So we read a pretty good article - "Computers Meet Classroom: Classroom Wins". And that makes me a little mad. Not because I have anything against classrooms, but why did they win? I have to admit - when I think of classrooms, I think of the classrooms that I had, a few decades ago. I'm sure that there have been some improvements along the way. But the word 'classroom' still signifies a room, where a teacher, instructs a somewhat large group of children clustered by age.
But then at the same time, I think about my own 'classroom'. I'm currently back in school in 2017. And what do I see? Paper. Paper everywhere. Paper in my text book. Paper in the articles that I print off of the link provided by my instructor. And I'm disappointed. Why? Because we were promised a paper-less environment. Granted those lofty goals proclaimed several years ago probably were more aimed at the corporate world. But what about the world of education? In this aspect, I think computers didn't only meet the classroom, computers failed the classroom.
I have yet to see a well thought out coupling of hardware and software to make the educational life of a college or grad student any easier or better. Where is my one device to manage all my text books, all my articles, all my presentations, all my podcasts? And I'm sure you are thinking, but your smartphone is SO smart! And surely you have a tablet...and probably even a laptop or desktop. Those are all great! Trust me, they are all great devices and make so much more possible than even just a few years ago. However, I want more than buying books in an Amazon walled-garden, or trying to deal with hundreds of PDF's that most likely live locally and most definitely do not know the other PDF's even exist.
Where is my service that allows me to easily read (speaking about screens/glare/eye strain here), markup, comment, tag, build collections, include my own metadata, access my 'knowledge' from anywhere/anytime/and potentially any device? Why is markup/input on existing documents still so difficult and treated like such an afterthought? Where is my automatically constructed word cloud that scans my entire collection, pulling out words and concepts, displaying them to me visually so I can see how different articles and texts tie together?
The iPhone was introduced ten years ago this year (hence the new iPhone X). Before then, phones were, for the lack of a better word, dumb. Then, with the iPhone and then Android and then Windows Phone (oh, bye Windows Phone, we hardly got to know you!), phones began getting smart-er. Not necessarily smart, but smart-er. We now have a well thought out device and platform for communication, social media, and media consumption. But that evolution left education in the rear view window. Meanwhile, PDF's have been around since 1993 and haven't changed much if at all. Educators and students still have to deal with static knowledge - whether paper-based or PDF-based, it is isolated, subject to ink being available in your cartridge, and often falling victim to a poorly placed cup of ice water. Where is the iPhone equivalent for today's reading, writing and arithmetic?
LOL. "...poorly placed cup of ice water."
ReplyDeleteLove this post Will.
I wonder how much of the glacial rate of change falls on the education system. We seem to always need to have that paper copy as "proof" for some accreditation process or other assessments. Until that changes, I doubt there will be the demand to improve digital options. The truly sad part is how easily Canvas can provide (digitally) all kinds of information, even down to item level assessment, if used.
When I was teaching, very few faculty members took advantage of the quiz potential in Canvas and fewer still would inform students that they could get the e-book for most classes. Many faculty were still requiring papers be submitted as printouts.
I count myself among those perpetuating the paper trail to some extent. It took me quite some time to get comfortable with the idea of assigning and accepting digital work only. As I began to shift to digital only, I was surprised at how many students still insisted on printing the assignment out and bringing it to me in addition to submitting it online. I'm sure that was an artifact of prior course work.