We're One-to-One! We're One-To-One!
The days of dreaming of one-to-one are gone for many schools - the Pandemic helped springboard that into reality with the funding supplied to much of the districts to use. However, of the equipment that has been purchased over the last two years, what is being used appropriately and what remains an expensive dust-collector?
The Ongoing Role of Asset Tracking
In a school of 1200 students, one person is now responsible for 1200+ Chromebooks and chargers, in addition to what they have already been doing. There is no added compensation for this role, just simply the expectation that it will be taken care of and be a value-added role. In a typical school day, there are students who experience hardware/software issues, lost devices, connectivity issues, forgetting devices and needing to borrow another, and a myriad of other issues. The one person who has now assumed responsibility of distributing the devices has accumulated daily duties to replenish requests to maintain the adequate 1:1 experience. Herein lies and opportunity - to teach students and parents proper care and responsibilities of managing their 1:1 devices.
With Added Technology Comes Great Responsibility
Maybe envisioning this from a standpoint of riding a bicycle or learning to drive a car is needed. Students are not expected to execute responsibilities perfectly upon receipt of the Chromebooks. However, with proper guidance and procedures made known, students can be more aware of privacy and how to be productive utilizing the device as an educational instrument.
The Center for Democracy & Technology (2021) suggests the following steps:
- Continue to establish and update privacy-forward policies
- Better equip teachers to use school technology responsibly
- Address the latest privacy and security risks that pose the greatest threats to students
- Engage parents in privacy protection
- Embed privacy protection in efforts to close the homework gap
There are several debates left on the table today regarding the required balance between technology in schools and how it works for students and families. One detail that is heavily agreed upon is that education data and technology "should not and cannot
come at the expense of student safety and well-being" (Center for Democracy & Technology, 2021).
Just Keep Swimming...
References
Center for Democracy & Technology. (2021). With Increased EdTech Comes Increased Responsibility. In Center for Democracy & Technology. https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-31-CDT-Increased-EdTech-Increased-Responsibility-Report-final.pdf
Krivanek, M. (2021, October 22). Benefits and Challenges of 1 to 1 Technology in Schools - Incident IQ. Incident IQ. https://www.incidentiq.com/blog/benefits-and-challenges-of-1-to-1-technology-in-schools
Erin,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up so many good points in this post. Managing one-to-one devices is a job in itself and I agree that we have taken this huge responsibility and given it to people who are already doing another job. In my opinion, finding solutions to this concern should be a top priority. In Digital Leadership, Eric Sheninger writes about Burlington High School located in Burlington, Massachusetts. To help manage technology related issues, BHS created a student run help desk. The help desk was “a semester course for students who were interested in technology and/or problem solving.” “Not only did the students at the Student Help Desk handle each question that came their way, they also started a blog on which they posted information on the iOS updates and video tutorials for various digital resources and apps” (Sheninger, 2019, p. 128). I believe solutions like this can help already overwhelmed educators and also enhance digital citizenship for students.
Frazier and Hearrington state that a “technology plan must also address technical support and infrastructure needs” (2017, p. 172). Unfortunately, as you mentioned, when we quickly rolled out our 1:1 initiatives, this, along with proper professional development for teachers, was not made a priority. According to Keith Krueger, “If districts want to keep their new 1-to-1 device-to-student ratio long-term, they “have to have a plan for how [they’re] going to replace them”” (Klein, 2021, p. 4). In this same article, Klein brings up another important point as well: “should districts even ask for devices back if a family doesn’t have one of its own?” (2021, p. 4). Clearly, we still have a long way to go, but as you mention in your post, at least we have the tech, for now!
Resources
Frazier, M. & Hearrington, D. (2017). The technology coordinator’s handbook. (3rd edition). International Society for Technology in Education.
Klein, A. (2021, May 28). During covid-19, schools have made a mad dash to 1-to-1 computing. what happens next? Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/technology/during-covid-19-schools-have-made-a-mad-dash-to-1-to-1-computing-what-happens-next/2021/04
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Erin, you have made a lot of valid points! In my blog I talked about the importance of professional development for educators. However, training and development for students is equally as important. Teachers being able to navigate tools to provide a digital platform for students is ineffective if the students themselves can not navigate the platforms. More importantly, students must be able to maintain safety and security while using technology.
ReplyDeleteFrazier and Hearrington state that "a strong professional development program to support digital learning is critical to academic success" (2017, p.110). Although their reference was mainly regarding teaching with innovation, it also speaks to the need of learning with innovation. Lim states that "students who are able to stay up to date with the latest technological advancements will be able to improve their knowledge of different fields and develop new skills that they can use in future" (Lim, 2021). This suggests first that mere exposure to technology is not beneficial to our students. Secondly, not integrating technology into daily learning for our students is a gross miscarriage of justice that puts our students at a disadvantage in the job market of the future.
References
Frazier, M., & Hearrington, D. (2017). The Technology Coordinator's handbook. International Society for Technology in Education.
Lim, A. (2021, September 20). Educational technology: How important is it in today's education industry? eLearning Industry. Retrieved March 11, 2023, from https://elearningindustry.com/how-important-is-technology-in-todays-education-industry#:~:text=The%20benefits%20of%20using%20educational,well%20as%20their%20physical%20health.