In this blog, I end up writing a great deal on how information technology has the potential to change the world around us.
Like many of you, I am drawn to examples where technology can change people's lives for the good: health care, poverty -- and especially education.
In this morning's New York Times, we read about the example of Mooresville, North Carolina who have used rather conventional technology to re-engineer the educational experience.
As a result, they are drawing considerable attention -- not so much because they're using technology -- but because they're changing their entire approach to education around what the technology can do.
You Need To Go Read This Article
If you're interested in either technology, educating your kids -- or hopefully both -- go read this article please. I'll wait right here -- thanks.
A good read, yes?
Point 1 -- Technology Enables New Learning Models
In the familiar physical world of education, the focal point is the physical classroom and what goes on there. Every child has roughly the same "standardized" educational experience: same curriculum, same activities, presented in largely the same way, same time and place, same sequence -- and so on.
The curriculum (and how it's presented) can be easily customized. The activities can differ. The engagement experience can be adjusted for individual learning preferences.
Little Tommy might be goal-oriented, so a sequence of timed challenges might be his style. Joey Jr. might be more social, and prefer to discuss the material and proposed answers as part of a small group. And Samantha - well, she's so painfully shy -- that a moderated online experience helps her open up and engage.
In this world, there is no "best" approach, unless it's through the student's eyes.
A while back, I had a fascinating conversation with an educational data scientist who had the data to back up the assertion that we all tend to learn very differently. He believed (as I do) that in a virtual learning environment, software can detect our individual learning styles, and adjust the presentation of curriculum and engagement activities to suit.
Very difficult to do in the physical world. Conceptually straightforward to do in the virtual world -- only if we revisit our long-held notions of education.
Point 2 -- Educational Assessments Take On A Whole New Dimension
In today's educational system, there's a strong focus on The Big Test: final exams, the standardized assessments as well as things like the SAT, GMAT and so on later in life.
In today's physical world, standardized testing is relatively expensive and difficult, so it isn't done very often. Hence the stakes become very high around individual test results, leading to all sorts of predictable dysfunction.
In the virtual world, assessments can easily be done several times a day (if desired) as a natural part of the ongoing educational experience.
More data points mean a more complete picture of the learning profile, without the need to over-rely on any one data point. Poor results can be detected and remediated quickly vs. much, much later.
A "natural economy" of coursework and courseware can easily emerge: approaches that give better measurable results will tend to be preferred to those that don't.
And problem areas are diagnosed in hours rather than years.
Point 3 -- Big Data Analytics Emerge As A Powerful Tool
Consider, for a moment, the world of big data analytics and their powerful predictive models. In this assessment-rich environment, we now have the raw fuel to potentially to now correlate educational outcomes two sets of factors: those that the school can control, as well as those that can't really be controlled by the school.
In addition to ongoing proficiency assessments, we also potentially have access to an enormous amount of external data around individual students: past educational experiences and results, demographics on the household, cultural perspectives, potential health issues and much, much more. Going farther, data sets can be correlated across multiple school districts; each their own "data point" around educational investment, policy -- and outcomes.
My educational data scientist acquaintance was a strong believer that advanced predictive data models (based on these expanded factors) could do an order-of-magnitude better job of not only identifying ideal learning experiences, but also provide strong guidance for school districts and policy choices.
If you've ever been at a school board meeting where these topics are being debated, there's a lot of opinion, a ton of emotion -- and almost no data.
Imagine a world where educators (and parents) could make informed decisions between investments and likely outcomes.
Going farther, my data scientist acquaintance shared with me that -- even with existing data sets -- he could clearly identify poorly performing coursework, specific educators, individual schools and school districts in a way that was evidence-based and completely inarguable.
As a parent, I really want that.
Point 4 -- It Isn't About Money .. Or Is It?
A key qoute from the article stated that the Mooresville school district was 100th out of 115th in expenditures per student -- about $7,400 per year. In my town, the equivalent cost-per-student is $13,500.
And I have no evidence whatsoever to assert that the expensive educational experience in my town produces better outcomes than in Mooresville, N.C.
Note the part of the article where the local real estate market is described as a "seller's market". Parents want to live in a school district that produces better outcomes for their children. Especially if that can be done without ridiculous property taxes :)
Where will the motivation for change come? From the people paying the bills, of course.
At a certain level, Mooresville realizes that they're competing against other school districts to provide better educational services. Otherwise, prospective families will "source around them". Towns and schools don't have a monopoly on students (or their tax dollars).
If you've been following my IT transformation discussion, this should sound familiar :)
Point 5 -- It's About The People
As with any transformation, it all boils down to people and very strong leadership.
“This is not about the technology,” Mark Edwards, superintendent of Mooresville Graded School District, would tell the visitors later over lunch. “It’s not about the box. It’s about changing the culture of instruction — preparing students for their future, not our past.”
Read a little further, and you'll learn the Mr. Edwards had to fire a sizable number of teachers to free up the money for the new approach. Reading between the lines, it seems clear that those who were asked to leave were the same ones that weren't exactly embracing the change.
Point 6 -- The Roles Change All Around
Look carefully, and you'll see the familiar role of "teacher" being redefined. Old school: the person who taught the classes. New school: a "learning consultant" that helps students work through the digital learning experience on a very personal level.
If you're an engaged parent, this is a really big deal.
Now, let's vector in the recent educational authoring software from our friends at Apple. In essence, this new capabilities lowers the barriers associated with proficient educators creating and distributing their own digital courseware when they inevitably figure out a better way to do things.
So, this begs the questions -- which institutions of higher education are entirely focused on training tomorrow's teachers around this new model?
Point 7 -- It Ain't Perfect, But It's Much Better Than Before
I especially enjoyed the author sharing some of the bumps and bruises the Mooresville team was facing in their journey. They're learning to do things new ways, and it isn't always natural or comfortable. But they've figured out a new formula, and -- over time -- it's just become the way they do things. And there's always room for improvement.
If Mr. Edwards was indeed the prime motivator for the educational transformation in Mooresville, I would guess that he has a great career ahead of him :)
When we first adopt a technology, we tend to use it to automate familiar things from the physical world. Email originally was a replacement for letters and memos. The original web was a replacement for physical publications, like catalogs. Paper-based business processes get automated, then outsourced.
Email gives way to social platforms. The web becomes more about interaction and engagement than simply pushing content. New business processes become more predictive, agile and collaborative than before.
I have a strong thesis is that this is precisely what is going on in the IT world right now: progressive IT groups are re-envisioning how they learn to compete for their internal customers. It's not about automating the old way of doing things; it's a re-invention of the function itself.
As with any transformation, though: it starts with strong, visionary leadership and the ability to convince people to do things in new ways.
And that -- at the end of the day -- is the most prized skill set of all in tomorrow's economy.