Will Richardson

Speaker, consultant, writer, learner, parent

What Do We Need?

By

So I’m asking for a little crowdsourcing feedback for a chapter I’m writing. I’m trying to frame out all the things that ideally need to be in place for an existing school to make the transition to one that provides a more relevant learning experience for kids in the context of the social online technologies that are disrupting the current model. Call it School 2.0, a 21st Centuryized School, or something else, but I’m wondering what qualities or conditions should we be working toward in order to successfully make a transition like that?

Here’s what I’ve been thinking (in no particular order in terms of the big buckets):

  1. Technology

    1. Personal technology (computer, mobile phone, iPad, etc.) in the hand of every student, teacher, administrator, support staff

    2. Ubiquitous access to the Internet for every student at school and at home

    3. A robust network infrastructure at school that permits real-time access for all students simultaneously

    4. Excellent real-time support

    5. Responsible Use Policies that encourage technology use

  2. Curriculum and Instruction

    1. A deep understanding on the part of every staff member of how to use technology, and specifically the Web, to learn

    2. Sustained, continuous professional development

    3. Performance-based assessments

    4. Teachers fluent in how to translate their personal understanding of technology into the classroom

    5. Personalized learning opportunities for students

    6. Student centered pedagogy

    7. Inquiry-based curriculum

    8. A balance between meeting the requirements of state testing and reshaping learning to teach students the skills they need

    9. Instruction for teachers and students about web-safety

  3. Change Management

    1. A shared vision for modern learning in the school

    2. A shared vocabulary to facilitate conversations around change

    3. Support for trying (and failing) when implementing changes in the classroom

    4. Teachers working with each other across disciplines

    5. Common planning and discussion time for staff

    6. Community education around the new vision and how change will take place

    7. Measurement of progress and adjustment along the way

  4. Leadership

    1. Making a strong case for change with every constituency including students, parents, teachers, staff, administration, board of education and community

    2. Leadership that encourages modern learning among teachers and students

    3. Teacher leaders that embrace and extend the vision

    4. A innovative budgetary approach

What have I missed?

Comments

  1. Michael Doyle says

    While you mention parents in your list of folks you need to convince, I think you will need to make a concerted effort to sell the parents and the town. I hate to call it PR, but a strong bridge MUST be built.

    Ironically, that will be a simple task once the school s transformed.

    • Andrew Blackwell says

      Perhaps access for parents into the rhelm may help. I also suggest IT Support staff whom have seen the new implementation successful in another school. Plus the hiring of a IT support staff that were “possibly” involved in teaching.

  3. Larry Hanley says

    I really like the “change management” emphasis on teachers working together – – a learning community of teachers, with that same dynamic, open, collaborative, experimental model of student learning at its center. That seems fundamental to me.

    In my experience – – not in K-12 but in HE, it’s also important to re-think the “tech support” structure, particularly away from airdropped expertise, skills-delivery workshops, etc. and towards a much more collaborative and participatory model. E.g. away from “sage on the stage” faculty development and toward “guide on the side.”

    Would constituencies also include teacher unions? A typically under-utilized, sometimes complicated, but potentially very valuable asset. (Especially perhaps important to re-thinking faculty roles and professional practices.)

    • Will Richardson says

      Thanks for those thoughts, Larry. I think the teacher union suggestion merits some consideration, and the tech support piece is really crucial. It’s got to be a customer service model that not only delivers but teaches in the process.

  4. tina says

    1. shared expectations for achievement of milestones
    2. sense of urgency and at the same time patience

    • Will Richardson says

      I think that urgency part is a piece of leadership. That has to be communicated and talked through, and it’s a part of the overall education process around change that all too often is missing, I think.

  5. steve epstein says

    Let the kids teach the teachers something.

    Let the teachers teach the parents a few apps .

    Let the parents (geeks at the 200 level) at the app or game level teach the teachers a few apps or games.

    Then use a twitter hashtag for the school.
    Then a twitter hashtag for specific departments, then classes, then clubs etc…

    Steve

  6. Darren Draper says

    Will,

    Your list looks dead-on and it’s no wonder change comes with so much pain and at a difficult pace!

    Even assuming nothing on your list can be erased, should we really act so surprised when so many seem to drag their feet?

    Baby steps, brother. The journey is worthwhile and I believe that transformation (rather than rebirth) really is the right thing to do.

    • Will Richardson says

      Thanks, Darren. Good to have you stop by. Ultimately, I think we’re going to evolve into rebirth, but for now, transformation is the only path. Either way, the pieces as a whole are a bit daunting.

  7. Alfred Thompson says

    I would suggest a school leadership that models the use of technology in a visible way. You can’t have “do as I say not as I do” and expect teachers or students to follow along.

  8. Rachelle Gura says

    1. School librarians as instructional and technology partners.
    2. Instruction for teachers and students about ethical use of information.

    • Kristen Majkut says

      Absolutely agree on # 1 Rachel! Must have librarians in the mix as technology stakeholders!

      • Will Richardson says

        Thanks Rachelle and Kristen for those thoughts. I think I’m seeing the library and librarians as a part of the curricular mix, certainly in the sense of being information leaders with technology.

  9. Terry Kaminski says

    I like everything you have on your lists . I think that the school needs some kind of portal.This is one place where students go to get all of their online content for courses, where teachers post info and lessons, it needs to be able to handle easy posting and hosting of, video, audio and data files. It needs to be able to handle blogs, wikis and Nings.

    The school needs an “online home”. Otherwise you have every teacher creating a blog, a wiki and other online areas for every course. Students end up having to go to 12 -16 different URLs to locate and use the online material they need to help individualize their education.

    The school also needs a resident IT person. This person needs to be working as part of a technology team to help implement technology in the school. The IT person handles the “techy” stuff BUT education drives the bus. Everything about the technology needs to be driven by education.

    The school and/or district needs a tech dept. that is NOT locking down the network and restricting access to the Internet or portions of it. The tech. dept. needs to respond to requests in the following way:

    Teacher: “I want to be able to do _____________ with my students online”

    IT person: “Sure. It will take about 6 months to implement all of the necessary hardware to accomplish what you want.”

    Most times the IT person responds with “We cannot do that!!! NO way!!! ”

    The Leadership piece is really key. If the leaders are not on board then everything grinds to a stop. The leader needs to advocate for their teachers and challenge the central office staff to assist the school in the change process. If the leader of the school is NOT leading the charge then it becomes a long slow struggle to implement technology in the classroom. Most teachers will NOT fight that battle if admin is not working to help them out.

    Take a look at Chris Lehmann’s school (SLA). If Chris or someone with the same beliefs as Chris was not leading that school it would not be accomplishing what it has.

    • Will Richardson says

      Chris is an amazing leader, no doubt, and I agree that SLA would be a much different place without him. I do think there are lots of different styles of leadership that could facilitate this shift, however.

  10. Matt Townsley says

    What do we need?

    “Student centered pedagogy

    Inquiry-based curriculum

    A balance between meeting the requirements of state testing and reshaping learning to teach students the skills they need”

    I think you could write an entire *series* of books on what this looks like. Haven’t people been writing these books for years?

  12. D Lowry says

    I like the list, I would also like to see the following,

    – shared leadership – including the students and teachers
    – co-created (student and teacher) learning expectations and achievement levels
    – technology decisions based on student learning needs, give admin the power to make appropriate tech choices, not always working with what tech departments deem manageable
    – an explicit understanding of networked learning both with the use of technology and without

  13. Heather Ross says

    Will, this is a great list, but we need to include non tech parts to 21st Century education. We have to show that there are real benefits to students being engaged with knowledge and each other through technology, while encouraging students and teachers to make the time to get out of their chairs and outside. 21st Century learning should be about the whole student. I know that you know this by the stories you tell about what you do with your own children, but schools continue to insist that it’s time at the computer or time outside playing or inside dancing.

    • Will Richardson says

      I don’t disagree, and I also don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. We need to do nature, and we need to do tech. We’re not doing either very well in most schools.

  14. Josie says

    Great list Will. And the problem is – even with some, or even many, of those things not in place the shift still needs to happen. And maybe will happen in some distorted fashion. And do they all need to be in place? Can some be ridden over? And if they are – what are the hidden consequences of that? And if we wait for all them all to be in place before we (i.e. anyone capable of making an impact) make a move…

    • Will Richardson says

      Those are great questions, Josie. Wish I knew the answers. All I do know is that too many efforts around change are haphazard, and I’m hoping more of a clear path will be helpful. But you’re right; the odds of all of these coming together are probably pretty slim.

  15. Bobby G says

    You’re missing the most important thing, and only one other person has brought it up: the students.

    The students need to feel valued as people. That means the learning community builds on their opinions, knowledge, concerns and real-life experiences and does not discount them by treating them as blank slates or fresh clay or a slab of marble. STUDENTS ARE PEOPLE! They’re not raw material, or clients, they’re partners and stakeholders, but rarely do they get treated as such. You can have all the latest technologies, pedagogical approaches, administrative and parental support, but if the kids don’t feel cared about, all reform efforts are for nothing.

    The students need to see that school is NOT a place that prepares them for their future, but a place where they are constructing their own futures and destinies. Where they own the tools and processes that will help them come up with the 21st century solutions to the 20th century problems we’re bestowing upon them.

    Trust me. I work at a school that’s actually getting reform done right.

    • Will Richardson says

      Thanks for the comment, Bobby. I hear you, and I totally agree. I think in the context of this list, students need to be a part of the conversation in general and the creation of the vision in specific. I’ll make that more explicit as I write.

    • John says

      Will,

      As a new Principal, I agree with your Change management list wholeheartedly, as I am asking my teachers to step outside their comfort zones and do more with technology in their classrooms than they ever have. This includes letting the students make more of the decisions when it comes to how they want to learn the curriculum.

      Bobby G has got it right. Students will be included in our Campus Improvement Committees for the first time.

      I have started a webpage that includes this blog and several others that are techonolgy or information leaning for them to read so we can start the conversation and begin the process of building the personal learning networks needed to make the changes you are writing about.

      Wish me Luck and thanks for your efforts.

  16. Rob Paterson says

    Will
    Others have mentioned the bridge to parents – my kids went to a coop scholl where the parents owned the school – the level of commitment was huge.

    An idea from “out there” the web is itself a metaphor for how the natural world works. School as we know it is a metaphor for how a machine works. The machine metaphor is still so dominant – so I would add having a school garden where not only the kids learn how to grow food but also learn in a hands on way how nature’s core processes work and then use that pragmatic experience in the entire curriculum.

  17. Radney says

    I think there needs to be an item that causes teachers to assess whether their adoption of given technologies in the classroom is really stimulating the learning process. I’m not at all a luddite, but I think some new technologies might actually be counterproductive depending upon their actual use in the classroom (as, say, when a particular technology focuses attention upon the knowledge of the teacher in regard to the subject matter and away from attention upon student-initiated learning, or when the technology is so entertaining and interactive that students are tempted to passivity). Just an idea…

  18. Glynda says

    1. Administrators that not only support technology but also model using it daily
    2. A well written Internet Acceptable Use Policy that allows students to use the Web 2.0 tools they need with appropriate safety instruction

  19. Jay Priebe says

    Will,
    Just wanted to drop in this link to a document we use from ISTE. It is not the same focus as yours, but I find it useful in considering all the facets that need to be in place to make technology successful. ISTE Essential Conditions

  20. Mary S says

    I skimmed over the list and the comments, but living in the country (read: sticks), the one thing I see on your list that frustrates me the most is #2 in technology. It costs upwards of $80/month for internet access outside of a major city. Seriously. My students have lovely access with a T-1 line at school, but most have no way to access the same material from home.
    In general, though, I love your ideas and implement as much as I can within the classroom.