Todays blog is off topic for the class, yet in another way its not. I am currently taking an engineering managment class on organizational change. I am thoroughly enjoying the material and looking at things from a very logical and discrete view again. It is my comfort zone.
We are reading Collins book Good to Great and Kotter/Cohen The Heart of Change along with Who Moved My Cheese. It is an interesting combination of books and the content not so unlike looking at why teachers wont change to use technology. In Good to Great and The Heart of Change the change discussed comes from the leadership and a shared vision. After having the right people in place the change is then, according to Kotter, sprung from a sense of urgency. With that that sense of urgency, it is difficult to get people motivated. A logical argument does not motivate change like a sense of urgency does.
So what creates a sense of urgency in teachers to change to use technology. Is there leadership that spurs it on? When considering asking one teacher to change, what does it take to create that catalyst for change.
It seems to me that simply making a logical argument for FOSS based on cost and its there, does not provide the basic organziational management to create change and remove teachers from their comfort zone to use technology in a way they do not desire or feel is even necessary. Maybe a different theoretical framework, one based on management, might be better utilized.
Ok.. so there is no research backing up my thoughts here.. they are just that ... my thoughts and something I may, or may not, pursue further.
Monday, March 23, 2009
A design based research project
This post is about a design based research project in keeping in line with the concepts brought out in class.
With the Linux terminal server project Jay is involved in he is proposing that providing the computers to the classrooms will make enough of a difference that teachers might integrate the technology. He has done several iterations of this type of project and one way to pull it together would be with a design based scenario. There is also a product being developed during a design based research project and theory tested.
The Product: To develop a configuration specification of hardware, software that would easily accessible to integrate into classrooms.
This is not a project for one class, but rather for a longer extended time: More to follow on this at a later date.
With the Linux terminal server project Jay is involved in he is proposing that providing the computers to the classrooms will make enough of a difference that teachers might integrate the technology. He has done several iterations of this type of project and one way to pull it together would be with a design based scenario. There is also a product being developed during a design based research project and theory tested.
The Product: To develop a configuration specification of hardware, software that would easily accessible to integrate into classrooms.
This is not a project for one class, but rather for a longer extended time: More to follow on this at a later date.
My project
Since I wasnt able to be in class on Thursday night, I'm going to recap my project here. I have been working a lot with FOSS from many different ways.
So with this said, the rest of my semester looks like this:
The small paper: Here I will look at the barriers to teachers using technology, the internet, and FOSS that I can find in the literature. This will be the lit review for my project.
The project: Based on the barriers discovered above, a weekly survey will be created and given to the teachers using the LTSP above. This weekly survey will be a pilot for the project to ascertain what questions SHOULD we be asking. If I get a chance to interview some of the teachers, so much the better.
I'm going out to the Episcopal School on Tuesday morning. Hopefully I will have the survey done by the middle of next week, and can send it out. This survey will then become a tool in the iterations of a larger, design based project I would like to do.
- Through the Linux Terminal Server Projects that Jay has been working on. Currently there are two such projects of interest: one in Cumberland County, and secondly the Episcopal School here in Knoxville. Both are using servers and thin clients for computer services in the class room. It is in this area that I will be doing my project -- but more on that in a bit
- Through a class, we have been looking at perceptions of using FOSS as a before and after analysis. That is, what do the students (preservice teachers usually) think about FOSS when the start the course and how do they view FOSS at the end of the course.
- Through my summer teaching of high schoolers and their perceptions of FOSS both before and after being exposed to it. One comment I might make here is the ease with which these students were able to use FOSS. No training required. Simply tell them where the software was (in this case word processing) and they were able to use it with no instructions.
So with this said, the rest of my semester looks like this:
The small paper: Here I will look at the barriers to teachers using technology, the internet, and FOSS that I can find in the literature. This will be the lit review for my project.
The project: Based on the barriers discovered above, a weekly survey will be created and given to the teachers using the LTSP above. This weekly survey will be a pilot for the project to ascertain what questions SHOULD we be asking. If I get a chance to interview some of the teachers, so much the better.
I'm going out to the Episcopal School on Tuesday morning. Hopefully I will have the survey done by the middle of next week, and can send it out. This survey will then become a tool in the iterations of a larger, design based project I would like to do.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Next...........
I think I’m on a roll today objecting to the papers presented. Maybe that is because I am a more critical reader… Maybe I’m just in a bad mood and laying into things.
I think to start this discussion I am going to state my definition of the digital divide : it is the gap between those who use computers and those who do not. It is NOT about using computers to further the agenda of socially marginalized groups who do not show a lack of technology usage.
The paper we read had three distinct studies in it: the CNI the LBGT and then the Afya Community action plan from SisterNet. In theCNI and the SisterNet, projects both discussed how community action can be used as empowerment for the groups AND to increase the technology use to cross the digital divide between the have technology and the have NOT’s. However, in this middle section it was strictly about how the internet can be used to empower a marginalized group of people. No where did I see the implication that there was a digital divide to cross.
Do I believe the internet is a great tool for social empowerment. Yes, most definitely. But for some reason when I read the abstract and introduction I was expecting more about how the empowerment would affect the digital divide. Yet, the main focus was more how the web can empower people. To me, it appeared the authors used the digital divide as a “smoke screen” to further their empowerment objective.
I think to start this discussion I am going to state my definition of the digital divide : it is the gap between those who use computers and those who do not. It is NOT about using computers to further the agenda of socially marginalized groups who do not show a lack of technology usage.
The paper we read had three distinct studies in it: the CNI the LBGT and then the Afya Community action plan from SisterNet. In theCNI and the SisterNet, projects both discussed how community action can be used as empowerment for the groups AND to increase the technology use to cross the digital divide between the have technology and the have NOT’s. However, in this middle section it was strictly about how the internet can be used to empower a marginalized group of people. No where did I see the implication that there was a digital divide to cross.
Do I believe the internet is a great tool for social empowerment. Yes, most definitely. But for some reason when I read the abstract and introduction I was expecting more about how the empowerment would affect the digital divide. Yet, the main focus was more how the web can empower people. To me, it appeared the authors used the digital divide as a “smoke screen” to further their empowerment objective.
Digital Divide
I feel sort of negative about this week's readings on the digital divide. The first article I read was the Ono one. When I finished it I felt like I had gone through mental gymnastics to understand the statistics of what common sense might has told someone. It simly could be said that based on the statistics from the US Census, it has been shown what one might expect.
If you are an immigrant and speak Spanish, the your availability and use of the internet are less than if you are a native of the US. The findings include:
Gap of education and technology use among immigrants has widened not lessened (with the recent influx of the Spanish population in Knoxville it would stand to reason the gap has widened here)
The findings mirror already established patterns
Not knowing English is an obstacle to using the web
Lack of a social support network is an obstacle
The purpose of the paper was to investigate the effect of the English ability on using the web. And started off with measuring IT usage in many different categories. From the findings the Immigrants were significantly lower. OK .. at this point I have to say it so DUH! and we are surprised how? Less money… less money to buy a computer and obtain access.
Next findings.
· US Natives speak English better
· the longer an immigrant is here the better the English becomes
· computers in libraries and community centers and other locations have not succeeded in reducing the gap.
I guess now that I have taken the time to read 20 some pages of “proof” I’m all the wiser.. but DUH.
If you are an immigrant and speak Spanish, the your availability and use of the internet are less than if you are a native of the US. The findings include:
Gap of education and technology use among immigrants has widened not lessened (with the recent influx of the Spanish population in Knoxville it would stand to reason the gap has widened here)
The findings mirror already established patterns
Not knowing English is an obstacle to using the web
Lack of a social support network is an obstacle
The purpose of the paper was to investigate the effect of the English ability on using the web. And started off with measuring IT usage in many different categories. From the findings the Immigrants were significantly lower. OK .. at this point I have to say it so DUH! and we are surprised how? Less money… less money to buy a computer and obtain access.
Next findings.
· US Natives speak English better
· the longer an immigrant is here the better the English becomes
· computers in libraries and community centers and other locations have not succeeded in reducing the gap.
I guess now that I have taken the time to read 20 some pages of “proof” I’m all the wiser.. but DUH.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)