Comments on: NYSED Goal 1: Accessible Digital Content http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/29/nysed-goal-1-accessible-digital-content/ Education and Technology Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:07:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Stephen Ransom http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/29/nysed-goal-1-accessible-digital-content/comment-page-1/#comment-10544 Stephen Ransom Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:51:17 +0000 http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1319#comment-10544 Amen! Amen!

]]> By: Steve http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/29/nysed-goal-1-accessible-digital-content/comment-page-1/#comment-10543 Steve Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:47:24 +0000 http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1319#comment-10543 Stay tuned because that comes up in the discussion of Goal 2 of the NYSED Tech Plan. I think the decision makers pulled the plug too early on Discovery Ed. Change takes time. Perhaps they should have entered into a different licensing agreement with Discovery rather than the blanket licenses for schools. If 10% of the practitioners use it (which was about the number in our school), then pay for the access of those that request it. As you say, there is a world of rich digital content out there. Not only do we fail to harness it, we block it with our filters with broad nets that prevent us from harnessing these tools and content. Our school, for example, blocks ALL image searches. Yes, learners must include teachers, but they also need to include administrators, school board members, BOCES personnel, right up to those in NYSED. Thanks for commenting! I look forward to ongoing discussions. Stay tuned because that comes up in the discussion of Goal 2 of the NYSED Tech Plan.

I think the decision makers pulled the plug too early on Discovery Ed. Change takes time. Perhaps they should have entered into a different licensing agreement with Discovery rather than the blanket licenses for schools. If 10% of the practitioners use it (which was about the number in our school), then pay for the access of those that request it.

As you say, there is a world of rich digital content out there. Not only do we fail to harness it, we block it with our filters with broad nets that prevent us from harnessing these tools and content. Our school, for example, blocks ALL image searches.

Yes, learners must include teachers, but they also need to include administrators, school board members, BOCES personnel, right up to those in NYSED.

Thanks for commenting! I look forward to ongoing discussions.

]]> By: Stephen Ransom http://openedweb.com/blog/2009/07/29/nysed-goal-1-accessible-digital-content/comment-page-1/#comment-10542 Stephen Ransom Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:28:38 +0000 http://openedweb.com/blog/?p=1319#comment-10542 This is only the tip of the iceberg, I think. We can have unlimited access to content.. and tools for that matter. For many, that changes absolutely nothing. Many teachers continue to use the brown manila folders of ditto-generated content year after year. After all, they have spent years populating those folders with materials they consider good/useful. Even, as you point out, when rich media is made available online, it goes underused. As Larry Cuban, Neil Postman, and many others have observed, access is an important step toward change, but it must not, it cannot stop there. Until we (myself included here) seriously reevaluate what teaching and learning can be in this highly digital, social, connected, limitless age with tools that allow the learner to achieve things never before imaginable with relative low cost and currently ubiquitous technologies, very little will change. As Gary Stager often says, it IS about the tools. But it IS about so much more. Teachers need to be continually pushed, challenged, supported and empowered toward the goal of a learner-centered classroom. The teacher-centered model is quickly becoming redundant in an age where information and access to tools and experts and all the exciting learning opportunities that these can afford is no longer a scarcity. We can support curriculum all we want, but we must begin supporting the learners... to be learners. That includes teachers. This is only the tip of the iceberg, I think. We can have unlimited access to content.. and tools for that matter. For many, that changes absolutely nothing. Many teachers continue to use the brown manila folders of ditto-generated content year after year. After all, they have spent years populating those folders with materials they consider good/useful. Even, as you point out, when rich media is made available online, it goes underused. As Larry Cuban, Neil Postman, and many others have observed, access is an important step toward change, but it must not, it cannot stop there. Until we (myself included here) seriously reevaluate what teaching and learning can be in this highly digital, social, connected, limitless age with tools that allow the learner to achieve things never before imaginable with relative low cost and currently ubiquitous technologies, very little will change. As Gary Stager often says, it IS about the tools. But it IS about so much more. Teachers need to be continually pushed, challenged, supported and empowered toward the goal of a learner-centered classroom. The teacher-centered model is quickly becoming redundant in an age where information and access to tools and experts and all the exciting learning opportunities that these can afford is no longer a scarcity.

We can support curriculum all we want, but we must begin supporting the learners… to be learners. That includes teachers.

]]>