The writing is on the wall, on the iPad, in electronic texts...

I was casually checking our Library Resources Canvas page today and clicked on the link that takes the user to our Follet/Destiny catalog page.  I found a link called "Destiny Quest", and so, like any good adventurer would, I strapped on my +2 scale-mail armor, my longbow of ignorance-slaying, and clicked on the link.  What I discovered lying beyond this gateway to adventure was a prophesy.  Destiny Quest has three major components, Top 10 Books, Resource Lists, and New Arrivals.  It took my brain a minute to adjust to the Top 10 list, because I was puzzled by the word USB in the text.  I thought to myself, "are students checking out books about USB technology?".  I mean, we cover the universal serial bus in my Exploring Computer Science class briefly, but not so much that it would warrant a #1 rating in the library.  I then realized it wasn't a book at all, but a resource placeholder for iPad chargers.  It all became clear - the most checked out thing in the library is a USB charger.  For the record, at 39 years of age and as a lover of language, literature, and leather, a good old fashioned tome is delightful.  But, as Peter DeVries wrote in The Tents of Wickedness, "nostalgia... ain't what it used to be".

The school where I am Director of Educational Technology is a one device per student (1:1) with iPads school, and thus has made the obligatory push to use electronic texts.  That said, I'm happy to be in a place where that push was in the context of choosing the right text first, then determining if a more effective and/or less expensive version was available electronically.  This has moved us to between 60 and 70% electronic text use in classrooms.  The biggest challenge for educators is navigating all this disruption in good conscience.  Most teachers realize that this genie is out of the bottle, but their three wishes might be: Make sure this is what's best for the kids, help me understand how to use this tool to improve student learning and engagement, and prevent my students from succumbing to distraction while reading important content.  Articles like this one from Scientific American rightfully make us think about the trade-offs.  The problem with a lot of the research I encounter, like that cited in the aforementioned article, is that they often don't address what is sitting on the other side of the scale, and many readers either take for granted or don't consider the upsides when reading these articles.

Paper versus eText is ultimately a trade-off between tactile physical media that requires no batteries, and a power-dependent media that provides an instantaneous dictionary, highlighting and annotation that is automatically organized for you, text to speech for challenged learners, and the ability to fit one thousand books on one small device.  To be clear, I believe that more research should be devoted to determining the health and wellness trade-offs of reading electronic text, as well as any potential issues with retention or comprehension.  But if video games can improve our eyesight, then I think these are issues that will take a while to untangle given all the variables in play.  You'd think given the obvious tilt in the direction of eText the argument would be over, but we've forgotten one small detail that schools have to be very conscientious of: price.

And so I leave you with an archived email from our pre-iPad one to one days, when I was just discovering the shhugar-show that is the textbook industry.  Maybe they think they're too big to fail?  People often compare the disruption of tech in the textbook industry to that of Napster and iTunes to the RIA, but there are different forces in play.  Music listeners are individuals, and students are members of classes, with teachers, in schools, that are members of districts, that are beholden to publishers.  Beholden in that they've developed curriculum for texts that have assessments aligned with that curriculum, and shifting away represents a monumental amount work if they're looking to do the same thing over again in the classroom.  And there's the rub.  What dreams may come if teachers let go of the convention which dictates the use of traditional texts, electronic or otherwise? (thanks Shakespeare)

Email to our Science Chair from 2012:

"Pardon the following ascendance to the snowy peaks of my soapbox, but I was positively inspired by my meeting with the science department yesterday afternoon as we discussed digital texts and more.

It seems to me as though there are three models in play here:

The first is old publishing, who believe, either through naïveté, or sheer arrogance and bullheadedness, that they can continue to charge people for instantly-dated information, and are, like Tolkien's race of men, doomed to die

The second is the "old" tech (Apple, Google, Pearson), who think, through innovative reinvention of certain business models, they can continue to charge people through attractive platforms, with one click purchases.

The third and most promising to me, is free information through publishers like CK12 and Wikipedia, who offer very competitive products at fraction of the cost, and a very small fraction at that!

Textbooks as we know them, digital or otherwise, represent a mode of control that teachers no longer need to adhere to.  With a little motivation, elbow grease, and provisioning, the scope and sequence of every subject is already out there waiting be assembled -novels, closely-guarded obscurities and curios notwithstanding.

What's more, the teachers don't always have to carry the burden of assembling, or even teaching that information.  Several motivated students in my course have been contributing as much, if not more outside content than I have, as I've been busy creating personalized lectures and tutorials to address their specific instructional needs.  This all comes together through a free socially-geared content or learning management system.

I see a future, which is revealed in some schools already, where teachers stop trying to compete with the Web as dispensaries of information, and accept a more meaningful role as a mentor and guide.

There's my two cents to the nth!"

Welcome!

Welcome dear readers from beyond (this workstation), to my blog about education (and technology).  This blog will have a guaranteed quantity of spot on and spot off spoutings about the state of education as it is affected by the outside forces of technology and society and the inside forces of tradition and culture.  Also, there will definitely be some stuff about elves and dragons.  The long and short of it: I've worked in the field of "Educational Technology" for over 15 years, at many different schools.  Through the successes and failures that come from a reach often exceeding or falling short of my grasp, I've learnt a thing or two about what works and what doesn't.  I'll share observations, insights, wild guestimations, and general dreamery about the positive potential of vision and execution at sites that seek to embrace information and communication technologies as tools for cognitive enhancement. So sit back, relax, and prepare to be inspired and/or incensed by a tasty blend of armchair philosophy, hard core research and data, and good old fashioned experience.