iPods and Integration

History teacher Eric Langhorst describes in his article After the Bell, Beyond the Walls (in Educational Leadership) how he makes use of technology. The examples he provides do seem to involve the conditions listed in the table for technology integration. He uses the technology in a student-centered setting – by either offering podcasts of information for students to use in a manner more convenient for them, or to engage students in active learning, such as through discussions and debates. In addition, Langhorst receives considerable assessment of his techniques, from students and parents. Access to technology does not seem to be a problem, as he uses widely available, off the shelf systems. This also makes technical assistance less of an issue, as it would come in the form of customer service. He is also able to compensate for those who do have access problems – by providing CD recordings of “Studycasts” to students who cannot log onto the internet at home, for instance. That might be another important condition – that if all students cannot easily get whatever hardware they need to take advantage of the integration, than the school must provide it or make some alternative method of use made available, as Langhorst does. This means that the technology can than be used in an integral manner without leaving anyone out. Moreover, Langhorst’s use of technology is quite integral – it is not just for the “wow factor” as he put it. By having discussions with other students and experts, he is able to use technology in ways that are of substantive importance and would be much more difficult to do in a traditional manner.
The main problem seems to be in the areas of support and vision. Langhorst describes a system that apparently has been developed by teachers at the grass roots level, not proposed by school or district administrators. Teachers, students, and parents spread the ideas. While Langhorst does not describe any opposition to his ideas, there does not seem to be any existing administrative support either (although his ideas do seem to mesh with the district’s technology outlook). It does not appear as though this has been a major impediment to implementation, probably because he used off the shelf technology that is already widely used by and available to students. As Langhorst points out, tools like blogs and wikis can be used for free. No major investments or systems changes were required on the part of the school. Had any of that been required, than administrative support would have been essential. Langhorst also appears to be comfortable with this technology, and clearly has ideas about how to use it in education. Teachers without such confidence are going to need outside help. Langhorst does not state in his article how much support or encouragement (or resistance) he got from administrators.
One thing I found interesting was the notion expressed in the introduction that students had to “power down” when they entered school. For me, at first at least, the opposite was true. I first used the internet at school; first in high school, and than in college, before I ever used it at home. My first email account was one I got at college. Many technologies that I now use at home I first used in an academic setting. For some students this was (or is) true of computers in general. This raises a problem with this kind of technological integration; what if you are in a school or district were it is not a reasonable assumption that most students will have an iPod or some MP3 player? There is one way to take care of that problem: a few years Duke University attracted considerable attention by offering each incoming freshman a free iPod (although it would be very easy to hide the cost in a tuition increase). This was a demonstration of the way iPods are starting to join computers as technology that is widely promoted in the academic community (although not everyone seems so sure). It helped put iPods on the educational map. We can also see this at Drexel of course. However, that kind of a solution is probably not going to be realistic outside of higher education. Many districts may have to rely on donations (presumably from the corporate world). Langhorst is actually using technology provided by Microsoft for a pilot program in one of his classes.
Langhorst uses the iPods for much the same reason educators have used the internet – to provide more flexibility to students, so that they can learn outside of a traditional classroom setting. I was also intrigued when Langhorst discussed how states were starting to require students to take some online courses. Online courses in higher education do not seem odd, but it is more novel for me to imagine one in a k-12 setting. Langhorst says that the “brick and mortar school” will remain the center of learning. However, could the fear that this will someday no longer be the case lead to resistance to technological integration? I would agree with those who contend that it is important for students to socialize with each other and with their teachers face to face. Students, especially in elementary school, should not have a primarily online educational experience. Technology is likely to get more support if its proponents can demonstrate how it will free up time in the classroom, not usurp it. Langhorst’s ideas are constructive in this regard.