Online School Management Systems, or, will you ever talk to your kid's teacher in person again?

As you know, I'm quite interested in the intersection between technology and education: what are the positives?  what are the negatives?  I recently read an article that highlights how the same technology can be both good and bad.

In the WSJ last week (sorry, I am perpetually behind the times), there was an article about how schools are increasingly using online tools to communicate with parents and students - grades, class info, contact information, and upcoming events are increasingly being communicated via online platforms accessible to parents and students.  Picture a facebook page for your kid's classroom - events, other participants, and specific information about how your kid is doing.  You can check out the article here. 

So, the upside, in this increasingly digital world, you can use these systems to (a) communicate with your kid's teacher more regularly - no more waiting for a parent-teacher conference to address a concern, (b) monitor your kid's homework/grades, so that you can intervene if something's going off track, and (c) be able to communicate with other parents.  I certainly know how hard it is to keep in touch with your kid's teachers, and more ways to do it seems better than the alternative.  Working parents may rarely actually see their kid's teachers, and being able to stay in the loop via emails is nice. 

But...on the other hand, is this just another piece of technology that's going to get lost in the noise of all the emails/facebooks/other sites we deal with on a daily basis?  One mom in the article basically abstained from the online school platform, saying it was just one thing too many to deal with.  (I understand that too!  I have, at last count, 7 email accounts).  And despite our texting/virtual world, there is still something to in-person conversations, and building actual personal connections with the people that your child spends the most time with.

And, just to throw another iron into the fire, are these online school systems accessible to people with disabilities?  Recall earlier conversations on this point, on accessibility of digital educational materials and accessibility of communication systems.  If a student is blind, or has vision difficulties, are these online school systems accessible to screen readers?  And what about the parents?  What if a parent is deaf, blind, or has another disability where using online systems requires alternative technologies (like screen readers, or switch systems).  Hmmmm?

I don't have an answer, and I'd be happy to hear what your experiences are with these portals.  Honestly, these systems aren't going away - but we do need to make sure that they are appropriate to all students and their families.

What's the value of an online education?

 Happy return to the school year!  After a little summer break, we are back in action.  And, talking about education again.

I've talked about online education before - I generally think it presents some interesting new options, but it's fairly untested.  And you certainly know I'm not anti-technology or anti-choice.  So I read with interest a set of surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center.  One survey was a telephone survey to 2,000+ random adults (the "public") and the other was a online survey to over 1,000 college presidents (2 and 4 year, private and public).  You can find the link to the study here - but here are some interesting highlights:

1. The general public doesn't value online learning very highly.  Only 29% of the public says online courses offer an equal value compared with courses taken in a classroom. Half (51%) of the college presidents surveyed say online courses provide the same value.  What's the difference?  Perception.  A Harvard education is viewed to be superior to most other undergraduate colleges - but it's not necessarily true.  It might be the best for some students, but other students might do better in a college with smaller class sizes and a different choice of majors.  But Harvard remains "on the top" because of perception.  The issue of perception arises after you've graduated, when you're trying to get a job on the basis of your academics.  Online education is new, and mostly unproven.  It will need to prove that it's not a fluffy option for people trying to do minimal work. 

2. ....and yet,  Roughly one-in-four college graduates (23%) report that they have taken a class online. Not surprisingly, the share doubles to 46% among those who have graduated in the past ten years (I mean, really, 10 years ago there wasn't even Google). Among all adults who have taken a class online, 39% say the format’s educational value is equal to that of a course taken in a classroom.  But on this point, how would they know?  I would argue that the value depends on the course and the curriculum - is it a topic that can be easily (or best?) taught online?  Compare a law school lecture - where minimal student input is expected or required - with a class on teaching methods, where presumably you need to try your methods out on other students.

3.  Despite recent evidence to the contrary, digital textbooks may well conquer.  Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (62%) anticipate that 10 years from now, more than half of the textbooks used by their undergraduate students will be entirely digital.  I believe this.  Tablet computing is taking over, and it's replacing the 15 pounds of textbooks I carried in high school.

There are some other interesting factoids, like, how plagiarism is on the rise due to the Internet.  I find this fascinating - this was simply not an option when I was in high school.  Perhaps we'll explore this issue in a future post, because I think this is definitely a downside to technology, and I'd like to research what teachers and schools are doing to combat the problem.  (Part of the solution might be to flip the classroom a la the Khan Academy - do lectures at home and homework at school).  Another interesting point is that colleges have yet to figure out how to regulate the use of smartphones, tablets, and laptops in the classroom.  Do you permit wireless?  Do you require wireless?  How do you keep students engaged if they can access Angry Birds at any time?

Worth some thinking!

How to Integrate Technology in the Classroom

Let's get back to the technology people!  I encountered this fabulous list of ideas of how to effectively integrate technology into the classroom.  The author, Adam Bellow, is an advocate for technology in education, and his website ( http://edutecher.net/ ) promotes new and effective technologies.  He recently wrote a post on Mind/Shift, itself an interesting website on education, policy, and technology.  You can see his full post on Mind/Shift, but here are his 7 Golden Rules for Using Technology in Schools:

1.  Don't trap technology in a room.  Remember "the computer lab"?  As Bellow says, technology should be like oxygen - ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible.

2.  Technology is worthless without professional development.  It's more than just "how-to".  It's "why" and "why this is worth your time".

3.  Mobile technology stretches a long way.  So why are cellphones banned from most classrooms?  Why not harass the power of smartphones and apps for the sake of learning (not just texting)?

4.  The new "F word" is fear.  Schools block access to websites, teachers are afraid that kids know more about technology than they do.  So perhaps it's our responsibility to teach kids how to use technology responsibly - to know about copyright laws and licenses, for one thing - and how to be good "digital citizens", as Bellow puts it.



5.  Tech tools are not just a passing fad.  Sorry folks, smartphones and tablets are here to stay.  And given how inexpensive some of these tools are (the iPod Touch, LiveScribe pen, etc.) and the countless uses they have, it's worth investing, and training people NOW.

6.  Money is not the problem.  See Khan Academy.


7. Invite every stakeholder to the conversation.  And yes, that includes students too.  Heck, throw in parents!

Dyslexie, or, Technology Rocks!

This video has been around for a while, but it is so cool and such a great example, again, of how technology can help kids with special needs - in this case, specifically dyslexia.

If you go to this YouTube video, you will see a demonstration of a new typeface called "dyslexie", which was designed by a guy with dyslexia to be more readable and cause fewer errors for people with dyslexia.  (You can also go to the guy's website, but it's mostly in Dutch and I don't speak Dutch).

The idea is to have the font itself be a tool for reducing errors.  So, as the video explains, the English alphabet was not designed with dyslexia in mind!  There are only 26 letters, and many of them look alike - v and w, i and j, d and b and p and q.  The problem is ascerbated by sans serif fonts that are widely used (like Arial, and Helvetica, and ones that like.)  So, "dyslexie" emphasizes differences between letters, weights the letters on the bottom so that it's easier to see a "d" instead of a "p", angles some letters to make them look different, and emphasizes punctuation and the capital letters at sentence beginnings (so that it's easier to know when the sentence ends and a new sentence starts).

According to one study at the University of Twente, this actually works.  Now, it wouldn't hurt to have a few more studies verifying it, but hey, the essential points are still there: (1) make letters look more distinct from each other and; (2) make it easier to know when sentences begin and end.

I think it's so awesome when people use technology in creative ways to solve problems like this.  Practically speaking, I'm not sure how to get dyslexie across the pond and into books for kids (or onto computer screens).  But I appreciate now knowing that a couple of simple changes in the way words are presented could make life easier for a kid with dyslexia.

Digital Textbooks Round II - Not what they're cracked up to be?

You know that I'm impressed by schools using iPads in the classroom, and hopeful about the potential of e-textbooks to radically change the delivery of educational content.  But lately, I've been reading a string of articles that are pointing out some of the real challenges to actual adoption of e-textbooks in our classrooms.  And it's worth considering some of these issues - better now than later.

Online Education - An Introduction

I've been following the growth of online education for awhile.  As you (faithful readers of my blog) well know, I definitely support the use of technology in the classroom to support varied learning styles and varied levels of development.  But online education has been a mystery to me.  On the one hand, it seems like the ultimate in individualized education.  But on the other hand, isn't some kind of general education, in a general classroom, with peers, the whole point of public education in the United States, and the entire idea behind IDEA?? (forgive the pun!)

Let's discuss. 

LiveScribe! The Greatest Learning Tool since the Protractor!!

I stole that line from the presenter at the assistive technology conference I went to last week.  But it is TRUE!  And you know how much I love the iPad, so the LiveScribe pen has a lot to live up to.

Ok, here's the link to the website for LiveScribe, which provides some visuals and details about what the pen actually is.  Think of it as a smartpen, like your iPhone is a smartphone.  It really is a pen, with ink, used on paper - but it's also a mini computer, with incredible functionality.  When you use the pen on the LiveScribe paper and press the "record" icon on the paper, the pen starts recording the audio and tracks it to the notes you're taking.  Later, you can tap any of your notes and the audio that was recorded at the time you made that note will start playing.  You can also sync the pen with your desktop, and save the notes and audio on the computer.  And THEN you can email it, share it on Facebook, create a PDF of the notes.....pretty remarkable.

Its initial intended use was probably the high school/college student taking lecture classes and writing down copious notes.  Having the playback feature would be helpful to any highschooler, but probably critically helpful to kids who have trouble taking notes and listening to lectures at the same time (e.g., kids with executive function issues, or auditory processing disorders, etc.).  One could envision a peer notetaker using the device in class, and then giving his notes and pen to the student with special needs.  What a great device to support inclusion in the classroom!

What I find *really* exciting, though, are the potential uses of the pen for kids in preschool and elementary school.  They're not taking notes during a lecture - but they are learning to read and spell.  For this age group, the pen seems most effective in the hands of the teacher or therapist. You know how preschools and kindergarten walls are covered in words and maps?  Well, the teacher can draw dots on the LiveScribe paper, cut the paper dots out, and paste them next to each word, or perhaps on a location on a map.  The teacher can then "load" the dot with relevant audio - perhaps just saying the word, perhaps providing the definition of the word.  Later, with the pen (that created the dots), a student can tap the dot and hear the audio.

I mean, whoa!  This whole dot thing has SO many possibilities.  You can make ANY book an audio book, simply by pasting in a dot and loading it with audio of the words on that page.  A SLP could make an articulation worksheet, have the child practice drills, and then review the audio later.  Another use is that a child's speech support team at school could record the child's articulation, and then provide the data to the parents that night.  (Think of the disputes that could be avoided, if everyone is accessing the same objective data!)

Then you have the possibility of the teacher creating "pencasts".  Here, a math teacher, say, would use the pen and paper and record a lesson.  Then, she could upload the notes and audio, and provide the link to her students.  This could be used in a flipped-classroom model (like the Khan Academy, where the lectures are the "homework" and problem sets are done in the classroom), or, as extra support on topics that multiple kids find challenging.

The potential cost savings to school districts is remarkable.  The pen comes in three different models, with different levels of memory (kind of like the iPad), and the prices ranges from $99-$199.  The paper is $20 for a pack of 4 notebooks, which isn't bad, especially if you think about how many dots you can draw on a single page. 

And the sheer number of technologies that the LiveScribe system can replace is astonishing.  The pen, paper, and a document camera can be used to replace overhead projectors and Smart Boards (which cost thousands of dollars.)  Second, as I've mentioned before, a LiveScribe pen can replace adult notetakers assigned to support a specific child.  Third, there's really no need for special software/computers to make tests accessible to kids with motor difficulties - teachers can create accessible tests in 2 minutes using the LiveScribe pen.

I think this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how this pen can be used to support kids - both typical and special needs - in the classroom and enable their academic success.  And I'd love to hear other ways that people are using the LiveScribe pen creatively, either in the classroom or otherwise. 

And no, I didn't get a free LiveScribe pen for writing this.  Sigh.  But I would gladly, gladly take one.

Weekly News Roundup - Stop the Word, Khan Academy

I'm starting up a new feature for Fridays - I'll be summarizing some of the more notable events of the past week in the education, disability, and legal arenas (basically, what I found interesting).  Purely subjective - don't rely on me as your news source!

Probably the item that got the most attention across the press was the CDC's release of the study showing an increase in the rates of developmental disabilities in kids.  I'm still processing it myself.  It is just a number - but, like any statistic, it will (hopefully) have an impact on funding, and public awareness.  And it might even have an impact on educational policy and theories of inclusion.  I also hope it encourages a little more public acceptance.

Speaking of acceptance, the other big news was the public service announcement at the end of Glee sponsored by the .  In case you missed it, check it out on YouTube.  It's pretty powerful, and rightly a reminder that discrimination against the cognitively impaired is probably the last "acceptable" discrimination against a minority (possibly also obesity).

Lastly, our friends at the Khan Academy are in the news again!  This article in Business Week is a wonderful summary of how the Khan Academy started, and how it's being used in the Los Altos, California, school district (incidentally one of the best in the country, already).  Impressive out of the box thinking - both at the school district and at the Khan Academy.  Thanks for the tip, Jen!

FCC Comment filed!

I mentioned awhile ago that, in connection with the passage of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, the FCC was seeking public comment to the development of its regulations.  (Brief intro here: Increasing 911 Accessibility).  Well, I did decide to file a comment, and I snuck it in under the wire - the deadline was today!

I've posted a copy of my comment to Google docs, and it's available if you want to read it there.  If you'd like to see your federal government in action, however, you can embark upon a search through the FCC site and try to find out where filed comments can be read.  (Want a hint?  Look for the electronic comment filing system).

In case you don't have that much time to read a 14 page document, I've excerpted my executive summary, intro, and conclusions here (tell 'em what you're going to say, say it, and tell 'em what you've said!)  But note that you don't read the full thing, you won't get to read my Roomba reference!

Increasing 911 Accessibility

What happens if you are - or your child is - nonverbal and there is an emergency?

I think about this a lot.  If my daughter were lost, she wouldn't be able to tell anyone her name, let alone where she lives or any other identifying information.  And what about others in a similar situation - perhaps with more life-threatening conditions - where minutes count, but are lost because of communication gaps?

e-Textbook Market Scaling Up

Do you remember lugging around a 15 pound backpack in middle school - with just half of your day's textbooks?  Those textbooks were heavy.  About the only thing I'd miss going through that with my kids is the ritual wrapping of the textbooks in old paper grocery bags.  (Do kids still do this?  It must be hard, given the scarcity of brown paper grocery bags).

Anyway, that's not likely to be an issue for much longer because e-textbooks are on the move.  There have been a number of recent newsarticles describing the trends in the educational book industry, and the signs are all pointing one way: the decline of traditional textbooks.

iPads in the Classroom

The iPad is a great example of the kind of accessible technology that's going to change the world - a mainstream, multi-purpose device that's customizable, has built-in accessibility features, and incorporates the principles of universal design.  In this post, I'll cover some of the ways educators are experimenting with the iPad in the classroom.

I've been following with interest how some school districts and colleges have purchased iPads for their students.  See Apps in the Classroom,  iPads at Reed College, and Schools Embrace the iPad.  I thought each of those articles did a good job highlighting the pros and cons of technology in the classroom, and how both primary and secondary schools found the iPad a more flexible, cost-saving, and multi-purpose device  than other new technology (such as the Kindle).  I'd point to the iPad's embrace of universal design principles as the reason why that tablet is proving more appealing to kids and schools.  Of course, there's also the story of the school district that purchase iPads for its school board so that...they could take more efficient notes during meetings??  I will decline to pass judgment on that one).

Educational publishers are on board with adopting new technology, too.  According to some estimates, the market for educational technology now tops $8 billion each year.  Publishers can't afford to see that money go elsewhere (to, say, Apple and its hordes of app developers).  The Houghton Mifflin Harcourts and Pearsons of the world need to partner with schools to create the textbooks and classroom materials of the future.  And in that scenario, everyone wins: publishers retain their market share, schools obtain educational materials in an efficient channel that makes the most of limited budgets, and students develop technological skills, and access to cool ways of learning educational materials that traditional textbooks can only hope to rival.

I'm excited by the risk that these schools are taking - they are definitely ahead of the curve when it comes to integrating technology into the classroom.  But I do have more questions than answers.  What is the breakage rate of the iPads?  (Seriously - I've heard this as one of the reasons that we should buy a traditional AAC for our daughter vs. an iPad with Proloque2Go).  Who is providing training for the teachers on how to use the iPads effectively?  Are they integrating the iPad into the special education services for kids on IEPs?  Are school districts with disadvantaged students as willing to take this leap over the digital divide?

For one school's answers to some of these questions, check out the Bronx Middle School blog at Bronx Middle School iPad Blog