The other day, I met with a group of senior teachers; not ‘senior’ in terms of their position but ‘senior’ in terms of their age and length of service. Amongst other topics, we discussed educational technology, ICT and various approaches to teaching or learning. It was an interesting group within which to discuss technology because this group had been in the profession from the very onset of educational technology, some of them could recall their teaching days before technology, and all could talk about the changing technology they had seen.
I was pleasantly surprised that there were only two members who admitted to not making much use of technology in their current teaching. Both of them felt that they ‘should’ be using technology more. A third member added that it was not simply a case of using technology more but, for them, it was a case of using technology more effectively. There were nods and murmurs of agreement from several others regarding this latter point. There was one ‘wag’ who chimed in that we needn’t worry about using technology as the new government would ensure that pretty soon there’d be no technology in the classroom.
To try to deflect the discussion away from politics, I asked the group whether all their teaching was done in classrooms. This question seemed at first to draw some puzzled looks, until one teacher, who taught science and PE, stated that part of his teaching was done in a gym or a field. It transpired that none of the group had been involved in team teaching, only one had experience of open-plan schools (and not a positive experience, it seemed) and none had experience of working with pupils in ‘learning spaces’. So it seemed that almost all their teaching had been in a traditional classroom, unless, as one chimed in, you count ‘taking assembly’ or ‘residential visits’; it was felt by a few, though, that such activities were not really ‘teaching’.
I wasn’t sure what sort of response I’d get when I asked about Virtual Learning Environments and whether any had used one of these. I was pleasantly surprised though when the immediate response was ‘oh, you mean Learning Platform. Yes we have one of those.’ It turned out that almost all the group were aware of Learning Platforms and were making some use of them. In fact the group seemed quite knowledgable regarding which learning platform their school or Local Authority was using; Fronter, Frog, It’s Learning, Uniservity and Merlin, though those using Merlin were not quite sure it was a learning platform in the same way as others were describing theirs. One member said that her school ‘had a Moodle’ but wasn’t sure whether that was a learning platform as such. Another asked whether Education City and Espresso, things she used to use at her former primary school, could be counted as learning platforms?
Okay, so the group wasn’t always clear about what constituted a VLE, or Learning Platform, but their responses didn’t quite reflect the ‘doom and gloom’ often expressed regarding learning platforms, the way in which they have been implemented, their cost and the limited use being made of them. When the discussion turned to how they used learning platforms, there was a wide response. Almost all said they do, or had, used them for storing lesson plans, worksheets and tests. One member talked about creating geography materials as a follow up to lessons, which pupils could access from home. I asked if anyone had any online courses for pupils to follow, to which only the person whose school used Moodle responded that she had worked with another staff member to create a course.
Finally, as the group wasn’t just there to discuss technology, we talked about other types of technology being used by the group. All now used a laptop computer whereas some had previously used only a desktop and all seemed to feel that this was an improvement. All were using Windows ® based machines and none had used Apple or Linux based computers. All had used a whiteboard and data projector, all bar two, who had just a plain whiteboard, used interactive whiteboards (which seemed to be used mostly to display an image from the projector and were placed at the front of the classroom)
Each member of the group had a mobile phone, which they mostly used to make voice calls, though a few also used txt. None had used their mobile phone to take pictures or video, most said they did not think their phone had that facility. Although most said that their pupils had and knew how to use a mobile phone, none allowed mobile phones to be used in a lesson and most said their school either barred or had some system for collecting mobile phones centrally during the school day. The ‘only acceptable’ use of mobile phones which this group would countenance would be in emergency cases or, possibly just possibly, on a field trip to maintain contact. The group felt there was no place at all for handheld or games consoles in education!
The group also discussed many other aspects of education, including school buildings and design. All were aware of BSF and two said that their schools were included in a future wave of BSF. None were aware of the Primary Capital Programme. All seemed to believe that the purpose of BSF was to replace dilapidated school buildings; something which they felt was of ‘high’ priority. None seemed aware of the significant ICT role in BSF.
Of course, this group met before the recent announcements from the government regarding the cessation of the BSF programme; which only makes the point I made in another post, that working with what you’ve already got is paramount.
One thing that did clearly emerge from the discussion with the senior teachers is the belief that things in education go round in circles, or cycles. Some felt that the call for ‘personalised learning’ was just the return of ‘child-centred teaching’ in a slightly different guise. Others expressed bemusement at the way ‘topic webs’ seemed to have gained in favour in recent years. So I guess none would be surprised at the demise of ICT from the spotlight.
It was clear, though, that all of them were using ICT; even the couple who felt they weren’t, seemed to accept that they ‘should’ be. I feel none of them would welcome a return to teaching without the support of technology. That last statement, though, is possibly indicative of the way in which this group, and many other teachers, view both technology and teaching. Technology is all too often viewed as a tool or a support. Teaching is too often planned as something to be ‘delivered’ from the front of a class. Technology is rarely seen as a tool to access learning, unless the teacher says so.
For those members of the profession who have been teaching for many, say 20 or 30, years, to be told that the methods and approaches you use are no longer appropriate can be very annoying. Yet, as I have written elsewhere, that is the essence of learning transformation. Being aware of and using modern technology is not enough; this is something that was made clear to me from the discussions within the group of senior teachers.
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