And why shouldn’t I? After all, Google Apps is out of beta, alternative browser Google Chrome is well on its way to becoming a free operating system targeted for netbooks, and I got an invite to use Google Voice. All these events have coincided during my visit to Huntsville, Alabama where I am currently participating in the North Alabama Technology Conference. I think Google’s recent visibility and other, signifigant events underscore a powerful shift in how educators envision how learning occurs.
As all this Googlistic news rapidly made its way through PC World and other tech news outlets, I listened to Dr. Melinda Maddox of the Alabama State Department of Education address NATC conference attendees about the need to re-conceptualize how teachers can better meet the needs of today’s learners. Dr. Maddox discussed…
- economic concerns and how they will undoubtedly drive the need to look for more low-cost/no-cost ways to deliver education in an innovative manner
- current policies that unintentionally or intentionally create barriers to education
- input/data from students, teachers, administrators, parents, and community members that acknowledge and document a need for re-thinking school as we know it
- the realization that technology integration is more than just flashy web 2.0, hardware, and software
- the What Works and Innovation Fund and how it will, according to the US Department of Education, “support competitive grants to LEAs and partnerships between non-profit organizations and LEAs that have made significant progress in improving student achievement or other areas to scale up their work and serve as models of best practices” (for example, discerning why and how to develop new assessments that really provide timely and useful feedback so as to augment learning) and
- ISTE‘s brand new NETS for Administartors.
As I listened, I thought about the way Google’s plans could positively impact student achievement. For example, Google’s desire to provide Chrome OS for netbook users (i.e, teachers and students in many schools) means that districts might no longer have to pay Microsoft or Apple for an operating system. If schools no longer had to follow directives to spend money on textbooks, educators and pupils might come together via Google Docs to create their own dynamic, web-based, media-rich, replacements for textbooks that merges with Moodle or other free, resources and tools. New technologies such as Google Voice may even re-engineer the manner in which learners communicate with teachers and do it for FREE, leaving much more money available for other, much-needed projects (say, decreasing the digital divide).
I wonder if any forward-thinking superintendents or administrators are ready to give Google a try. What’s to lose if they do? They’ll have money. That’s right. If they try Google and decide to return to commercial resources, they’ll be able to do so.
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