Following on from my last post I thought I would have another go at an EdTech graphic but this time focussing fully on the forgotten technologies.
Some are forgotten, but can be found in a dusty cupboard, and when you come upon them you positively reflect on their impact. For me the BBC B micro is one of these forgotten items, which, had it not existed, I am not sure I would have become so interested and motivated by technology.
Some are forgotten for the best. These are the technologies which came and went, possibly with some fanfare by sales people on their arrival, but little more than a whimper as they disappeared from use having had little impact on learning but having costs schools a pretty penny.In some cases these were technologies which were good but just didnt catch on. In other cases these were flashy objects with limited use but high cost. The voting buttons which some Interactive Whiteboard manufacturers flogged is just one example.
And lastly, there are the technologies which personally I wish were forgotten but for now seem determined to stay around. These are the technologies where I am not convinced to the impact, but where the cost seems clear, and therefore the value is doubtful. For me the dreaded interactive whiteboard, that 20+ year old bit of technology, fits this category.
I wonder how this graphic might look 10years from now?
Further to my last post I thought I would try and encapsulate the technologies which I have experienced, and which come to mind in relation to my time working in schools, in a graphic. The below is what I came up with:
Now I know I have missed some key technologies such as the BBC B however my experience of this was as a student rather than a teacher or someone working in schools, hence why I didnt include it. Given this I may expand this graphic in the future.
But for now, considering the late 1990s, the 2000s, 2010s and early 2020s, is there anything I have missed?
My last post looked forwards, considering what next, so it seemed natural to also do a little bit of reflection. I have now been involved in schools, including my teacher training, for around 26years. In that time I have seen a number of technology items come and go.
1990s
I went through my teacher training in the mid-90s working as a “technology” teacher in departments where craft and design was still the most significant part of the taught curriculum. Overhead projectors were still widely in use as were the traditional chalk whiteboard. I remember on many occasions arriving home to find the left hand side of my suit covered in chalk dust from where I had brushed the board while writing on it.
During my teacher training, I took a laptop and LCD panel into a school I was attending as a trainee teacher; The panel was basically an LCD matrix, which fitted over a conventional OHP, allowing the OHP to provide the light which then projected the LCD image onto a wall or pull down screen. I was using the unit to display a little 3D animation I had created for a lesson on orthographic projection. The hope was the little animation of a 3D object would help students visualise the 3, 2D projection planes. For me this panel was the precursor for the common data projector now seen in classrooms everywhere.
2000s
The start of the 2000s saw me now teaching Computing/IT in an FE college. Data projectors were now much more common, and from what I can remember, were available in each of the Computing/IT classrooms. It was at this point the Interactive Whiteboard seemed to start to make an appearance. My first experience was of Promethean whiteboards and the often lost pen which came with them, an expensive item for schools given the loss rate. I need to admit to being quite eager in the use of IWBs back then; They were an infrastructure item which was dealt with by the IT Services department so all I saw was their potential, and not the cost; Who would fail to be positive about a new technology item with an apparent zero cost. It would be later in my career where I started to consider cost vs. benefit of IWBs and develop a less than positive view of them.
Around the same time there was a big push on all schools and colleges having a virtual learning environment. Again, I was positive about the potential at that time. I didn’t fully appreciate the amount of time that would be taken creating and keeping content up to date, plus the tendency for VLEs to simply end up as a dumping ground for worksheets. I will however note, the VLE did start to push the boundaries in terms of where learning could take place, suddenly allowing students to access learning resources provided by their teachers at any time and in any place, or at least any place with internet access.
Laptops for teachers came and went during this period. It was great when the funding was available as schools bought their staff nice new laptops which helped in preparing resources, marking, record keeping, etc. The issue was to come 3 or 4 years later as laptops reached the end of their lifespan yet the funding to replace them no longer existed.
Gaming was also something I got involved in back in the 2000s, introducing cross college gaming competitions initially using some Xboxes, then Xbox 360’s and latterly on PCs with the Halo series of games being particularly popular. As I returned to secondary education, my teachers desk drawer hid a PlayStation 2, connected to my classroom projector, while most of the PCs had a number of strategy games such as Age of Empire on them for LAN gaming after school hours.
It was at this time I made an attempt at paperless assessment. As a visiting moderator I was astounded at the amount of paper I was presented with when moderator the BTec IT qualifications so set myself the challenge of presenting our moderator all of the evidence electronically rather than as printed copies. It did take a bit of explaining to the moderator, who like me normally would be presented by reems and reems of printed copy yet was now just presented with a CD-Rom and a PC.
2010s
The start of the 2010s saw me in the Middle East where some schools which hadnt embraced technology yet while others were in similar situations to schools in the UK. Those schools which hadnt embraced technology might have IT labs but these were often not networked and were without internet access. The schools themselves often only had a basic domestic internet service available in a limited number of areas and there were certainly no PCs or data projectors in the average classroom. For these schools, heavy investment would see the basic infrastructure put in quite quickly with training quickly following.
In the schools where technology had been embraced, the 2010’s saw the start of discussions around 1:1 devices with the iPad being a particularly favoured device. Students could now enjoy the power of technology to communicate, to collaborate, to problem solve and to be creative in their lessons, all supported by their own individual bit of technology.
Cloud based productivity suites also made their appearance in the 2010s with Google Classroom being a favourite. I myself made use of the Google suite of apps in a number of schools although when I returned to the UK in the middle of the 2010’s I then switched to the competing solution provided by Microsoft in Office 365. Office 365 quickly developed to catch up with Google, who stole the initial march in this area, with the launch of Microsoft Teams being a key moment in the development and use of Office 365 in schools and colleges.
The flipped classroom idea made an appearance; So, teachers using technology so students can do the learning at home, and then practice it in class with their teachers, rather than learning in school and practising, through homework, at home.
2020s
Its early days. A pandemic has accelerated the use of technology in schools but also highlighted the issues such as a lack of general investment in infrastructure, devices and in professional development around technology use in schools. I have already posted some thoughts for what might come next in this decade however additionally I think its worth mentioning esports and Virtual Reality. I see esports as a key area of growth in the years ahead with Virtual Reality also showing some very clear potential although I do worry that VR may go the way of the 3D projector, and be something which doesn’t quite live up to the hype or mainstream use.
Conclusion
Its interesting looking back. When I think of each decade I have clear memories of the technologies which were becoming common or trending in education. I suspect there are other technologies which I have missed from my post but these are the ones which stuck out in my memory. I also note, that maybe as I have got older I have became a bit more balanced on my views as to new technologies, whereas when I was younger my eagerness may have got the better of me.
Or maybe I am just becoming a little more cynical when speaking with Technology salespeople?
The last year has seen schools and other educational establishments jump forward in their use of technology. Note, I say Technology rather than EdTech as I think EdTech represents a narrower, and often slightly biased view on the technology actually in use in education. The question I now find myself with, when thinking about technology strategy, is where next?
The last year saw 1:1 devices, whether school issued or bring your own, grow massively as schools sought to continue learning despite students being at home. It also saw a massive jump towards cloud platforms including Office 365, Google Workspace for education (I think that’s what its now called!), Showbie and many more. Additionally, video, either pre-recorded or live, became a key part of lessons. Some of these things are now very much hear to stay or at the very least will be significantly more common than they were prior to the pandemic.
But what comes next? What are the next jumps forward?
I decided to give this some thought and try to do a little future gazing. I will acknowledge one thing the last year has taught me, and that is that we cant accurately predict very far into the future; Who predicted 2020 would start with a pandemic? But that said, I think it is important to look forward and at least try and imagine where we might be going.
Learning anywhere, anytime
The pandemic saw creation of massive amounts of learning content largely in the format of videos. There is an increasing amount of learning content which students can access independently both available on the internet, but also within their own schools learning platforms. The pandemic has shown us that learning can take place outside the classroom. As a result I think we will start to see more of this learning anywhere and anytime although possibly it will start of with a growing number of students being directed to, or self-engaging in, such content rather than a momentous shift of learning in general. Maybe we will see the revenge of the MOOC, but maybe not in the same format/shape as in 2012 when the fanfare of MOOCs never quite came to all that they promised. Or maybe we will just see the continued creation of free to access learning content, by educators across the world followed by the curation of such content ready for teachers and students to access as needed. Another possibility might be an increasing in the number of virtual schools. There are certainly a number of options as to how learning anywhere, anytime might progress.
Micro Credentials
Linked to the above, we will likely see students potentially engaging in learning broader than the taught curriculum, but maybe only dipping in and out of subjects or topics of interest at a given moment in time. I think there is the potential for this to reignite the need for micro digital credentials or badges; A way for smaller units of study, much smaller than a traditional GCSE or A-Level, to be recognised with some sort of digital badge. Now, I note that digital badges have been around for some time, however I think the current situation may see them become a subject of discussion, development and greater use. I myself am already looking to make use of digital badges with at least one programmes run in my school.
AI (Artificial intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning)
AI and ML are already in use in schools, in the automatic transcripts created from Teams meetings, in our grammar and spellchecker and in a number of other almost transparent ways. We have also seen the growth in educational products which allegedly use AI or ML, however often in my view this is just these terms being used as buzzwords as opposed to products actually using AI or ML. This is something we need to challenge by asking vendors to explain how their product uses AI or ML. Going forward though, I think we will see increasing applications of AI and ML to teaching and learning, to assessment and to drawing conclusions from the massive wealth of data which schools routinely produce. I see the use of AI and ML in identifying patterns and correlations in school data which will allow teachers to be more responsive to our learners and their learning. The potential is significant however I believe it needs to be led by schools/colleges rather than the tech vendors seeking to sell the next big thing. I therefore think we need more projects like that at Bolton College and all the work the have done on Ada, their student assistant.
Conclusion
The three items above, learning anytime anywhere, micro credentials and AI/ML are the three areas I can see growing in the next five years. There are other areas such as virtual or augmented reality which I also see scope for growth, however the three areas mentioned are the ones I see to be more likely to see significant progress. It is always very difficult to predict the future, and even more so when it comes to technology, however I wonder if in five years’ time I will look back on this post and prove to be correct? Or maybe I will be miles off the mark.
When looking at teachers using Technology in lessons, one of the key indicators in relation to their successful use of technology is confidence. Those who, in my experience, have had the most success have been confident about how they plan to use technology and the impact it will have. That is not to say that it always goes well or as they would have expected, but they are confident in outlook, and when things don’t go as intended, they confidently deal with this as a road bump rather than an obstacle, before moving on.
The challenge therefore is how do we build this confidence, with “training” being key. Training in relation to the technology itself and how it works, and training in relation to how to use it for the purposes of teaching and learning.
One of the limitations though in relation to training, to sharing and building confidence, is time. Time to train has historically been limited to specific inset days where the schedule is often prescriptive. To counter this limitation, we have increasingly been referring to continual professional development (CPD) or continual professional learning (CPL); I prefer the later as the former suggests something is lacking and in need of development. The emphasis here, in both versions, being on the “continual” nature of the learning and sharing. It isnt a once a year or once a term, but something ongoing, continual and day to day. It should be part of the culture of our schools.
The challenge with CPL (or is CPLS better, where the S refers to sharing? Education has more acronyms than a series of Line of Duty!) is supporting it to occur and I think the last year of lockdown has given us a bit of a window into what we need to be doing.
The last year has seen massive amounts of fast paced change as teachers across the world have had to shift from face to face classroom learning, the type that every teacher would have been used to post their training, to online teaching and learning. What I have seen as a result of this forced change is a need to find support and help. This need has been met through online platforms, EdTech tools and social media, including solutions such as Microsoft’s Educator Centre, through groups of proficient users such as Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts, Google Certified Educators and Apple Innovative Teachers, and also through more local groups including groups of schools which have come together to support each other. I have also seen support groups form in individual schools using platforms such as Microsoft Teams to allow staff within school to share their successes and issues, and for other staff to learn from and support each other as and when required. This is something I feel has worked well in my own school.
The last year has seen various support groups pop up plus I suspect will have seen greater engagement in such groups as teachers everywhere sought to adapt to the forced change brought about by the pandemic. Teachers have been sharing their issues, sharing their techniques, sharing what worked and what didn’t, supporting each other to get through the challenges the pandemic has brought. For me the key going forward is for these groups to continue to support teachers, providing a place to share techniques, ideas and thoughts, and for teachers continue to engage. These groups also need to exist at different levels from the large corporate sponsored groups offered by Microsoft and Google, through to the support groups operating inside our schools, made up of our colleagues helping one another.
One of my favourite phrases continues to be “the smartest person in the room, is the room”. I think this is key to “training” or CPL. The days of the expert trainer and one-off training session are gone and especially in relation to EdTech where technologies change, disappear or are introduced on a daily basis. As such it is critical we embrace a more open, just in time model, sharing not just what works but openly discussing what hasn’t worked, so that we can all benefit. This needs to be available throughout the year for teachers to engage as and when it is appropriate for them, to dip in and out as needed.
I do wonder that maybe one of the challenges we currently have is that the sharing of ideas, resources, etc is spread across different platforms. I have seen resources on specific websites belonging to companies or groups, on social media using twitter, on YouTube, on MS Teams, etc. As such it can be difficult or time consuming to find things, plus it means that on each particular platform you are only able to access a subset of the teaching expertise available rather than all of it. I suspect this fractured nature of sharing and the associated resources is unlikely to change as people tend to their preferred platform or the platform used within their school, however I suspect as we move forward there will be a greater curation of the available resources.
Building confidence is key to the successful use of EdTech in schools. We therefore need to consider how we support and enable confident to be built. Also worth noting, the above refers to confidence of staff however it is equally important that we build confidence in our students, however I will leave that for another post.
Prior to covid-19 I attended a CIO event, where presenter after presenter talked about how their organisation was now looking at sustainability and how to be more environmentally concious. Up until this point, when I considered sustainability in relation to IT my thinking was focussed on the financial and resources implications of IT. If we purchase a particular service or equipment, will we be able to continue to support it in terms of ongoing replacement, licensing, and also other support costs into the future? If the answer is yes, then it is a sustainable solution and therefore one we can move forward with.
Having attended the CIO event, I am now thinking a little bit differently. I am now thinking about the environmental implications of procurement, of continued use and of disposal or recycling.
Procurement
When purchasing IT equipment or services we need to start thinking more about the implications of our decisions on the environment. If it is hardware, we are looking at we need to consider how the product is created, whether recyclable materials are used, how the product is delivered and the resultant fuel requirements, plus also the packaging which may be used. We need to start asking our suppliers to prove they are environmentally concious.
In relation to online services, we need to start considering the power implications of running servers and the associated cooling of such servers. Are online service companies acting responsibly and carbon offsetting for example?
Continued use
The environmental implications of how a service or company operates have recently been highlighted to me in two companies which choose to send me significant piles of invoice documentation in the post. I found myself wondering about the cost to the environment of the paper used, the ink, the process of printing and then of transporting the documents to me via conventional post. It struck me that both companies clearly were not very concious of the environmental impact of their decision to post me stacks of invoices rather than providing these documents online.
I have since challenged both companies to re-think their processes, which I hope is something they have taken on board. I think we all need to do more to challenge where processes have not been designed with minimising their environmental impact in mind.
Disposal
Disposal is a relatively obvious part of the product lifecycle and one we should generally already have in mind. We need to ensure that equipment which reaches the end of its useful life with us, either can be moved on to be reused or can be, as much as is possible, recycled.
Conclusion
I will admit to not previously giving the environmental impact of my decisions enough consideration. It may have been that my assumption was that each company should be doing this however now I have come to realise that it is for each of use to challenge the companies we work with, the third party suppliers and services, to ensure that together we are environmentally concious. Going forward I am therefore going to develop a framework for challenging my third parties in relation to environmental consciousness plus will also be conducting a review of our own practices.
It is for all of us to develop our environmental consciousness with a view to ensuring the sustainability of the planet which supports our lives.
In relation to one of my previous posts looking at Technology infrastructure I received a comment regarding schools having the relevant expertise to make appropriate technology purchasing and setup/configuration decisions.
“I think one of the biggest barriers is many schools do not have the expertise to truly understand what infrastructure they need. “
This comment got me thinking about the challenge of making technology infrastructure decisions.
I don’t know what I don’t know
The first challenge when looking at infrastructure relates to not knowing what we don’t know. Technology advances quickly and technology companies love to invent new terminology and acronyms. As such it is very difficult to keep up to date. Additionally, in considering technology we have to look at its usability, reliability, technical functionality, cost effectiveness, cyber security and many other aspects. When looking at new technology or technology which you don’t have experience with, it is almost impossible to know all you ideally need to know.
Vendors and Salespeople
Technology salespeople will often indicate that they have your best interests in mind and that their product is superior to others. They will also play up what is “possible” and play down any particular difficulties or limitations of their solution. This is all to be expected, after all as salespeople their job is to sell a product or service. Sadly, however, it means you might come out of calls with different competing vendors without truly knowing which solution is best for your context.
Change management
No matter how good your planning is, if your technology infrastructure project is sufficiently complex, which is becoming increasingly the case with all technology projects, there is a high likelihood that there will be things you could not or did not predict. As such the management of change will not be as simple as anticipated and any plan you had, is unlikely to capture the complexities of the real world.
So, what can we do about it?
My first piece of advice is to read and consult widely. Talk to different companies, read case studies, watch webinars and generally try to keep up to date as much as you can. It is unlikely this will give you all the relevant information for infrastructure decision making, but it’s a good place to start. This does take time, however its time well spent.
Make use of groups or forums involving other educational establishments. There are plenty of forums available including the Association of Network Managers in Education (ANME) for one. These groups allow you to seek support and advice from others who have undertaken infrastructure and other projects. You can ask for advice as to possible solutions or seek the experiences of others in relation to particular vendors or services. As such they are a valuable source of help and can allow you to gather expertise with little cost other than time.
Consider the use of a technology integrator. Using such third parties allows you to make use of their expertise to help you with your technology projects. This includes their experience of project management of infrastructure projects in the education sector. Obviously the one thing to take care of here is that they too are looking to sell you their expertise and time, and therefore it is well worth talking to other schools for their experiences, in selecting a possible integrator. Now I note that this will generally increase project cost however in hopefully reduces the likelihood of mis-steps along the way, where trying to take on projects in-house, so is often well worth the cost. It is also increasingly becoming difficult, with increasing complexity of projects, to have sufficient expertise in house meaning the requirement for external support is becoming more common.
Start small. Avoid going all in on a project as no matter what planning has been done, it is unlikely you will have been able to predict all eventualities. So, try to start with a trial or pilot of new infrastructure to see how it works within your context and to allow you to identify any issues which you wouldn’t have been able to identify in advance. Some vendors will be happy to accommodate free or discounted cost trials, so it never hurts to ask.
Conclusion
As we seek to use more technology and as the technology, and integration of different technologies gets more complex, it is becoming increasingly common not to have the relevant technology expertise available in a school or school group. In fact, I think it is almost becoming the norm now. It may be that those that think they have 95% – 100% of the expertise needed, outside of simple projects, are being overconfident.
As such we now need to focus on developing expertise and on leveraging the collective expertise available within the education sector, and even beyond. I believe we also need to embrace that technology in schools, including the associated infrastructure, is part of a journey. Given this, we will seldom start out with everything we need.
Schools need devices both as a tool for learning but also in being prepared for lockdown situations such as those currently being experienced, whether these come about due to a pandemic or due to another cause.
In the UK some work has been done on getting devices to students, some through the DfE and some through charities and other groups, or even schools themselves trying to gather up devices and distribute for use of students.
We have come a long way however we have some way to go.
Now I will note that we can’t ignore that devices themselves aren’t enough. We need internet access, and the required infrastructure which provides this, which currently not all have. I have posted previously in relation to the need for infrastructure. Additionally, we need training for parents, students and teachers plus we need support structures so they can seek help when needed.
The other big concern I have however is sustainability. We may have issued devices to many students during the course of the pandemic however this is only a temporary solution. This effort and investment solves the issue for some students as it is now and for the short term future however in 3 or 4 years time the devices which have been issued will be out of date, may have failing batteries or may no longer be supporting updates to their operating systems, and may represent a cyber risk. At this point we will find ourselves back where we were 1 year ago when the pandemic began. Once again, we will find ourselves in need of effort and investment to get replacement devices into the hands of our students.
I remember back to “laptops for teachers” and to working in schools some 4 or 5 years later. The devices needed replacement however the original centralised funding was no longer present and schools themselves didn’t have the funding in place to replace the laptops which teaching staff had been given access to. What we really need, isnt just investment and effort now, what we need is a longer-term strategy and plan which lays out how we will make sure our efforts now are sustainable and constant into the future.
As to the specifics of the devices themselves, I have at times showed preference for iPads, for Chromebooks and also more recently for Microsoft Surface devices. In reality, despite my changing personal preferences, I recognise that each device has its advantages and may fit differing contexts so acknowledge that there is no single answer. For me the key needs are devices which have good battery life, are portable, robust and reliable. I also think inking ability is becoming increasingly useful although may not quite be a requirement yet. A decent camera is also a requirement however this is now a standard feature of modern devices.
There is also the issue of whether all students should have access to the same device or whether it is ok for students in the same class to have different devices and to bring their own device. Each of these two options has its challenges. For example, a single device is a challenge in terms of cost whereas bring your own devices is challenging in terms of teachers supporting different devices and the lack of consistency. Again, I don’t think there is a single best answer, it is very much dependent in the context of the individual school.
Thinking about it, the key issue in relation to devices, is simply ensuring that teachers and students have access to a device. Once students have the required digital tool, it is then possible to make use of it to support, enhance and even reimagine learning.
Access to devices is another fundamental requirement if we are to effectively use technology in learning and in schools.
There was a time when safeguarding in relation to technology use was simple. I remember when this was the case, when I was teaching IT in a secondary school as well as acting as the IT coordinator. The only devices with internet access which the students had access to were in the school, the technologies to allow bypassing of filtering or which might make filtering difficult were few and far between, plus generally only for techie types rather than users in general. Back then it was simple; Your internet filtering kept students from harmful content plus allowed you to monitor what students were doing online so you could tick the compliance box in relation to online safety.
The world isnt as simple anymore.
Although you still have your filtering in place you cannot consider this enough anymore. Firstly students now are likely to have a mobile phone with data connectivity; The filtering of internet access on your school network is of little use here whether students are using their connectivity for themselves or even sharing it as a wi-fi hotspot for their friends. And in some schools students will even be bringing their own devices to school to actively use in lessons.
Tools for maintaining user privacy have also changed significantly. 15 years ago, in the secondary school I taught in, students would attempt to bypass filtering using web proxies. These were easy to identify and therefore easy to then block. Students used these as it was easy for them to use, simply requiring only the web address of the proxy. Today students have access to all manner of tools from VPNs, which are now advertised on TV in relation to personal data security, to the ability to setup a dark web site with only one or two clicks. Some services even market the fact they don’t keep logs. Disposable email and social media accounts can easily be created as and when needed, or maybe even spin up a virtual PC in the cloud, use it then destroy in when done, taking with it any evidence of what it was used for. The tools schools have to keep students within a safe internet bubble havent changed much, but the user-friendly tools which students have access to in order to bypass any restrictions have grown significantly.
Next the increasing need for privacy and security online is moving all sites and services towards systems which are less easy to monitor. First it was almost all sites moving from HTTP to HTTPS. The next step seems to be a move to DNS over HTTPS. Given DNS requests are a key feature of filtering solutions, the encryption of these requests will render filtering solutions unable to see which sites students are actually visiting. A solution here is SSL decryption which would allow filtering solutions to decrypt and then re-encrypt DNS requests as well as data however this in itself has its implications; Is it acceptable to break a fundamental security measure built into sites in the interests of safeguarding? By breaking the fundamental security of website traffic could we put student data at risk as it traverses our filtering solutions, and if so, is this risk acceptable? And, is all of this effort worth it if students can simply hop onto their 4G/5G signal and bypass all of these precautions at will?
For me, what was very much a simple compliance measure in the need for a filtering solution has now changed significantly. We need to therefore stop looking at this issue in terms of simply having filtering/monitoring in place and consider it from a broader risk point of view. What are the benefits of how we use technology in our school? What are the risks? How do we reduce/mitigate these risks? Do any of our mitigation measures limit potential positive uses of technology and is this acceptable?
For me it is all about a balance between an open network allowing students to explore the breadth of potential positive uses of technology, along with the corresponding risk, versus a closed environment where technology usage is limited in the name of safety but equally this limits potential beneficial uses of technology. Each school needs to identify where it stands on this continuum, what it supports in terms of technology use and what mitigation measures will be put in place. This then needs to be regularly reviewed in relation to new technologies and also new or changing uses of technology within school.
Safeguarding in relation to technology use is no longer simple; It is no longer a simple compliance tick box, or simple internet filtering box but instead a larger conversation around the benefits and risks of technology use in school, by staff and by students.
For me there are a number of foundation stones upon which successful technology use in schools are built. Some of them are technical in nature and some less so. In this post I want to briefly explore the technical foundations and infrastructure in particular.
One of the things I have found is that building successful use of technology isnt easy. It takes planning, time, effort and much more. The only thing more difficult, is trying to build technology use where your users, your students, staff and parents, are not confident in the technology’s reliability. If while developing the use of technology, the technology proves itself to be unreliable, you will have a hard time getting users to buy back into its use. As such the key is to try and get it right first time.
Infrastructure
Using technology now largely involves devices of some sort being connected to the internet. Devices access the resultant bandwidth through the network infrastructure with the initial connectivity through Wi-Fi or it can be through network cabling. This infrastructure is critically important to technology use. In deciding on the infrastructure needed consideration needs to be given to the number and type of devices which will be in use, how technology will be used as well as the need to futureproof any solutions. Cyber security and safeguarding are also a significant consideration to ensure users are kept safe and that users, systems and data are secure. In my experience good infrastructure isnt cheap, but the costs of a poor infrastructure in terms of lost time, loss of user confidence and lost effort significantly outweighs the financial cost. In relation to cost it is also worth noting that infrastructure costs are not a one-off. Any investment to improve infrastructure requires continued investment to keep everything maintained, supported, secure and also up to date with new technology as it arises. The above applies to both infrastructure in schools to support technology on-site but also the broader need for infrastructure at a national level to support students and teachers at home, as they have been through the recent significant period of lockdown.
I do however wonder in relation to the above whether 5G may start to change things at least inside schools. As we currently look at BYOD and students bringing their own devices, will we eventually be looking at BYON and students bringing their own network, their own infrastructure, in the form of 5G enabled devices. In doing so might this allow schools and other educational establishments to move the funding currently focussed on infrastructure to other areas. On the reverse of this though, this will likely also result in new challenges such as providing support and also safeguarding where each student and teacher is effectively using their own network. It will also be a challenge in terms of access to 5G across countries as a whole; I note some areas in the UK which are currently lucky to get 3G or 4G never mind a 5G signal, and that’s after many years of 3G and 4G being in operation.
Pilots and trials
In developing new infrastructure, pilot projects are key. Through smaller pilot projects you can limit potential loss of confidence, plus users involved are also more likely to accept a level of unreliability or trial and error based on the trial nature of the project. This is all about limiting the scope to limit the risk while allowing new things to be tried, whether this is a Wi-Fi solution or new network switching, etc. Going big from the outset may seem like the way to get things done quickly, however it also represents greater risk, and sometimes the issues that arise mean that it actually takes longer. It also tends to be more costly unless you are lucky and everything goes exactly as is planned, which in my experience is seldom the case with IT projects above a very small scale.
The wider need
The global pandemic has proven that schools across the world were at vastly different places in terms of being ready to use technology to address the challenges which arose. The same is true in relation to technology use in general in schools. The foundational infrastructure is equally varied across schools, however, in my view, requires significant investment both in the short term but also continually in the longer term.
We cannot hope to consider the pedagogy, training of teachers and students, sharing best practice, etc, in relation to technology use in education before we get basic fundamental and reliable infrastructure in place. There is a lot to do in the immediate term to address this and ensure the basic infrastructure exists in all schools. There will then need to be an ongoing effort to maintain this.
The pandemic for me have clearly identified the need for the technology infrastructure to be addressed; Now we just need to do something about it!
Technology and Learning