In past conversations with
instructional technology experts, the most important issue often involved
finances. During my interview with the
Director of Technology for my school district, several points surprised me. The most important point I encountered involved
a mismatch between old legislation and innovative instructional models. Mr. James pointed toward the state’s
reporting system for grades and attendance, stating the required system does
not match some of the instructional models in our school district. Another point he made was that the laws
regarding high school course credits were passed early in the last
century. He indicated that it no longer
makes sense to require a student to have 120 hours of seat time to earn credit
for content they have already mastered. He
alluded to a need to update state legislation to match today’s education.
I thought these were valid
points, yet I had not truly considered education legislation as being
antiquated and outdated, when compared to today’s student needs. As I have reflected on our conversation, I
realize Mr. James has made a profound point.
One of our sons sat through a course on Visual Basics last fall. He was bored with the class because he was
not learning anything new. Most of the
content he encountered was “old hat” because he had already researched and
taught himself the skills. He completed assignments relatively quickly, then he played noneducational online games. This was a waste of his time, when he could have been learning new information. I have a student in my homeroom who has taught himself a foreign language; he wanted to converse
with a couple of elderly ladies in his dance class in their native German
tongue. What will happen to him when he reaches high school and needs foreign language
credits? According to current law, he will
be required to have seat time to earn credits for which he may already meet or
exceed the standards.
In my opinion, laws and
regulations need to be reviewed and updated to meet the needs of our current education
system. We have technologies available today
that legislators in the past could not fathom.
Education has grown and continues to grow; we need regulations and
legislation to grow with it.
Amen, sister! You have hit a salient point. There is a huge disconnect between technology in the classroom, technology as social media, and technology in legislation. How would you begin to tackle change in the way the government handles technology in education? For that matter, how would you tackle this in government on a grander scale?
ReplyDeleteThanks for asking! A grassroots effort is already underway to effect positive change in our state legislation. Our governor recently signed into law legislation supporting charter schools and students, which includes six virtual charter schools. In our school, we, as teachers, try to educate our legislators through written and face to face communication. We have written letters and emails to senators and representatives alike. The key is to share information in positive chunks and to not beat up our traditional "sister" schools in the brick and mortar. We view ourselves as a support for traditional school, not enemies. It has taken several years to make changes in the way other schools perceive us. I also email legislators at the state and national level. Sharing stories is a great tool. I share the stories of my families, without revealing their full names, unless I have permission. I encourage our school families to write to legislators and to speak with them. Our school district has an annual "Day at the Statehouse" event to give families an opportunity to learn how to interact with legislators in a positive manner and opportunities to interact with their own legislators. The changes in legislation will not occur overnight; the recently passed legislation took several years to pass. It is a long process that is going to take time to resolve. The legislation needs to be able to grow as technology grows, too. That is going to be tough, but it is doable.
DeleteAs I read your post it made me think about how some colleges have started offering credit based on a student's experiencial knowledge. Often times this is described as life experience credit. Can you imagine if that principle was applied to secondary education? How would that affect the learning experience of a student who comes from an immigrant family where English is their second language? There are tests college level students can take to earn college credit. Should secondary school students receive a similar opportunity? On the other hand, most colleges require a minimum number of credits to be earned at their institution before they are willing to issue a diploma to a student. This seems to be similar in scope to what you described. Maybe legislation should be updated to take all these things into consideration. I believe that if and when it happens, it will prove to be revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteThese ideas seemed to be ones our director of IT was hoping would come in the future. If secondary students can prove mastery of content, they can accelerate through coursework and move on to coursework they need to master. They could even concentrate on accelerated curriculum. I'm not sure what the answer will be, but these are exciting ideas for our education system. I agree, it could be revolutionary.
DeleteHi Kim! The issue of finances was brought up during my interview as well though not to the same degree of importance. However, in my school district finances are not openly discussed as currently we are in a situation that demands a unique perspective. I find it interesting that he mentioned the need to update state legislation regarding seat time for credits. As part of my job, I am researching changes being introduced and changes in gaining verified and unverified credits as well as diploma changes. The amount of legislation that is to be found that is no longer relevant or feasible is amazing! Your final sentence could not be closer to the mark…we must grow!
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