Classroom Technology | doug woods

Archive for the ‘Classroom Technology’ Category

Selling Your Thing to Schools

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Ten tips for companies or individuals trying to sell to schools.

I am surprised at how often I am asked for tips or advice on selling things to schools. I am quite open in saying that ‘selling’ is not really my area but I guess that calling yourself a ‘consultant’ suggests ‘salesman’ to the minds of many people.

So, for anybody, individual or company, interested in selling their thing to schools, here are my tips and advice;

1) Make sure your product or service is relevant. The main purpose of schools is to educate pupils, so make sure your product is educational or can be used in teaching or learning. There is also a good amount of administration that goes on in schools, you might feel your product or service fits more with this. That’s great but first please make sure that your product doesn’t create more administrative work for staff but fits in with current administrative needs and, ideally, makes the tasks easier.

2) Understand the role of technology in schools. Be wary of the belief that the role of computers in schools is to ease the burden of admin for teachers so that they have more time for teaching; this is a lie. At no time have computers resulted in less work for teachers and many teachers are fearful that they create more work.

3) Get to know your customers. I would have thought that this would be central for all salesmen but what do I know! You are not really selling to ‘schools’ you are selling to a person, get to know that person and their job. Take the time and effort to listen and understand them an what they are trying to do but, and this has to be a careful balance, do not waste their time.

4) Build a reputation and a track record. I guess reputation is essential in education as in other fields. It is difficult to explain the success of a company such as RM in education. How can a company that sells overpriced, underspecified computers to schools do so well? You will find few people in the field of educational technology who have a good word to say about RM, in fact many people see them as ‘whipping boys’ to be slagged off at any opportunity. Yet, the company has done extraordinarily well in English educational technology and that is mainly down to the fact that people know them as an educational company with a track record of working in the education sector. If you do not have a track record of supporting and understanding education, how can you expect your customers to take you seriously.

5) Offer something for nothing. ‘Education’, unlike other ‘markets’, is not going to use your product or service to help it make money, nor is educational computing about saving money. So there is little financial motive for schools to adopt your ‘thing’. This is perhaps the biggest difference between education and other areas such as business or commerce and it is one which will trip up many companies trying to sell into education. Schools like to try products before they buy them, which is not unreasonable, especially as it is unlikely to be the user or person you sell to who will benefit but, hopefully, the pupils they teach. So always be prepared to offer trial periods and consider the ‘freemium’ models which offer a certain level of functionality at no cost and improved features with a price.

6) Ask yourself who your customers really are. Schools are mainly buildings, they don’t buy anything so trying to sell to them is a waste of time. So ask yourself who is your thing for? It could be for teachers, it could be for admin staff or maybe it’s for the pupils. In which case try to tailor your promotional material and your marketing efforts for the right people. Obviously, if your product is for pupils, then schools will not view you favourably if you try to market to them through the school but kids aren’t always at school so try to market to them (or their parents) at home or elsewhere where kids hand out (do they still use that phrase?)

7) Don’t Cold Call. You can try but, to be honest, it is likely to be a very frustrating experience. Teachers are very busy people and usually haven’t got time to talk to you on the phone. Heads, Deputies and Heads of Departments may have a bit more time for you but first, you’ll have to get through the receptionist, who’s probably been told not to allow any cold callers through! Email may be a bit better but don’t expect a reply immediately! So if you can’t cold call, you have to find other ways to market your products; be imaginative, attend educational events, look to support or sponsor events, maybe arrange your own events (and see 8 below)

8) Show your face and your logo. Get yourself known within education circles, attend education events, network with staff or even try running your own events for education. There really is little to beat networking and getting to know potential customers by face. Don’t always be selling, though, remember you’re there to get to know people and make contacts.

9) You do have a website don’t you? It is expected that anyone and everyone will have a website nowadays, and a facebook page and a twitter account. In fact, some people will visit a company’s website for evidence that the company is genuine, is active and for background information. So do make sure your site is up to date and that as much information as a customer may need is available via the site and via your facebook page and also make sure that you are active on twitter (e.g. make sure any twitter enquiries are answered promptly).

10) Hey, where are you going? Don’t sell a ‘thing’ then move on with the money in your pocket. Nobody likes this, including schools. Keep promoting your products and services to your new customers, let them know ways of using your thing and the ways other people are using it. Make the school feel valued for having bought into your thing and often they will promote it for you!

So that’s my ten tips, if anyone has any more please let me know.

Schools must learn to spend the pupil premium wisely | Jonathan Clifton (guardian.co.uk)

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Tags: Education, marketing, school, Technology
Posted in Classroom Technology, elearning | No Comments »

Personal Learning Technology – An Introduction

Monday, November 7th, 2011

Educational Technology has been undergoing a change. Things are not what they used to be. The change may have been so gradual and subtle that many people involved in ICT and education have yet to notice the change.

Nevertheless this change has brought about a new and exciting development in educational technology.

For many years, the world of educational technology has focused upon the ‘Big’ things such as the hardware, the networking, the institution wide cabling and the creation of ICT suites. We have been focused upon how institutions and educationalists can ‘deliver’ ICT to the learner but now things have changed and the focus is upon how the learner can access and use the technologies.

I know that the ‘grumpy old men’ of education technology (and often I see myself among them) will complain that this is nothing ‘new’, they will say that in the very early days computers were being marketed to parents and learners as a means of giving learners a better chance in education. They are, of course, right but this time around we are talking about more than just marketing hype.

It cannot have escaped your notice that the world of computing has been changed with the development of ‘smartphones’, tablet devices and other ‘personal’ technologies such as pocket camcorders, audio recorders and GPS devices. In many cases these devices have been merged into one highly portable device. Again, this is not really ‘new’, we have been seeing this happen over several years. However, unto now, the idea of mobile computing would seem to have been focussing upon how providers can push their products onto mobile devices. The concept of Personal Learning Technology sees a change in this; it puts the emphasis upon the user, the learner, and how mobile devices and their allied services can be utilised in support of the user’s learning.

I do not see Personal Learning Technology as a revolution or a sea-change or even a step-change in education technology, mainly because I don’t like using such silly terms but also because I believe it has to work hand-in-hand (sic) with the traditional approach. I do see it, however, as a driver for the future development of ICT use within education. I do feel that the future of education technology will, and should, be driven by the needs of the learner more than the provision of the institution.

So, in summary, I’d like to conclude this short introduction by putting some definition to Personal Learning Technology. I regard Personal Learning Technology as the use of portable devices which are ‘owned’ by the individual in support of their learning. Such devices would include tablet computers, mobile (cell) phones, portable media players etc. More than the devices themselves, though, Personal Learning Technology is about the ‘uses’ of such technology in an individual’s learning.

Using Learning Technologies (elearningstuff.net)
I Can’t Use Technology in my Lessons (dougwoods.co.uk)
Technology Use Planning Overview (sharonvogt.wordpress.com)
The Future of Computer and Internet Use in Schools (education.com)
Effective ICT for the new school term – Whizz Education Releases New Information (prweb.com)

Personal Learning Technology An Introduction

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Posted in Classroom Technology, Personal Learning Technology | No Comments »

6 Myths of Education Technology

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

I firmly believe that if we are to make progress then we have to question current assumptions, beliefs and practices. This is true of ICT or educational technology just as much as in other areas of life and work. With this in mind, I present here what I am calling education technology myths, these are commonly held assumptions, beliefs or statements that anyone in the field are likely to come across at various times. Like all good ‘myths’ there may be, or at some time there may have once been, a grain of truth in them but, again like traditional myths, if we believe them unquestioningly then we are simply fooling ourselves!

I present these myths in no particular order, that is to say that number 1 is no worse than number 6 nor is any one more prevalent than others.

The role of technology is to save teachers time on admin tasks so that they can spend more time teaching. This belief has been around for a long time, I would go as far as to say this is more than a myth, it is a lie that no teacher should fall for.
Pedagogy comes before technology. This is a difficult one to argue against but it is one that must be strongly guarded against. Technology is not the enemy of pedagogy, in fact it is important in teaching and learning. For that reason, the pedagogy versus technology debate is specious.

Technology is a distraction in the classroom. I recall in the very early days of educational computing how some teachers would cover the computer with a tablecloth when not in use, I kid you not! Their reasoning being that pupils were looking at the computer and wanting a go on it instead of doing what they should be doing. Over time we managed to show to these teachers that once the learners got used to the presence of the computer and knew they would be able to have their turn on it, then it ceased to be a distraction and became a part of the classroom and the learning experience. This myth is still doing the rounds, though, and we see it when learners are prevented from using laptops, smartphones and mobile devices on the grounds that they might be distracted by email, Facebook or Twitter.
More is more bigger and better. For many years, this would seem to have been a mantra in education technology. At first it was evidenced by schools collecting software which, regrettably, then spent time lying unused in cupboards, latterly it has been seen in schools creating first one suite or computer room, then another and another, all linked by more and more complex networking infrastructure. Education technology is very varied in nature and smaller, more personal devices, are now readily available. Using such devices could allow a more flexible approach to using technology in education and help sway us from the expensive ‘one size fits all’ approach of ‘big’ technology.
Teachers need training before they can use technology. The key word in that sentence is ‘before’. It cannot be denied that teachers can benefit from training and that training can produce benefits for education. However, the notion held by some that teachers need training before they use technology is somewhat erroneous, especially when the excuse is one used by those teachers themselves who are not using technology. Did you receive training in using a washing machine, a television, a radio, a video recorder (remember them?) or mobile phone, before you started using them, almost certainly not. Electronic technology is different in that it is more versatile and significant than any one of those other devices but you do not need training beforeyou start to use it. Indeed, training in education technology use is often more effective when taking users beyond the basics of operating the device(s)/service(s) and developing their use in the curriculum.
Technology should be used to cut costs and save money. In a climate of financial uncertainty and restraint, this belief could hold a great deal of sway. However, it is a myth that is sorely misplaced. The focus of educational technology is, and quite rightly should be, on the education of learners. It is on the education of learners that schools are judged, far more than the ability to balance budgets. It may be true that better (not necessarily ‘more’) technology could help a school administer itself but spending educational technology budgets on this would be very inappropriate.

The Future of Computer and Internet Use in Schools (education.com)
How technology is redefining education. (yongshuling.com)
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 10/31/2011 (coolcatteacher.blogspot.com)
Deconstructing “What Works” in Education Technology | MindShift (atlaak.wordpress.com)

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Posted in Classroom Technology | 7 Comments »

iPods, iPads and SEN Learners

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Some of you will know that I used to be an SEN teacher and I still maintain an interest in using ICT to teach Special Needs learners. My attention was, therefore, drawn to a website that claimed to have information on using ipod touches and ipads with SEN learners. The work was based over in the United States, so one problem I anticipated might be that some of the apps they employed could not be available here in the UK, also, where the apps were being charged for, there would need to be some small conversion in currency necessary.

What I hadn’t expected was that there would be some technical problems viewing the information! On the website there are links to 3 presentations on the use of the devices in Special Education settings, unfortunately it was not possible to download the presentations and viewing them seemed slow. So what I eventually decided to do was to view each slide and take a screen capture of it and then place it in a PowerPoint presentation; at the same time I’d update the prices and availability in for the UK. I know, I know, it was all rather crude but it did seem to me that the presentations had some very useful information which would be well worth sharing. I also would like to congratulate the authors in their work identifying the various apps available.

What has surprised me, though, and with some annoyance are the charges being made for these apps. There seem to be only a few free apps in the selection and some seem to cost a small fortune. I am not against people earning a living but on the other hand we are talking about the needs of some of our most vulnerable members of society, surely they are entitled to free apps as much as mainstream learners? Anyway, I’ll leave you to make your own decisions on that matter.

I have managed to update the first presentation here

and the second one is here

The third part is here

What I like about these presentations is that they clearly show that handheld devices can be of use in Special Education and for special needs pupils in mainstream establishments. Obviously, not all the apps in these presentations will be appropriate for each pupil or even each establishment but these presentations do give some justification for special educators to consider using these devices with their pupils.

I’ve only been able to download and test a few of the apps; the free ones, of course. They seem to work as well as you’d expect them to. I have only been able to use them on an ipod touch (3rd gen) and I would suspect that for some learners the small size of the device and the close proximity of the icons in some apps might be a problem. I do not have a ipad but the larger form factor might make this more suitable for many special needs learners. However, one thing that does strike me about the ipad is that it looks awkward or cumbersome to carry and use and this might be a problem in some circumstances. Nevertheless, either device could be held in the hand, placed on a desk or attached to a chair or wheelchair; making them quite versatile.

If you use any of the apps here or use the ipod touch or ipad in any way with special needs learners, please contact me; I would be really grateful to hear about your work and pass it on to others.

New iPod touch (elearningstuff.wordpress.com)
iPossibilities: iPods and iPads in Special Education (teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com)
Merck PSE HD – iPhone App of the Week (elearningstuff.net)

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Posted in Classroom Technology, Handheld Learning | 3 Comments »

A Hundred Ways to Show What They’ve Learned

Monday, October 24th, 2011

When it comes to exams, assessments, or just asking learners to show what they have learned, education seems to offer only two options;

1) write an essay / thesis / report / paragraph/ sentence

2) tick the correct answer from a list

Yet there must be hundreds, perhaps a thousand different ways in which a learner can demonstrate what they have learned. If you want evidence of some of the many ways, then take a look at John Davitt’s page here, where over a hundred different ways have been listed (you can add your own new ways too).

Technology, e-learning, ICT (call it what you will) seems to be the worst for offering only limited ways of allowing learners to record what they have learned. You are far more likely to be offered a multiple choice question in an e-learning exercise than be asked to, say, draw a picture or make a video. Learners are more likely to use a computer to write an essay rather than make a podcast.

By limiting the ways in which learners use technology we restrict the things we teach them. By focusing upon a narrow range of uses of technology, we restrict the benefits of technology to only those learners whose style of learning best suits that narrow range. It is by widening our uses of technology that we allow the widest range of learners to experience the benefits of technology.

For a tool that is capable of displaying multimedia, multi-sensory and exciting resources, it is despairing to see a computer used in ways that are largely text based, unexciting and favour learners who learn best through reading and writing. When used in such narrow ways, learning technology can be said to be letting down the majority of learners.

Who, though, is to blame and what is the answer? By way of irony, let me give you a multiple choice question and ask you to select the correct answer!

Q) How are learners being let down?

a) Technology is letting down the learners

b) Teachers are letting down the learners

c) The way in which we use technology is letting down the learners

The answer is not a) – technology is not letting down anyone; it is a tool, a versatile tool which can be used in a myriad different ways and has appeal to many people of different backgrounds and personalities.

The answer is not b) – it is not the teachers who are letting learners down; teachers know about different ways of teaching, teachers are great at devising new and interesting approaches to engage their learners.

I believe the answer to be c) – it is by changing the ways in which we use technology that we can improve, expand and transform learning for the benefit of learners.

100 ways to use a VLE – #95 Setting an Assessment (elearningstuff.wordpress.com)
eAssessment (iangardnergb.blogspot.com)
Fast Forward – How Emerging Technologies is Transforming Education and Training (downes.ca)
TECHNOLOGY In 2010 and beyond (slideshare.net)
The challenge of quality in peer-produced eLearning content (downes.ca)
UK Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum and Conference 2009 (olliebray.typepad.com)
Why Schools Should Learn To Use Online Services Like Facebook & YouTube Rather Than Banning Them (techdirt.com)
The effects of peer-versus self-editing on learner autonomy in ESL writing (scienceoftheinvisible.blogspot.com)
Digital Learners – Pay Attention (q-ontech.blogspot.com)
Giving Children the Tools is Not Enough (edte.ch)
TeachMeet Inspiration (l4l.co.uk)
The Myth of the Digital Native (ictineducation.org)
Emerging Tools and Main stream practice (elgg.jiscemerge.org.uk)

A Hundred Ways to Show What Theyve Learned

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Posted in Classroom Technology, Transforming Learning | 1 Comment »

Darn Lesson Plans … Damn Them I Say

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

: Image by dougwoods via Flickr

When I was a class teacher, lesson plans used to be the bane of my life; I hated them! I hated writing them and I would waste, I mean spend, so much of my time writing them. Of course, when I first started teaching, we didn’t have computers so we used to handwrite our plans.

Writing plans by hand took time, of course, as you can imagine. So when computers came along, you’d think things would get easier, wouldn’t you? Don’t be silly! People thought that using a computer would be quicker and neater than handwriting your plans. As it was quicker, you’d have more time, time to spend writing other things, like schemes of work, reports, or even more lesson plans.

Using a computer certainly made my lesson plans neater; if you had seen my handwriting, you’d understand! As for time, though, using a computer took just as long as writing by hand. What people seemed to overlook is that it wasn’t the writing of the plans that took the time, it was the thinking;- thinking about what to do, how to do it and choosing resources. Once you had identified these, the writing them down took no longer than typing them on a computer.

In the early days, a teacher would have to type each lesson plan from scratch. As word-processing developed, along came templates and the teacher found she could simply add text into a lesson-plan template. This was designed to make the task of creating lesson plans a bit easier but it did mean that your thinking and planning had to be constrained into the format of the template used.

So at the turn of the century, teachers and schools would find that they had tens, dozens, hundreds of lesson plans all written on the ubiquitous Word program and all lying around on sheets of paper! Then people started thinking, wouldn’t it be nicer and tidier to start collecting and collating all these lesson plans. This led to a boom in the market for ring-binders and hole punches which staff would use so that they could store all their nicely typed lesson plans.

All of that may have seemed fine for the 1990s but nowadays we seem to think that we needn’t print off our lesson plans, we can read them on screen, we can store them electronically. In addition, we often find it useful to have active hyperlinks in our lesson plans so that we can call up and run digital resources quickly, easily and directly from within our plans. We also seem to think it is ‘greener’, more environmentally friendly, not to print our plans but to display them on screen. In this way we do not waste paper or printer ink and reduce our ‘consumables’ cost (while perhaps ignoring the cost of electricity in running our laptops!)

Why is it, though, that when we go around schools, we still see lesson plans being drawn up using a program that is principally designed to create documents to be printed on paper? Why does the pagination in our word-processing program still fit A4 or Letter sizes, does this matter? Equally, should we be concerned about how to orientate between portrait and landscape layouts? If our work is not going to be printed, why do we concern ourselves with these tools? Surely, at the start of the 21^st Century there must be a better way for teachers to plan lessons!

I have seen a few schools use spreadsheets for lesson planning and some use a mind- or concept mapping tool for planning. Neither of which are ideal, though they appear to work well for some circumstances.

I believe there is a better way. I believe also that the first example of a better way can be seen in a program called Learning Score. It is a program that allows teachers to link directly to digital resources, to allocate time to them within a lesson and to call them up directly on a computer. It allows time also to be allocated for non-digital work within a lesson. It also allows for such time to be adjusted according to the differentiated needs of groups or individual learners.

I will not go into all the merits of Learning Score here, this post has gone on too long already and I have mentioned the program elsewhere on this blog. I would , though, urge all teachers or edtech leaders to examine the program. I will admit that the program has not yet made the impact on schools that I feel it could/should but I guess that is because not enough have yet tried it out.

By way of a final thought. In these days of personalised learning and learning transformation, should we not be showing the learners how to create their own lesson plans? Rather than follow the traditional route of having lesson plans that are teacher created and teacher led, could we not hand lesson planning over to the pupils to encourage them to take on the responsibility for their own learning?

31 Days to Become a Better Ed Tech Leader — Day 16: Create a Lesson Plan Bank (ictineducation.org)
Operation Reboot in US News and World Report (computinged.wordpress.com)
31 Days to Become a Better Ed Tech Leader — Day 14: Look at the Docs (ictineducation.org)
Schoolteachers not switched on to computers (flanderstoday.eu)
Learning Score, a lesson-planning tool. [Review] (dougbelshaw.com)

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Tags: Lesson plan, Lesson planning with technology, teacher tools
Posted in Classroom Technology, Transforming Learning | 3 Comments »

I Can’t Use Technology in my Lessons

Monday, September 19th, 2011

The other day I heard a teacher say, “I can’t use technology in my lessons.” I think I surpressed a groan because I have heard this so many times when visiting schools.

“Why not?” I asked, expecting the answer to be something along the lines of ‘I don’t know how to use a computer’ or ‘I’ve not had training.’ In fact the reply was probably far more revealing …

“Because the ICT department need all the computers and it’s virtually impossible to get the kit from them.”

Now surely to goodness , this sort of situation shouldn’t be happening in our schools nowadays? Here we are, we have a teacher who wants to use technology but cannot because one department, the ICT department, has ownership and control of all the kit. Now, I daresay, the ICT department does need the kit to teach its curriculum and does worry if it finds itself short of resources. Surely, though, in this day and age we cannot simply have all the educational technology under the control of one department? Surely we can no longer have all the kit housed in computer rooms? The time for the resources to be distributed throughout the school and across departments is now well past.

Now, you may wonder what my response to that teacher was. Well I said why not use the technology the learners already have, like smartphones. The teacher went away, thinking about that.

Effective ICT for the new school term – Whizz Education Releases New Information (prweb.com)
Policy Exchange: The Future of Technology in our Schools (olliebray.typepad.com)
Working with what You’ve Got! (dougwoods.co.uk)
7 Tips for Planning an ICT Lesson with One or Two Computers (ictineducation.org)
Technology Is It Worth It? (rangeredtech.wordpress.com)
Education-Technology Lessons from School of One and An Old Tracy-Hepburn Film… (andreagabor.com)

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Tags: Education
Posted in Classroom Technology, education | 6 Comments »

Archive for the ‘Classroom Technology’ Category

Selling Your Thing to Schools

Personal Learning Technology – An Introduction

6 Myths of Education Technology

iPods, iPads and SEN Learners

A Hundred Ways to Show What They’ve Learned

Darn Lesson Plans … Damn Them I Say

I Can’t Use Technology in my Lessons

Contact me

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Doug Woods

Archive for the ‘Classroom Technology’ Category

Selling Your Thing to Schools

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Personal Learning Technology – An Introduction

Related articles

6 Myths of Education Technology

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iPods, iPads and SEN Learners

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A Hundred Ways to Show What They’ve Learned

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Darn Lesson Plans … Damn Them I Say

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I Can’t Use Technology in my Lessons

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Contact me

Follow us on Twitter

Doug Woods