Mobile Learning Mindset: The Prinicipal's Guide to Implementation - Softcover

Hooker, Carl

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1564843742 ISBN 13: 9781564843746

Publisher: International Society for Technology in Education, 2016

Synopsis

The Mobile Learning Mindset series offers practical knowledge and strategies for successful implementation of K-12 BYOD programs and 1:1 initiatives. This six-book collection provides district leaders, principals, teachers, IT staff, educational coaches and parents with the information they need to make any mobile learning program a success.

The Principal's Guide to Implementation shares lessons learned and provides many examples and activities that will help campus leaders who are about to implement a mobile device initiative or already have.

About this title

About the Author

Carl Hooker has been part of a strong educational shift with technology integration in schools since 1998. His education background, technical expertise and humor make him a driving force for this change. As director of innovation and digital learning at Eanes ISD in Texas, he helped spearhead a mobile learning program that put iPads in the hands of all 8,000 students across the district. He is also the founder of iPadpalooza (ipadpalooza.com), a three-day learning festival in celebration of the shift iPads have brought about in education and beyond. Hooker was named Tech Learning magazine's 2014 Leader of the Year, and he is a member of the Apple Distinguished Educator class of 2013.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter  5: Identifying Stakeholders and Cultivating Ownership

Have you ever had a really good idea, but found that your friends were not on board? Early in my teaching career, this thing called the internet wasreally starting to take off. My wife and I were invited to hear a product pitch for something called “Peapod.” The founders of this web application said it would completely replace grocery stores in 10 to 15 years. The concept was simple: You would type a list of grocery items into a web form, and this company would send you food from their warehouse. With just the click of some buttons, you could have food delivered to your door. So, shoppers would no longer have to navigate tight aisles with a shopping cart?

Sign me up! I was so excited about the idea that I even contemplated taking a portion of my $26,000 yearly teacher salary to invest in it.

 
Then my wife pulled me aside and started asking questions. She wasn’t being negative, but she was also skeptical of this concept. What about people without internet? Where is the food coming from? Who’s checking the quality of vegetables and fruit? What if they are out of what I want? You get the idea.
 
Although automating grocery buying appeared to be a way technology could simplify the shopping experience, it came with many issues. In addition to getting my wife’s input, I decided to bounce the idea off my friends. They were all completely opposed to it. At that point, I started to really question my rationale and excitement for the product. If the people I trust and love have some real problems with the idea, I should respect and listen to their input. Turns out, my wife and friends were partially right and partially wrong. The concept of outsourcing grocery shopping would eventually catch on (more than 15 years later) with the advent of “Instacart” (www.instacart.com), but they were correct in telling me that this wasn’t a wise investment at the time.
 
They would have supported me even if I had chosen not to listen, but this could have damaged some of our mutual respect and trust if I didn’t express to them that I value their opinions by offering a solid counterargument aside from “I think this is a swell idea.”
 
While this is a personal example, school leaders should use the same philosophy when gathering input for a device initiative. Your grand idea may not be so grand when people who will be directly affected have some say or input. As a leader of a campus, you have the most influence on whether a mobile learning environment can really be successful. Part of your influence is making wise decisions while gathering the input of others. And this doesn’t just mean other campus administrators.

 

Variety Is the Spice of Life (and So Is Decision Making)
In the summer of 2015, my school board and superintendent tasked me with the challenge of finding ways to gather as much input on our mobile device initiative as possible from all concerned parties (students, teachers, and parents). While the name started out as a “Technology Task Force” (www. eanesisd.net/taskforce/ttf), I knew it had to be about more than just tech- nology. Sure, we had $5 million to spend on our “Student Mobile Device Initiative,” but that investment in hardware represented something much bigger than just devices. I asked that the task force be renamed “Digital Learning Task Force” to show that learning was really the point.
 
When the time came to pick people for the task force, the temptation may have been to load it up with other like-minded gearheads, but in reality, they were already on board with the philosophy of digital tools in the hands of every student. We ended up having an open application online that invited parents and members of the community to be a part of this next decision. More than 60 community members expressed an interest in filling one of the four to six spots we held for them on the task force.
 
In the end, rather than just simply taking the biggest tech advocates, we broke the groups into four sections (community member without kids, secondary school parent, elementary school parent, and a “mix/all level” parent who had kids at each level.) We had everyone from soccer moms to business startup dads apply, as well as teachers and students (even though the application wasn’t for them). After making our selection based on their own input and beliefs, we set out to seek nominations from campuses for a variety of teachers, too.
 
Involving Teacher Leaders
Again, we could have made a “lay-up” decision here and just picked the vanguard technology teachers for the task force, but we needed a wide variety of representation from all subject areas and more. Picking the right teacher is more than just picking someone with technology prowess. They must have both of the following traits: openness to trying something new, and being seen as vocal and respected leaders on their campus.

 
Teachers are the ultimate gatekeepers of technology use in the classroom. Even a year after our initial pilot, we had reluctant teachers or those who didn’t see the value in mobile devices. Some even told students to just put the devices away. Using the well-researched “innovator’s bell curve” from the 1960s (which has been updated a bit to the Technology Adoption Curve seen in Figure 5.1), you can see that there is a “chasm” of sorts that you need to cross among the early adopters to make it successful. Once the early majority is on board, the wave of change will overpower those in the late majority and even some of the laggards who may never see value in the devices. Laggards hold this belief for
a variety of reasons—fear, hesitation, doubt that the technology will work, or just that they feel their methods are already “successful,” so why change now?
 
Despite those two extremes, you still have approximately 70% of teachers stuck in the middle trying to figure out which way to sway (resulting in the classic bell curve).

How Will This Solve a Problem for Teachers?
 The middle group in Figure 5.1 represents the majority of staff. Depending on the experience and mindset of your staff, you will have a little more than 70% who are basically going to continue on their same path unless they see a
convincing argument for how having mobile devices will help solve a problem for them. They aren’t necessarily against having technology in their class (see the “Laggards”), but they may need some explanation or motivation to use technology that could disrupt their teaching routine.
 
This group is the most important to get on board because, as you can tell by the curve, once you’ve got both the early and late majority on board, the wave has crested and the laggards will almost be forced to join. So, how do you
go about showing that a mobile device initiative solves a problem for those teachers? You keep it simple.
 
When meeting with teachers in teams or as an entire staff, be sure to stress that there are many different ways to integrate technology in the class- room. From organization to formative assessment, showing them a couple  of different tools will help with this. Then set some minimum expectations that both “raise the game” of the teacher but also give them some relief. One
effective way I’ve seen this done is telling staff that they should pick “just one or two” tools to add to their arsenal for the year, and when they have mastered those, they can add more. When you tell teachers this, it lessens the impact and feeling of “Oh my God, they want to force me to do what?” and instead turns their response to “Well, I can manage to change or learn one or two things this year.”
 
Truth be told, teachers can and usually will add more than a couple of tools to their toolkit of technology integration, but just those initial baby steps  and expectations allows them the autonomy of not changing everything they are doing. Once the students start seeing these changes, the buzz will spread
throughout the building, and in a way, their excitement will get other teachers on board.

 

I remember a specific example in our 2014–15 school year at the middle school when teachers were introduced to the formative assessment tool called Kahoot! (www.getkahoot.com). Once a couple of teachers started using this fun, engaging tool to access student understanding, the students started talking about it. Within just a few short weeks, multiple teachers were using it, and
by the end of the school year, when students were asked at a student panel, “Which app do your teachers use the most?” they reported that Kahoot! had taken over the classrooms at that middle school.
 
The ease of use of that particular platform, the educational value of the forma- tive assessment feedback, and the expectation to use one or two different tools with the mobile devices made this a great first step in traveling down the
road from enhancement to transformation as it’s defined in the SAMR model (http://mrhook.it/road). Most importantly, it showed that the technology would not be an obstacle, but rather solve a problem for those teachers in the “majority” range of the innovator’s bell curve.

Allow Multiple Opportunities and Avenues to Provide Feedback
Having an open-door policy as a campus leader is considered a classic first step in gathering feedback, hearing concerns, and addressing problems. As a proactive leader in a mobile device initiative, you shouldn’t wait for the prob- lems to come to your office. You need to be visible and available throughout the building.
 
While my current position is that of a district leader, I can almost sense that disconnection when it starts to happen. I’ll visit a campus and usually hear things like “Wow! Haven’t seen you in a long time.” or “Uh oh, what’s wrong?” meaning that I’m never present unless there is an issue. As a principal, you should never have to experience those two questions, but I’ve worked for a
few principals who seemed to be almost unapproachable despite having their door open.

 

Getting negative feedback may not seem positive, unless you look at it as a means of growth and adjustment. Not getting feedback is actually more of a negative. As a leader, providing multiple opportunities and avenues for your staff, students, and parents to give you feedback will help better shape your program and address any concerns before they become larger problems. Not only should you provide the opportunities for feedback, but you should also encourage and promote it. The following are few ideas/examples of ways to generate good feedback (which in turn promotes buy-in):
 
Student Focus Groups
Listening to students’ opinions can be amazingly refreshing and brutally honest. As I mentioned a few paragraphs before this, the student panel (Figure 5.2) is where we learned that Kahoot! had caught fire with teachers, but it’s  also where we learned that non-instructional apps were running amuck. Students shared their frustration with other students playing games and being distracted throughout the school day, which caused us to respond immedi- ately with a “No Non-Instructional App” policy. Our campus educational technologist, Kacy Mitchell (@spearheadedtech), reflected on a recent student panel here on her blog: http://mrhook.it/stupanel. It’s incredible to listen to the unfiltered voices of students when shaping your mobile initiative, especially when you consider that they are your “customers.”

Teacher Focus Groups
Much like students, teachers are affected daily by the technical, instructional, and pedagogical challenges of implementing mobile devices in the classroom. As I mentioned earlier in this chapter, they need to be a part of every step in the process, and this includes giving them an opportunity to provide feed- back in a safe, non-threatening environment. The teacher panels we’ve had in the past have revealed issues that we weren’t aware of (such as Google Drive suddenly not working), and they made us aware of many innovative ways teachers have worked around technical issues and went on to do amazing things in their classrooms.
 
Parent Focus Groups
Having a community that supports your initiative can be the key to making it transformative. Whether the devices go home or you allow them into your school, parent support and feedback will help bridge the transition time between home and school. Hearing the concerns of parents and supporting them through parent workshops, meetings, and discussions will also help
bridge that gap. Parents do lead busy lives, so getting a panel for a focus group can be a tricky proposition. One idea that I’ve attempted is having “virtual office hours” and hosting a Google Hangout where multiple parents can get online to discuss their concerns as well as their stories of success when inte- grating mobile devices into their homes.
 
Surveys
Tried and true methods like surveys can allow you to quickly grab a snapshot of the feedback from all of your user groups. Following are a few things to keep in mind when creating your survey.

• Keep it short and simple (no more than 10 questions).

• Try to limit the number of “ranking” type responses (i.e., “Rank the ways your mobile device is being used from least to greatest”). 

To cultivate leadership and ownership, have members of each group come  up with questions for their group. That helps in two ways: (1) It makes the questions more relevant and (2) it makes the survey-taker value the survey a little more because it’s not just going to end up in some administrative folder somewhere.
 
Create a Hashtag
One of the more recent ideas I’ve seen used with social media is creating a hashtag around your initiative or program. Doing this instead of a user account means that no one “owns” the hashtag and anyone can comment or post a question. We did this with our Eanes Digital Learning Task Force (#EanesDLTF, http://mrhook.it/hashtag) as a way to crowd source questions and resources.
 
Create an Online Community
Another recent idea made available because of the internet and social media is the hosting of an online community site where teachers, parents, and students can post questions or resources. I’ve seen this done with Facebook groups,
but since some people don’t feel comfortable sharing their Facebook account, you could use a Google Community, as we did with the Digital Learning Task Force (http://tiny.cc/EanesDLTF). This allows for asynchronous feedback,
and it is a great way to get more response from the shy parent or student who doesn’t like to speak up at forums or focus groups.

Focus on the Learning and the Students

Throughout the process of cultivating shared ownership, there will be times when the device will become the focus. While the device is a major part of the learning and teaching taking place in your building, remember that the users are still the focus of this initiative. No device magically helps a student learn or purposely steers them to an inappropriate website or app. No device can supply a teacher with instant student feedback without the student interacting with it in some fashion, and no device forces kids to get on social media and become cyberbullies. It’s all about how the device is being used.
 
I mentioned earlier that the student panel revealed that quite a few “non- instructional” apps were being used throughout the school day, and in fact   this was encouraged by teachers whenever there was a “free five minutes” at  the end of class. As a campus leader, the temptation is to block or restrict every game or “non-approved” app on the device in question. In fact, many districts decide on a particular device because it can offer a strict level of control. However, how are students learning self-discipline and discovery in these districts?
 
We have restrictions on our devices that keep age-inappropriate apps from being loaded, but this doesn’t block broad categories such as “games” from being put on the devices. We have always had the option of pre-loading the devices with some set apps that only we approve and move forward from there, but that comes at a price.
 
Take, for example, a recent middle school student panel we hosted with some visitors during our iLeap Academy (http://iLeapAcademy.com). One of the eighth grade students revealed that he had been using a programming app to code and create his own apps. The app he mentioned appears nowhere on our list of “educationally approved” apps, but it does provide the opportunity to think critically. If we had restricted the apps, he would have never had the opportunity to explore or discover this app, and we would likely have never learned of its existence.

 

Besides gaming, bullying on social media or via messages can also shift the focus from the user to the device. Disenchanted parents will often point to the device as the culprit when such situations arise. “If only you hadn’t given my child that device, this would have never happened” or “If my student didn’t have to use their phone for learning, this wouldn’t have happened.” These comments are common, and it’s easy to understand where they come from.
In this new, digitally rich world where our kids can become “insta-famous” just by posting a video or clever meme, you can see a scenario where our lives would be easier as parents if we didn’t have to deal with technology. Some adults also feel inadequate when it comes to their own experience with or knowledge of how to use a device, which can be both intimidating and frus- trating for them.
 
One of the most important jobs for principals of a mobile device initiative is to both be a cheerleader and a listener to concerns and problems. However, by cultivating leadership and ownership throughout the school and community, those concerns can be handled by multiple staff, and the cheering can then come from all directions.

Edition details

• Publisher: International Society for Technology in Education
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1564843742
• ISBN 13: 9781564843746
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 98