has any relevance until every student gets access. And when they get that access, unless we teach them the complexities of living in this connected world with all of its potential and all of its warts, we’ll be doing them a disservice…a filtered connection alone won’t prepare them. And that the value of the connection lies in the power and potential of creating lifelong learning communities online, ones that will guide and support regardless of what jobs or careers may evolve or what new knowledge may be created. America COMPETES stresses math and science, but we also need kids that are creative and collaborative, ones who can adapt to whatever their future brings.
That’s a start, I think…thanks to all for the input, and I’ll certainly encourage anyone on the call to come and read all of the comments here. The more the merrier.
OOOhhh — can’t wait to hear more about this one.
#1 — First, thank him for his time and recognition that he needs to know more!!!
#2 — Please ask him if he realizes what value & opportunities are being missed because of “ignorance in decisions” on the part of the “rule makers”. Hmmm, I don’t mean that to be so harsh — so please tone it down. Just wondering if their is a realization that blanket policies can cover up possiblities.
#3 — Please ask him how he thinks we can go about (not only funding) but exciting teachers about the use of a tool that so many people have labeled “unsafe”.
#4 — Please ask him to give his vison of where and how he views the use of technology within the classroom — within our kids lives — within the world — and within his office!!
#5 — Grins, since he is a Republican (as am I!) — shake his hand (perhaps a cyber handshake I guess), thank him for his time, and ask him to say a “Hello” to George and Laura for me and tell them that they are ALWAYS in my prayers and keep up the good work. I would NEVER want GB’s job!
As you will be Will as you share with him!! Way to Go!! So proud.
Jen
Why can’t we restructure schools to meet the students’ needs? They DON’T NEED to be sitting in a room for 3-4 hours taking a standardized test. They DON’T NEED to all take 4 years of English, 4 years of social studies, 3/4 years of math, and 3 years of science (or whatever each school requires). They DO NEED basic skills in these topics, and restructuring would take time and effort. But we need to, as educators, be able to focus a student in a way of thinking. There needs to be a way to bring more creativity into math and science, and working with the 21st century skills is going to take math and science and open it up for everyone.
With that said, I feel it is important to get the technology in their hands in school, not just at home. Most of my students blog on MySpace or Xanga. They know how to do that. But they do not know how to harness the power of the internet and the connectivity that they have. More states should have an initiative like we have here in Pennsylvania (Classrooms for the Future), and CFF only covers 79 districts at the moment. That’s not good enough. Stop wasting money and time with standardized tests! It’s time for the 21st century!
Pretty exciting stuff!
The things being proposed look very comprehensive in terms of reaching from federal agencies down to the state and school level, (although I always worry that there are already many federal programs for teachers like this that teachers are mostly completely unaware of. How do they communicate these programs down to the individual school level?)
Similar to your concern above, my concerns are–
–access for students and teachers
–identifying the obstacles at the school level(one being filtering as an obstacle to innovative behaviors)
–need to investigate a more innovative “school day” structure to support this
–incentives for schools to participate (I can foreesee schools already interested in this taking advantage of these opportunities, but what about ones without the vision or wherewithall–how do you give them incentives to participate or send their teachers through these programs?)
–an integrated cross-curricular focus (which is what you need in the workplace) should be supported as you mentioned above.
Will, you are so good at encapsulating a vision statement into 3-5 minutes that as always, I’m sure what you say will make a significant impact.
The Act has already been proposed, so are they trying to reach out to bloggers for support of the bill or to get more information from the grass–roots side?
I am still waiting for the 45Mbps fiber to the curb we were promised in the early 90s when the telcos were given huge federal incentives and tax breaks to do wire us. You could start there. Japan and Sweden are all wired up.
However, I am always wary of government involvement, especially at the federal level in matters of local education. What is good for California, Texas and New York is not always good for Missouri, Indiana and Montana. The Great Society is an example of good national intentions and dollars that never had the promised impact (Reading scores are still flat today).
Instead if the feds are going to present us with dollars to better technology and science and education then it needs to come through expanded grants dispersed at the state level. More federal red tape will only bloat the bloated system further.
Few things to think about:
– connectivity is as important as hardware (what ever happened to the idea of “wireless cities”?)
-laptop LEASING not PURCHASING incentives
-connectivity incentives for families
-incentives for districts to repurpose older computers into the hands of needy families & for local cable companies to provide (at least) school year access to these families
-vocational programs that are AHEAD of our economic needs as a country (i.e. exploring alternative energies, what to do with all that waste, ecotourism, low impact manufacturing processes…)
I know that you’ll find a way to eloquently get it all in… 🙂
Folks here seem to have a different understanding of the concept of a “conference call with bloggers” than I do. The bill is already written; I don’t think Alexander wants advice, he wants help pushing the bill, and he wants credit for the bill, he wants his name attached to it, because it will probably pass.
Will, I’m sort of shocked to be in your company as I also received an invitation to participate in the conference call. I have not heard anything else after the initial invitation either. But, if this does take place, I think we should try and set up some time tomorrow to chat so that we can go in with a coherent plan. My own personal bias is that we need to mention the importance of social studies education. It’s been left out of too many educational requirements and it’s therefore losing significance. All of the technology in the world won’t make us more competitive if we don’t know how to use it to advance our social/economic/educational objectives. I’m going to cross reference this post on my own blog. I’ll also continue to read the list of suggestions so that I’m also familiar with other people’s desired talking points. Your readers should not hesitate to also write comments on my blog:
http://www.pass-ed.com/blogger.html
Andrew Pass
Will,
Congrats on your conversation with George HW Bush’s Secretary of Education.
I am perplexed, frustrated and concerned by the tenor of this conversation. Why is there such a proliferation of business metaphors being discussed when the subject is children and learning??
Perhaps you can ask Senator Alexander how it is possible for every American student to score above the norm on norm reference tests? (That’s what NCLB requires)
Ask why there are no Senate inquiries into the multibillion dollar Reading First scandal.
Ask why he thinks that education will improve when students already victimized by inadequate resources, endless test prep and scripted curricula are demonized by all levels of government.
Ask for the name of the private school Senator Alexander’s children attended.
Ask if it’s the policy of the Federal government that the best way to compete against China is to impose authoritarian rule over our public schools.
Ask Senator Alexander to name his favorite book about learning and educational philosopher.
Congratulations on being selected to participate. Please discuss the need for adjustments to the NCLB legislation testing requirements. The types of tests required are out of line with 21st Century Skills and the current technology-rich landscape. We ask our teacher to use the wonderful tools available on the read/write web to foster collaboration, innovation, and cooperation, then we sit the students in rows, with paper and pencil, and require them to take tests in isolation.
I am both Director of Testing and Director of Technology in my school system and I hear this debate regularly from teachers.