ASB Unplugged is a 1:1
laptop conference for international schools, hosted by the American School of Bombay and the Laptop Institute. These are notes
from a session I attended on technology-related change at the secondary
level…
- Andrew Hoover, middle school principal
- Devin Pratt, high school principal
- Dianna Pratt, middle/high school tech coordinator
[the educators in this room are from more countries than you probably can
place on a map!]
- Change is not linear
- Expect both bursts and delays
- Complacency and resistance come from…
- Being busy
- Maybe being risk adverse
- Perceived (and actual) threats to professional identity
- DyKnow software really takes advantage
of the tablet PCs’ functionality, making it worth the tablets’ extra cost - Key implementation stages (from John Kotter)
- Establish a sense of urgency
- Generate cognitive dissonance!
- Create a guiding coalition
- The leadership team has to be on board
- Develop a vision and strategy
- Communicate the change vision
- Repetition of message, vision, goals, etc. is key
- Lead by example
- Empower educators for broad-based action
- Lots of just-in-time professional development
- Ongoing instrucational support
- Reliable technology and infrastructure
- Small, frequent, purposeful meetings
- Generate short-term wins
- Teacher-sponsored demos and highlights, tied into concept of enduring
understandings- Repetition of this gradually overcomes the resisters
- Teachers are asked to use DyKnow just once and have the lesson observed to
get feedback - There is a curriculum to foster a sense of responsibility among
students- Students carry around eggs first; if an egg breaks, the student has to go
through a process before she gets another one - Later students graduate to laptops but have to leave them at school
- Finally students get the laptops 24–7
- Students carry around eggs first; if an egg breaks, the student has to go
- Teacher-sponsored demos and highlights, tied into concept of enduring
- Consolidate gains and produce further changes
- “You don’t know how comfortable you are until you start moving on”
- Keep stressing ‘here’s where we were 2 years ago and look how much progress
we’ve made’ - Andrew is using a blog to keep staff, students, and parents informed of
progress - Work on facilitating dispersed leadership
- Anchor new approaches in the culture of the school
- Recognize how culture already has changed and build upon it
- Foster a climate of continuous improvement (kaizen)
- Establish a sense of urgency
Scott’s trip to Mumbai: pics at Flickr, movies at
YouTube.
