EdTech: Bits & Bytes for January 2008

Welcome to the third  edition of EdTech: Bits & Bytes.

This is the third monthly newsletter-a bit later than usual-from the Educational Technologist for Malaspina’s Faculty of Education, Julia Hengstler. (I’ve taken the liberty of moving to “volume 2 " this January to regularize my edition releases with the New Year.) Each monthly edition has a theme followed by a set of subject lines so you can quickly scan for topics of interest. Feedback on themes, content—or suggestions/contributions—are welcomed.  

This Month’s Theme: Planning Professional Development & Technology

To borrow a phrase from a good friend and colleague Lisa O’Neill at BCIT, when planning for professional development, we have to “keep in mind the 5 foot view as well as the 5000 foot view”. I think one of my biggest gripes with any change initiative—and that includes professional development around technology—is that there rarely is an organizational learning plan for the school or institution much less a change management plan. We make professional development plans; these are individual things at the 5 foot level. We make departmental or faculty goals—maybe at the 50 foot level. Reaching higher, we make technology plans for schools, districts and institutions, even school-based or institutional plans, but where, how, when and who ties it all together—where are the points of coherence and unity and how do they address the changes in the educational environment? This is the 5000 foot level. This month I make a case for considering 2 specific dimensions for professional development around technology: organizational learning and change management planning.

Warning: This month’s edition focuses more on text resources than links.

Sections Include:

1)    Organizational Learning: Developing A 5000 Foot Perspective

2)    Change Management: You DO Have a Plan, Right?

3)    Some Sites for Developing Educational Technology Skills

Organizational Learning: Developing the 5000 Foot Perspective

During the summer of 2007, I completed a Certificate in School Management and Leadership at the University of Victoria (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada). One of the best courses in the series was Carolyn Crippen’s—which covered organizational learning.  While Peter Senge is perhaps most well known for his work in this area, Carolyn used a book by Collinson & Cook called Organizational Learning: Improving Learning, Teaching, and Leading in School Systems (Sage, 2007). If you’re responsible for any professional development activities—whether technological or not—be sure to get this book: it is well worth the read. (See http://home.comcast.net/~vcollinson/ .) The book provides theory and methodology for connecting the professional efforts of the individual at the 5 foot level to larger groups and the institution at higher perspectives—and it’s not too daunting. The authors define organizational learning as:

“the deliberate use of individual, group, and system learning to embed new thinking and practices that continuously renew and transform the organization in ways that support shared aims” (p. 8).”

The book covers way more than I can condense for the purposes of this newsletter but one of the primary conditions necessary for organizational learning is making learning a priority for the school/institution. Collinson & Cook argue, “In a rapidly changing and unpredictable environment, learning no longer depends on individual performance; it is stimulated by exposure to others’ learning and is socially constructed to make sense of and respond to the environment.”(p. 67). No place is change more rapid than in the area of technology!          If you’re seeking to embed ongoing technological learning in your institution—and continuous learning in the larger perspective—there are 6 key conditions that Collinson & Cook say you must ensure:

1.    Attending to Human Relations

2.    Providing for Members’ Self-Fulfillment

3.    Prioritizing Learning for All Members

4.    Practicing Democratic Principles

5.    Fostering Inquiry

6.    Facilitating Dissemination of Learning

The book also shares some hints for dealing with resistance to change. The authors write, “Sometimes, unwillingness to change may reflect members’ perception that it is too difficult or too disruptive” (p. 77); “resisters may not have enough information to be attracted to the proposed change, or they may have serious, valid doubts about potential consequences, or they may have seen lack of success earlier with a similar proposal…” (p.78). As you move forward in your efforts to support not just professional development but true organizational learning around educational technologies, keep in mind Collinson & Cook’s warning that “if proponents of a change dismiss an individual or group they assume is resistant to the proposed change, they block communication and cut off discovery of incompatibilities, differences, or unintended outcomes that could enrich interpretation and influence members’ actions” (p. 78)”.

Some related references:

Senge, P., Cambron-McCabe, N., Lucas, T., Smith, B. Dutton, J. & Kleiner, A. (2007). Schools that Learn: A Fifth Discipline Handbook.

Organizational Learning: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_learning

Change Management: You Do Have a Plan, Right?

Michael Fullan said, "Good ideas with no ideas on how to implement them are wasted ideas ". Let’s face it: all substantial learning is change at some level. If you want it to stick, you’d better have a plan. One of the most “readable” books on this subject is John Kotter’s Leading Change (Harvard Business School, 1996).  While geared to a business audience, I’d still highly recommend his book.  Kotter says that in order to achieve lasting change, you must plan for 8 strategic stages in 3 phases:

To Initiate Movement:

1)    Establish a Sense of Urgency

2)    Create the Guiding Coalition

3)    Develop a Vision and Strategy

4)    Communicate the Change Vision

To Introduce New Practices:

5)    Empower Employees for Broad-Based Action

6)    Generate Short-Term Wins

7)    Consolidate Gains & Producing More Change

To Embed New Practices:

8)    Anchor New Approaches in the Culture.

For a lighter look at change management and encouraging people to adopt changes, take a look at Who Moved My Cheese?  by Spencer Johnson. It’s a short allegory about 4 mice in a maze finding cheese—the search for cheese really being a metaphor for adopting change. The 4 mice embody responses to change: one is the early adopter of change, another plays catch-up, the third denies and resists change fearing the worst will happen, and the last changes only when it’s proven to lead to something better.

Be sure to check out "The Handwriting on the Wall" on page 74:

·         Change Happens: They keep moving the cheese.

·         Anticipate Change: Get ready for the cheese to move.

·         Monitor Change: Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old.

·         Adapt to Change Quickly: The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese.

·         Change: Move with the cheese.

·         Enjoy Change!: Savour the adventure and enjoy the taste of new cheese!

·         Be Ready To Change Quickly and Enjoy It Again & Again: They keep moving the cheese.

Some other pithy quotes from the book:

·         The more important your cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it.

·         It is safer to search in the maze, than remain in a cheeseless situation.

·         Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese.

·         Movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese.

·         When you see that you can find and enjoy new cheese, you change course.

Here are a couple of links for more on change management:

Effective Change Management in Higher Education (Educause Nov/Dec 2003) http://www.technologyintegrators.org/mediareleasesuggest.htm 

Using a Framework to Engage Faculty in Instructional Technologies (Educause Quarterly 2, 2004)

http://www.elearning-reviews.org/topics/culture/change-management/2004-chism-framework-engage-faculty.pdf

Some Sites for Developing Educational Technology Skills

Given the nature of my soap-boxing, it may seem ironic to give you some resources for developing technology skills—just keep in mind that whatever development you encourage & plan should be contextualized within a larger vision/plan.

Virtual Toolshed for Education

http://www.virtualtoolshed.ca/VTDW/index.php

Kidz Online Tech Training

http://www.kidzonline.org/TechTraining/

Education World’s Techtorials

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/archives/techtorials.shtml

i4c (Internet for Classrooms) Online Practice Modules

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line.htm

ICT in Education (UNESCO Bangkok) Training Teachers on ICT Strategies  & Online Courses

http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=1736

Thanks for reading EdTech Bits & Bytes. If you’ve enjoyed it, forward it on. Should you incorporate any of this material into your work and like to share your ideas with others, please send your experiences to the email below (Brevity in descriptions appreciated.). Also, if you have any feedback, comments or suggestions, please contact the author, Julia Hengstler.  

Julia Hengstler,

Educational Technologist

Faculty of Education, Malaspina University-College

Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

Email: hengstlej@mala.bc.ca

Phone: 250-753-3245 extension 2630