Let's say, hypothetically, that you were someone with a potentially revolutionary idea. Let's also say that there are more than a few skeptics out there, and that you work in a field where...umm...the skeptics win more battles than the revolutionaries. If all that were true, then the headline above would draw you in, as it did me.
Nemitz' column rightly celebrates former Governor King's vision. Though that word can be sorely overused, at a simple level it means imagining the world as it going to be, not only as it is now. I was at the table as a Maine teacher during some of those early conversations, and heard many of the "give kids a chain saw" type comments, as well as all sorts of other dire predictions and accusations.
None of the dire predictions came true - nor did the laptops magically transform learning for each and every child. We knew then, but know even more clearly now, that the efficacy of the laptops is entirely dependent on how schools and teachers integrate them. If used like glorified 3-ring binders, they will function that way. If used by teachers who take advantage of the excellent and widely available professional development provided by the Maine Learning Technology Initiative and others, the laptops can spur both teachers and students to engage more meaningfully and consistently.
The most revolutionary thing about it is not directly "curriculum and instruction" related. I am the parent of a student, who, as a seventh grader last year, was issued a laptop...as was every student in her grade, including some whose parents were a long ways away from being able to buy one for their kids. The range of effective curricular integration varied a great deal - from glorified binder to "I need to go to Mr. X's website" to settle a dispute during a game of Quiddler. But what really is revolutionary is how the laptops level the playing field, creating access, accountability, transparency and equity.
Making that argument now - as Mr. King did 10 years ago - sounds almost quaint. We KNOW that there is a certain kind inter-connectivity (some good, some bad) that is transforming our world. Regardless of whether we think that's a good thing or a bad thing, the MLTI initiative ensures that each parent, student and teacher has the opportunity to participate in that world...and not just during the school day in the computer lab. Yes, a student can leave their laptop at school. And yes, some schools still don't let the laptops go home, blunting a good 80% of their potential.
But Maine leads the world in making certain that every child will have the to opportunity to be literate and competent in systems that will be just as common, and necessary, as writing is now. 100 years ago, if a governor had said, "we need to make sure every child has a pen and paper so they can learn at home," we would not have treated him like a crackpot. To his credit, Mr, King not only stuck to his vision, but had the talent and the tenacity (and an amazing team led by Duke Albanese and Bette Manchester) to pull it off.
So back to revolution triumphing over skeptics. What if one of the most significant implications of technology in general, and learning technology specifically, is that it can free students, teachers and parents from some of the constraints of traditional (often excellent, but still limited) schools? What if, for those students who not only CAN learn differently, but are never likely to learn all that much in the 1 teacher, 25-30 kids, age-grouped classroom, a whole new approach is possible - less expensive, more effective, and more connected to Maine's farms, fisheries, forests, creativity and other infinitely renewable resources.
Our approach, Maine Enterprise Schools, is one such possibility...as are other approaches, some of which, such as Virtual High Schools, are beginning to see the light of day. My question for the skeptics is: how much evidence do you need that some things work better for some people before we give structural and cultural innovations the same chance to flourish as we have technological innovations? Can we create systems that enable those young people most likely to live and work in Maine the opportunity to work with gifted experiential and entrepreneurial educators so that, armed with a tablet computer AND a chainsaw, they add to our economic viability, rather than our dropout, brain drain, and social service and criminal justice statistics?
Former Governor King and former MLTI chief Manchester continue to push the technology in schools end of the innovation spectrum at the Maine International Center for Digital Learning (http://www.micdl.org/)...including a significant and effective emphasis on open source platforms. So while laptop learning has democratized access within Maine's existing schools, I look forward to a day when an analogous, equitable open-source PUBLIC school ethic supersedes the current, demoralizing battles like that over Maine Race to the Top application. In more cases than not, these battles pit well-meaning folks against other well-meaning folks over how to preserve systems that, though we may not be ready to acknowledge it, continue to sow the seeds of their own obsolescence.
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