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Are We Really Going to Let Libya Get Ahead of Us? |
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Written by Chris Kennedy
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 Chris Kennedy
British Columbia has set the bar high with Premier Gordon Campbell’s pronouncement to be the most literate place in North America by 2010. It is hard to imagine anyone could disagree with this noble undertaking. Without question, the range of literacy skills that our students require today is deeply rooted in our pen and paper traditions – but also in the new technologies. Simply reinforcing the same literacy skills that have been taught for the last generation will not prepare students for the world they are entering. The 3 R’s are still fundamental to schooling, but they look very different than they did even a decade ago.
Within our province some smaller districts have piloted 1 to 1 computer projects in schools with success, it would be a bold step, one committed to the future of our province and to the promotion of literacy – in all its forms – to match the commitment of Libya – and work with school boards to ensure that every school aged child (at least those in high school) by 2010 has a laptop or similar device, and that every school building in our province is equipped with wireless internet connections. Technology, in the hands of all students and families, has the potential of being a catalyst to connecting our students to the best learning in the world – learning that is personalized, social, deep, and connected. Committing to a bold initiative in the sprit of Negroponte’s commitment to lesser developed nations would be a wonderful legacy.
Of course, there is a caveat, putting a laptop in every student’s hands and declaring them literate, whether it is in B.C. or Libya is no better than buying clarinets for all our students and declaring them musical or buying gym shoes and soccer balls for young people and announcing the war with obesity has been won. An investment in technology would have to be part of a larger rethinking of our education system and schooling. The answer does not simply lie in giving access to the equipment like laptops or even the tools like blogs, wikis and podcasts, but to rethinking the skills that are promoted. MIT professor Henry Jenkins suggests in our emerging participatory culture these might include: play, performance, simulation, appropriation, multitasking, distributed cognition, collective intelligence, judgment, transmedia navigation, networking and negotiation. I can already feel the frustration of the Fraser Institute with this list – they don’t translate very well into standardized tests. Without a doubt, simply being leaders in rote learning will not keep British Columbia’s education system at the top of the world.
Linking a change in pedagogy with new technology is a stretch for some. Traditionalists are rightfully skeptical – investments in technology have led to very minimal changes over time. Putting a laptop in every student’s hand is not about increasing technology it is about literacy. We are well past having computers as appliances in a room that students visit once or twice a week. While some still pretend that computers are a course, they are only as much a course as pen and paper. Computers and the access they offer are a requirement for life in a knowledge rich society. Computers are the tools of contemporary literacy in the 21st century.
Too often technology is seen only as a positive when it saves money on the bottom line. Putting a laptop in every student’s hands is not about automation; it is about a change in learning. Teachers will likely be even more important, and need extensive professional development to help implement such a bold initiative. No teachers will be replaced by laptops; rather the laptops become new tools to assist teachers in educating students. The skeptics with Libya and others investing in the One Laptop per Child Program, rightly focus on how these places have little investment planned for changing instruction or reshaping learning. As the pilot programs around our province have shown, one to one projects work, but require extensive professional support.
The laptop project out of the state of Maine shows a model worth considering. Like us, they have long tried to put computers in classrooms starting with ratios of one computer to ten students (or even greater) and working down. Of course, much of the recent research shows only when you get a one to one computer to student ratio are you bound to have true success. Maine took a $70 million budget surplus in 2000 and dedicated it to providing laptops to all grade seven students statewide every year. They have just renewed this project for another four years.
In addition to supplying the hardware government officials made huge investments in staff development and made no promises that the laptops would increase test scores. Instead they shifted conversations from testing to formative assessment, and focused on improving writing skills and problem solving – not unlike the discussions many are having in British Columbia today. Laptops were used as tools to assist students with these skills rather than as solutions to poor test results. Similarly, pilot projects in some districts in B.C. are seeing promising results.
Lots of time and money is spent trying to tweak the current education system – whether it is graduation requirements, class size limits or hours of instruction. A province-wide laptop project could offer more than a short term adjustment to the current system but could permanently change the nature of teaching and learning in the province. Imagine schools where anyone could access the internet for free. All of the sudden the standard issues of equity and access that plague technology investments, and deeply affect the education system would be tempered. Students would be connected to each other, their teachers and students around the world. Free access that is generally limited to school computer labs and local libraries would be a thing of the past. The technology would allow students to have greater control and personalization of their learning. Students would be using the tools of the world beyond the school. Technology is an expectation of almost all parts of life – it should be embedded in school.
Of course there are many details that would need to be resolved. Who would own the technology – students or schools? What about repairs or theft? What happens when the equipment becomes obsolete? What is the appropriate age and grade to begin such a program? There are lots of issues that would need to be considered. Others are finding a way, even some within our own province – so any of these issues are not insurmountable.
Becoming the most literate jurisdiction is a wonderful challenge. Committing to creating a wireless environment in every school and putting a laptop in every student’s hands with a teacher supported to implement the technology should be the space race of the 21st century for North American education.
British Columbia is not alone in trying to crack the literacy code. On the practical level, British Columbians want the same thing that everyone throughout North America wants: the best educated work force producing more jobs and better jobs than ever before and students who are productive, thoughtful and contributing members of society. And to be sure, much of the work in our province with performance standards, formative assessment and a range of literacy programs for students throughout the system is very exciting – we are the perfect place to take the next step. To separate ourselves requires our province to be bold. Without a doubt there would be tension - sometimes a government must take this kind of risk and go all out.
If we are truly committed to using 21st century standards to judge our literacy, we need to give our students the tools to ensure that we don’t just win the race to have students with the best literacy skills for a world that no longer exists.
Chris Kennedy is the Principal of Riverside Secondary School in Port Coquitlam. He can be reached via e-mail at
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and Skype at ckennedy1023.
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Chris Kennedy |
| About the author: |
| Chris Kennedy is the Assistant Superintendent of Schools with the West Vancouver School District. You can contact Chris via e-mail at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or follow him on Twitter @chrkennedy. |
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