The will for innovation and dynamic change moving into the third year of Covid has waned somewhat. When the reality of lockdown became apparent to senior managers within the K12 private international schools, budgets were reduced in most cases and frozen in some. Here in China, we have been out of lockdown for two years but student numbers within private international schools have not recovered to pre-covid levels. Although budget restrictions are now being eased, senior leaders have remained cautious.
Educational technologists have an agenda that most education managers find hard to reconcile. Both agree that technology has the potential to fundamentally change how educators, students and parents engage with the learning process. The big issue is cost (ROI), timing, training and teacher pushback.
However, taking this into consideration, over the last two years within the group of schools I work, we have introduced some innovations despite the present climate, but have also put other projects on the back burner, awaiting calmer seas. For example, we have migrated all resources to the cloud, moving away from active directories, favouring the domainless enterprise model. We have updated our multi-media aids by removing most projectors in the classroom and installing interactive flat panel displays. Ordinarily these clients would be expensive, however with buying local Chinese brands they are, in fact, very affordable.
Mobile technology is not seen as such a game changer anymore as value for money offsets the benefits somewhat. All schools within the group have tablet banks, but we also implemented a BYOD scheme from Years 4 upwards.
Which emerging technologies do you see as most likely to have a significant impact on your organisation?
The real chatter is around Learning Analytics and Data Mining, where modelling can improve understanding of teaching and learning, helping institutions to learn more about their students, personalising the learning experience to make it more engaging and valuable. Working in tandem with LA are learning environments that incorporate machine learning AI and LMSs (Learning Management Systems). The aim of employing these assets is for learning to not only become personalised but also to deliver on-demand automated open houses 24/7. This echoes Scanlon’s paper on contemporary trends in educational technology (Scanlon, 2021).
There is a general view that AI can facilitate effective teaching and learning (Cunska 2020). Research studies by Biswas, Leelawong, Vye and Vanderbilt (2005), suggest positive outcomes where teachable agents have helped to reduce learning barriers. Tutoring systems can provide learners with rapid feedback and enable stimulating interaction (Addey, Sellar 2019). Properly engaged, AI systems can support differentiated teaching and learning, facilitating a positive teaching and learning experience.
As a group, we are also looking into Micro Credentials, also known as Nano Degrees. These are short courses normally run by top universities that allow professionals the possibility to build on their expertise, develop a new career or evidence skills or experience in a given area. Along with the use of blockchain to validate student academic records, these courses are now emerging as a realistic way of pursuing lifelong learning. The block chain is used to store digital copies of student attainment that future employers or crediting educational institutions can easily request. This adds a layer of credibility to HE courses, which was previously lacking.
What major challenges arise from implementing these technologies?
Revisiting comments made earlier, as a director of technology learning, it is my experience that one of the biggest hurdles to implanting new technologies are teachers with the root cause of that issue, senior management. Teachers have to change the way they inculcate the pedagogies and operating systems that these new technologies afford. To do this, they need time, which means reducing their teaching hours and for that to happen, extra staff needs to be employed. Senior managers direct recruitment and set the priorities of which CPD should to be at the top of the list.
Scanlon’s paper on Educational Technology Research: Contexts, Complexity and Challenges brought some very useful considerations on best teaching practises like Engström’s Activity Theory. AT encourages communities of practise where relevant context specific group work finds solutions, using mediated tools to achieve an outcome (Brown, Heath, Pea 1999). At optimum levels, AT will create domain changing artifacts. To this framework, I would add Lave and Wenger’s Situated Learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991) that suggests students are more receptive to retaining information when they actively take part in the process. Both approaches suit technology enhanced learning very well and can be used as a focal point for CPD, once the senior managers have allocated the appropriate resources.
One cannot skirt around the fact that, as Scanlon says, “educational technology as a field of study recognises that it is deeply rooted in the experiences of practitioners” (Scanlon, 2021), and that understanding the nuanced complexities requires a multifaceted approach.
REFERENCES
Addey, C., Sellar. S. E. (2019); Is it worth it? Rationales for (Non)participation in international large-scale learning assessments.
Biswas, Gautam, Leelawong, Krittaya, Daniel, Vye, Vanderbilt, Nancy, (2005); Learning by teaching: A new agent paradigm for educational software.
Brown, JS; Heath, C; Pea, R (1999); Perspectives on activity theory.
Cunska, Aija, 2020; Effective Learning Strategies and Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Support for Accelerated Math Acquisition.
Lave, Jean and Wenger, Etienne (1991); Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation.
Scanlon, Eileen (2021); Educational Technology Research: Contexts, Complexity and Challenges.
25/11/2021 at 6:51 PM
It sounds like you’ve been able to achieve a lot over the last two years despite a cautious school leadership. The discussion on the use of data mining, learning analytics and AI is useful with a good use of literature. Might investing in these areas also help in shifting away from a reliance on overseas staff as discussed in your previous post by facilitating effective teaching aligned with these particular qualifications? Micro-credentials do offer potential new opportunities and your focus on the importance of recognition and transfer of such credentials is key to their success. My understanding is that there has been significant progress here (see https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AAOUJ-08-01-2013-B006/full/html and the OUC’s credit bank launched in 2018 – I think) while similar initiatives are developing in the EU, Australasia and the USA.
Take care with some of these theories – AT is an approach to analysing an activity system and the mental capabilities of an individual within such a system. An activity system could be a work team of a class. While AT is often interested in learning, it is not about teaching practices directly. But, the key point that issues of skills, practices, ways of working and teaching practices are all important in successfully introducing new technologies in the classroom remains key.
25/11/2021 at 10:57 PM
26/11/2021 at 9:02 AM
Thanks for that input Peter.
I’d just like to pick up your comment about AT. I didn’t go into this in detail, however, I use this theory in relation to the adaption that F. Liberali introduced in such papers as,
* Social activities as a possibility for building a Brazilian Portuguese curriculum for immigrants (Vieir, Liberali, 2021: https://www.scielo.br/j/rbla/a/8hL6nRJnH5bCVkqn9pvKfQP/?lang=pt).
* Critical literacy: a cross-curricular tool-and-result in the teaching-learning activity, (LESSA, LIBERALI, 2012).
This video is useful:
One interesting observation in this video is the potential conflicts that may arise from competing Activity Systems. For example, where a Technological Activity System may be delivering outcomes that conflict with the Pedagogical Activity System due to the actors specific influences. This may explain why Directors of Technology Learning are now required to be knowledgeable pedagogues as well educational technology infrastructure ‘gurus’.
Robinsons’ video also talks about Change Management and how teachers are gatekeepers, something I have referenced in my blog posts. He says,
Dr Liberali was a consultant at the group of schools I worked for in Brazil and we spent much time on Constructivism, Engestrom, Leontiev and Vygotsky. I shall quote directly from ‘Social activities as a possibility for building a Brazilian Portuguese curriculum for immigrants’.
I referenced AT in my post in light of this definition.
30/01/2024 at 12:34 AM
Really enjoyed this and – as Peter said – it looks like you have gotten a lot done, despite the challenges. We are also getting some excellent results from AI at WPP (with some particularly interesting learnings around resource management). I’d love to connect if you have time, as I am writing a new (and I hope definitive) book on Change Management; where the intent is to gather empirical data on the effectiveness of various different methods and interventions; something lacking in the field, I feel. As ever, much of this will be based on structured interviews and I am seeking to gather views from as many different disciplines, professions, and businesses as possible. I’d love to have a take from higher and further education. The core will build on early work I did on the “J-Curve of Change Management“. Please do reach out if you are interested. Yours, David.