Assignment #1 A Vision for E-Learning

ETEC 520-66 A June 23 2013 Mark Bullen Word Count : 2065 Michael Singh #59820969

Part I : The Context

The context will be Inspire Middle School in Vancity, British Colombion. Inspire is a public school that services students in grades 6-8. The families in the community come from a variety of cultural backgrounds, predominantly from Asia. Eighty percent of the students have learned English as a second language. The majority of the families come from a middle class background. As most parents are working, parental involvement is low. There is a small dedicated Parental Advisory Committee. The school itself services 400 students. The teaching staff consists of 20 teachers including classroom, resource, and prep teachers. There is both a vice-principal and a principal who look after administrative duties at the school. The teaching staff is a generally more experienced staff who teach using traditional methods that are teacher focused. There is a computer lab with 30 computers that each class visits twice a week. Each classroom also has a computer for the teacher as well as a few computers for student use. Although the school itself is an older building, all classrooms have an internet drop. Typical activities in the computer lab involve word processing, typing, and using the internet for research projects. Technology use in the classrooms is limited to videos shown on mobile TV/DVD carts and overhead projectors. One teacher uses an LED projector on a rolling cart, attached to a laptop.

Part II The Environmental Scan

Government Policy and Economic Factors There has been cut backs in local government spending on education over the past few years. Teachers wages have been frozen, district programs have been scaled back, all in hopes of saving money at the provincial level. Teachers have been in contract talks with the provincial government several times over the past few years. Job action has happened a few times which has ranged from full scale walkouts by the teachers to a withdrawal of all extra-curricular services such as teams, clubs, before and after school programs. Overall, the relationship between the local government and teachers is strained. This directly effects adoption of new programs and initiatives like e-learning because much of the needed training is done outside of regular teaching hours. If overall teacher morale is low, the enthusiasm it takes to successfully implement a new initiative is difficult to achieve.

Staffing The majority of the teachers on staff at Inspire are experienced teachers with 15 or more years of teaching under their belt. They have developed their programs over the years and are fairly set in their ways. Although they are open to new methods of teaching like e-learning they are not familiar with many of the techniques and tools associated with it. All of the senior staff use computers for basic functions like word processing and typing but many dont even know how to access their school board issued e-mail. There is a handful of young teachers who are eager and already use some e-learning strategies in their classrooms. They are familiar with

much of the new technology and new teaching styles and are comfortable sharing their knowledge with their colleagues. Unfortunately, due to decreasing enrollment in the district many of these younger teachers are moved from school to school each year. Other less successful institutions in the case studies often suffered from a lack of shared vision at the executive level, or continual changes in directions or key personnel. (Bates 2011, p.100) The key personnel at Inspire are the young teachers who are the innovators that are willing to help the rest of the staff. Without the continuity of this knowledge, schools like Inspire end up starting from scratch each year.

School Board Tech Support The school board has a very small technology support staff that is under staffed and over worked. When something goes wrong with the computers on site at Inspire, or software needs to be upgraded, it is a long and lengthy process that takes weeks and even months. Some students at the school have brought their own devices to use in class but are unable to get wireless access in all parts of the school. Some teachers have taken matters into their own hands, by setting up wireless networks in their classrooms, but have then been shut down by the board. The board insists that all wireless access to school internet needs to be set up by a school board representative. The board insists that all schools in the district will be wireless in the next few years but since the technology support staff is so small there is no set date on when this will come to fruition. Without wireless access in schools, the effectiveness of e-learning is put into question.

Technology in the School Currently the technology in the school is out of date. The 30 computers in the lab and those that are in the classrooms were donated by local businesses that have since upgraded. This means that the computers are all at least 5 years old with outdated operating systems. They are able to complete basic functions but are no means equipped with the tools needed for successful e-learning currently or for the years to come. The one teacher who uses an LCD projector in his room, is starting to use new methods of teaching and learning but has no other staff members to bounce ideas off of or to get support from.

Part III Your Vision My vision for e-learning at Inspire will consist of a blended model of both face to face teaching and on-line learning. Most others prefer the hybrid types of courses that combine the attractive features of the new technologies with conventional learning/teaching methods. (Guri Roenblit 2005, p,12) Students will have to come to school from Tuesday to Thursday for class discussions and tutorials from their instructors. Mondays and Fridays attendance to the physical school will be optional. If students do not come to school on those days, they will be expected to be working online. For those that are away from school on those days, participation in group discussions and activities online will be expected. Participation in these online discussions will be reflected in their mark. Online discussion and readings will be hosted on an open source site like Moodle. For the students who arrive to school on those days they will meet in the individual areas in the school designated for their particular areas of study. Attendance will be noted by the onsite facilitator.

The school building itself will be reorganized into different departments that represent each subject area. Each area will have its own grade groupings and teacher/facilitators who will help facilitate discussion and answer any questions. For example, the Math department will have a designated wing of the school. Each grade group will have a specific area within this wing where students will work and discuss their projects. The entire school will have a wireless internet connection. The school will also have tablets available for student use. Each department will have 30 tablets at their disposal, which students can use while they are at school. Many students will have their own tablets and smart phones that they are welcome to use as well. Each department will have interactive whiteboards that they will use during class meetings, and presentations. Students will work both independently and in small groups for most of their subjects. The majority of their work will be based on the problem based model. Teacher/facilitators will have daily class meetings between Tuesday and Thursday, where they will present students with a new topic of discussion. Teacher/facilitators through a series of multimedia presentations and critical discussion will provide students with background information that will serve as a jumping off point for students individual or small group research. The traditional role of educational establishments at all levels has been to assist their students in constructing knowledge through guidance, tutoring and personal attention, and not merely imparting information.( Guri-Rosenblit, 2005, p.17)

Part IV Implications

Many changes will be necessary to implement this vision. One of the main factors to consider is cost. Since the school board and local government are not looking at providing more funding for these kinds of endeavors, it is up to the school administration at Inspire to get the required funds together to make this vision a reality. This is by no means an easy task. Both the principal and vice principal need to make sure that they sell their new vision to the staff at the school and to the stakeholders in the community. Leadership is an essential factor in integrating technology because it involves so many key players working together and developing a shared vision and set of goals. (Bates, 2011) Administration at the school will have to get the staff at the school to buy into this vision through education in the form of bringing in guest speakers and having in-service workshops to show the benefits of e-learning. Creative use of school funds will be necessary in order to ensure the new direction is funded properly. This may mean that other areas where school funds normally are directed are put on hold for some time. The Parent Advisory Committee will also have to buy into this new direction so that community fundraising events can be put together to help fund the project. The administration will also need to put together a committee of staff members who are willing to be a part of the E-learning committee. This will have to consist of a group of dedicated teachers who will first learn about the new technology and teaching methods but also be willing to act as mentors to their fellow colleagues. This committee will have to consist have both younger staff and some older staff as well. Both level of comfort with the new technology as well as staff consistency is important in this case. Along with the administration, this Elearning committee will spearhead the new direction at Inspire. This committee will have to fill the void that the short of staff and overworked school board tech support has left. Members of the committee will act as on-site e-learning support for teachers to help them implement these

changes and develop a level of comfort using these new methods, particularly in the early stages. It will be up to school administration to provide release time for these teachers so that they can learn and teach fellow colleagues during school time to help ease the pressures of learning these new skills on their own time. Hopefully by taking these measures, senior staff will also learn to accept these new methods of teaching and learning and slowly begin to implement them into their daily practice. The role of the teacher will thus change as a result of these new initiatives. The classroom teacher will no longer have a classroom but a shared area for learning based on subject area. Instead of learning being teacher centered, focus would shift to that of the learner. The teacher is more of a facilitator of learning who provides background information, and the task. Through use of the open source learning management system, the teacher/facilitator would be able to set criteria, goals, assignments and assessment for students. Once the learning goals have been set the teacher can then take a step back and provide assistance where needed. The role of the student would also be drastically different. Students would be able to participate in learning both in the physical classroom as well as at home. The individual student would have to take a more active role in learning but they would also have more control over what and how they learned. This would affect overall satisfaction with school and motivation to learn. By being able to use their own devices at or away from school, it puts learning in the hands of the student. Although implementing e-learning would not be an easy task, it would make for a more worthwhile and meaningful learning experience for both teachers and learners.

References Bates, A. W. and Sangra, A.(2011) Managing technological change in higher education: strategies for transforming teaching and learning. San Francisco. Jossey-Bass. Guri-Rosenblit, S. (2005) Distance education and e-learning. Higher Education 49,467-493. Guri-Rosenblit, S. (2005) Eight paradoxes in the implementation process of e-Learning in higher education. Higher Education Policy 18, 5-29.