In our last blog post on “Technology-Driven Transformation in the Pandemic Has Disrupted How Kids Learn—and Not Always in a Good Way,” we discussed how the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated technology-driven transformation in learning – https://managingtechnologyink12.wordpress.com/2022/06/10/technology-driven-transformation-in-the-pandemic-has-disrupted-how-kids-learn-and-not-always-in-a-good-way. 

Again, much of this acceleration was beneficial, such as hastening the movement to one-to-one device coverage.

But hastening this transformation has also caused disruption, and this disruption has had some negative impacts. These impacts include disengagement among students and “technology fatigue” among teachers.

A March Education Week article on “Tech Fatigue Is Real for Teachers and Students—Here’s How to Ease the Burden” did an excellent job of discussing these issues- https://www.edweek.org/technology/tech-fatigue-is-real-for-teachers-and-students-heres-how-to-ease-the-burden/2022/03.

(Thanks to Francis Sheehan of Education Week)

Especially for those of us who love technology, this couldn’t be more frustrating. We finally got our wish for an explosion of technology in our schools—yet now in some ways our students and teachers are worse off!

What can we do about technology-driven disruption?

What can school districts and schools do to address this situation? One option is to continue to muddle through as best as we can, and hope things somehow get better. A better idea is to proactively manage the situation to bring about the best results for our kids, and to mitigate the downsides of the pandemic and the related disruption.

But the very best thing we can do is to recognize that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to use technology to enable a broad transformation of how our kids learn. In an earlier blog post we reflected on how in their book “Imagine If…Creating a Future for Us All,” the late Sir Ken Robinson and his daughter Kate called on us to imagine a very different way of learning for our kids, one that would prepare them for the challenging futures they face. Yet their short book left the question of how bring about that different way of learning up to us.

This is our big chance to do that imagining, and to start to make that future happen. Of course, part of the challenge is to do this is a way that makes the lives of our educators and our students better rather than crazier.

But what would it require to bring about such as transformation? Let’s consider eight issues.

1.    Move beyond incremental improvement, and work to manage broader transformation.

When we say we should use this opportunity to transform how our kids learn, some educators would justifiably take offense. “How can you say that?” they might exclaim. “We are at work every day to improve how our kids learn!”

And that’s great, but we need to call on everyone to recognize what transformation is. Transformation is activity in which we change some of the basic ways in which kids learn. Implementing a better reading series is a good thing to do, and this should improve the learning experience of the students. But transformation might be a change such as introducing adaptive learning software to enable personalized learning. More radical transformation might be something like rethinking the graded structure.

Education Week recently had an interesting article by Renee Owen on this distinction, “You Can’t Change Schools Without Changing Yourself First” – https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-you-cant-change-schools-without-changing-yourself-first/2022/05.

At this point we would be wise to manage transformation in two ways.

Some technology-driven transformation has been forced on us by the pandemic. We need to work proactively to mitigate the disruptive impacts of this change on students and teachers.

But because of the way in which the pandemic has accelerated our use of technology, we would also be wise take advantage of this opportunity and determine how we can now work to continue to transform the learning experience in a beneficial way.

2.    Initiate an ongoing strategic planning effort.

Such a transformation effort requires an organized planning effort, with leadership from above. The superintendent, chief academic officer, and similar officials need to drive these efforts. A district staff member should also be appointed to play a project management role and lead the planning and facilitation of the needed activities.

3.    Engage teachers in a top-down, bottom-up planning approach.

But having the top managers in the district involved is not enough. Unlike in most industries, in education the workers—the teachers—own their work. Simply dictating changes from on high does not tend to work well.

Change in education—and especially transformative change using technology to bring about improvement—must be driven both top-down and bottom up. And this is now truer than ever, as things are changing so fast, and teachers are “fatigued” and skeptical of more change being dumped on them.

The district and then the school must work top-down to create the sense of urgency to improve and provide the needed technology components.

Teachers and other staff must also be enabled to work bottom-up with district and school staff individually and in groups to determine how to move to new models and put technology to work.

Everyone must monitor student and group improvement. And all must work to refine successful efforts and propagate them to all classrooms, and then to institutionalize this change.

Transformation Must Be Managed Both Top-Down and Bottom-Up

4.    Manage learning processes across the district and schools.

Transforming how our students learn must address our basic learning processes. Technology enables us to run the classroom in new and better ways.

The need for virtual instruction during the pandemic forced the movement to new processes. But some of these processes are not optimal for most students. In a previous blog post we discussed how districts may wish to manage virtual learning options, including home schooling – https://managingtechnologyink12.wordpress.com/2022/02/28/homeschooling-and-virtual-learning.

We are wise to move to processes that take advantage of technology but also maximize interpersonal interaction. A great example is the workshop model, in which the teacher kicks off a session with a short whole-group session, and then the students move into small-group sessions or individual work, finally concluding with a whole-group wrap-up. One advantage of the workshop model is the middle of the workshop can provide for personalized learning.

5.    Maximize student interpersonal interaction and manage device time.

Part of the blame for our students’ disengagement from learning lies in the loss during the Covid-19 pandemic of the structure of the traditional school day and the interaction with teachers and fellow students that drives the day.

Maybe the toughest challenge in transforming learning is taking advantage of technology while not losing the power of the interaction with our fellow human beings. An advantage of the workshop model is it addresses this challenge. It provides the opportunity for the use of technology within the structure of interpersonal interaction.

And sometimes we simply need to turn off the technology, such as scheduling a time when everyone reads using paper books.

6.    Curate technology resources and implement a district-wide menu.

One issue that contributes to teacher technology fatigue is the demand on teachers to research technology options for their students. A better way to work is for the district to work with teachers to identify (“curate”) a limited set of technology offerings tied to the curriculum and to make these technology products easily accessible for teachers, students, and parents. One way to do this is to make use of a software product that provides a district-wide menu of the selected products and enables a “single sign-on” in which students can use the same ID and password to access all products.

An example of such a software product is Clever. Here is part of the Clever menu used by the Milwaukee Public Schools.

Milwaukee Public Schools Clever Menu

7.    Use learning management system (LMS) technology to manage resources.

Learning management system (LMS) software was introduced in higher education back in the 1990s to support online classes. But professors teaching traditional college classes quickly also embraced LMS technology due to its ability to automate functions such as distributing readings and submitting assignments.

The pandemic-driven move to one-to-one device coverage has now also made the use of LMS systems more viable in K12. And LMS systems have the potential to be a great productivity booster. As at the college level, one big benefit is to use LMS systems to provide electronic versions of readings and assignments.

But if teachers are stuck having to work on their own to figure out how to use their LMS systems, and if processes such as assigning student IDs and passwords don’t work well, the pressure to use LMS systems can contribute to technology fatigue.

So here is another area that benefits from top-down and bottom-up management. The district needs to work with teachers to select and install a single LMS product, or possibly one product for high school and another for K-8. Ideally the district will also develop interfaces between the LMS system and the class rosters and grading modules in the student information system (SIS). And the need to use often-complex LMS systems is a great example of why transformation needs powerful professional development support.

8.    Provide energetic professional development and staff interaction to guide transformation and reduce fatigue.

Transformation requires all educators to change how they teach. And this isn’t going to work well if each teacher is left to figure out on their own how the new transformed world works. Implementing transformation requires an energetic professional development program for all staff members.

The professional development sessions need to provide how-to information but also interaction with peers. And the same concepts that apply to the kids also apply to the teachers—the professional development needs to take advantage of technology abilities such as learning management systems, but it also needs to continue to take advantage of human interaction.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In our next blog entry, we’ll focus in on the use of learning management system technology. We’ll discuss some of the issues involved in managing LMS use and gaining the benefits of this powerful technology.

Until then, do you have any ideas on what districts and schools can be doing to manage this transformation? Leave a comment below under “Leave a Reply.” Or send me an e-mail at schulzj@jerryschulz.com.