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Is the iPad an Expensive Flyswatter?
What is transformation? Did the printing press transform information dissemination? Absolutely. Did radio transform communication? Sure. Has the Internet transformed social networking? For almost everyone on the planet, it has.A few of you who follow me regularly know that I’m writing a book. I’m trying to bring together some new thoughts and models to help “transform” education.But wait (I can already hear a few of you groaning.) Another education book? Do we need another person telling us what is wrong with education? Do we need another book highlighting even more solutions when we can’t even seem to implement the ones we already know of?I get it. I read these books (every day) and I know that there are as many “fixes” for education as there are educators. But I feel that I am in a unique position when it comes to education solutions. Let me try to convince you quickly. If I don’t, then you can ignore my book when it comes out. If I do, maybe pick up a copy...I’ve blogged before about Jack Uldrich’s concept of “Jumping the Curve.” It’s a fascinating view when we find someone who has been ahead of the curve enough to innovate or create a new model that changes (transforms) business, entertainment, or any other part of life. Jack illustrates the point with many examples, but take Netflix. Hastings and Randolph started investing in streamed videos long before it was widely available. They saw what was coming and essentially “got there faster.” Even when bandwidth was not really capable, infrastructure was not advanced enough, and the DVD market was booming, they jumped the paradigm curve to what they believed (and were proven right) to be next.Many of the people who read my blogs have heard me speak. You may know that I speak in front of an audience of 50 to 5,000 every single week. I hear from conference program committees that one reason I am asked to present is my ability to tie the future to the now. I feel like I’m getting better and better at looking ahead in education, seeing what will become important in a (relatively) short period of time, and speaking to how we “get there.”After all, I was presenting to audiences about Alternate Reality Gaming a decade ago when only a handful of people had it on their radar. Now, in 2014, there are millions of dollars being spent on ARG initiatives and experiments. I’ve been trying to bridge the gap between education and neuroscience, even though I’ve never placed an electrode in the folds of a brain. But if you read more and more literature on education, both academic and popular, neuroscience connections are being talked about… a lot. In fact, in 2013, I was asked to write or be interviewed on short term, future elements of education by multiple groups including the Hechinger Report, The Chronicle of Higher Education, etc.So, I will do my best to provide some “jumped curves” in my efforts to transform education. Between that kind of forward thinking, and my consistent and constant interactions with educators at all levels (Provosts, University Presidents, Boards of Trustees, District Superintendents, teachers and professors, etc.) around the globe, I think I might have some unique perspectives with regard to education. I hope you agree and will take a look once my book finally comes out.Until then, let me try to show you a working example that has really pushed to the top of education technology conversations as of late. Have you heard of the SAMR model? Perhaps the RATL model? Perhaps both or perhaps neither?As I try to keep up on technology issues pertinent to education, I have always sought out new and innovative ideas. (Thank you ZiTE app for bringing so many of them to me now.) Sometime around 2009, I learned of a new framework for education technology -- the SAMR model. This framework for education technology adoption (and ultimately for transformation) resonated with me. Developed by Dr. Ruben R. Puentedura, the model suggests that there are four “levels” of education technology adoption. Here is my take on the model:Substitution is literally that – when the technology simply substitutes itself in a process or as a tool, but with real change to the process itself. Opening a calculator on a computer instead of carrying and using a unique device solely for calculating is one example of substitution.Augmentation suggests that while the tool is functionally substituted for, there is still no real change to the process. Writing in a word processor was not inherently different than typing on a type writer. However, the obvious benefits of spell check and no need for white out were an efficiency factor.Puentedura points out that both of these “levels” of adoption are really just an enhancement of the process, but again, no change to the process itself exists.Modification begins to change the process though. When modification happens, the technology allows for a redesign of the task or process. Ad hoc visualizations of data might give you immediately actionable options never before possible. For example, your car telling you that your driving is not gas efficient through a red light on the dashboard might be a modification that changes your process of driving.Redefinition is the final step. Essentially, once technology has been embraced fully, the original process may be completely reengineered because of what that technology allows for. Giving a student the ability to communicate with a native language speaker inside of a local country might be an example of completely changing the process of bilingual education.Puentedura promotes these final two categories as transformation.I started to use this model in directing some of my own thinking, as well as a filter for some of the research we (Pearson) were doing around learning management, data visualization, and 21st Century teaching and learning. When I went in to do professional development workshops, I made sure the SAMR model was presented and used as a guiding framework. In other words, I tried to promote education technology up the chain through questions and showcases. (Is PowerPoint anything more than a modified poster? What about Prezi? Is technology that uses spaced repetition to teach language better than social learning experiences? Etc?)So, when I started seeing the SAMR model springing up in my professional feeds, I was pleasantly surprised. There it was one day when I opened my LinkedIn feed. There it was again on the Educause listserv. Twitter was trending the SAMR model. In fact, since March, I believe there have been 17 distinct blogs or articles on the model itself, many of them suggesting it was not “good enough” as a rubric. (I agree with that sentiment largely -- it’s a framework. It is wonderful for practitioners or researchers to use in filtering responses or actions, but to use as a rubric would be highly difficult with such an ordinal tool.)But again, it reinforced that there is some benefit to “Jumping the Curve” with regard to education initiatives. Our Center for eLearning tried really hard to showcase a bunch of jumps in the School of Thought videos we’ve promoted for months. We continue to try and innovate by scanning the horizon with our ARLE (Alternate Reality Learning Experience), as one example. But it’s something we should all do as educators in the 21st Century as technology, culture, and success indicators change so rapidly in today’s day and age.Good luck and good teaching, my friends.Dr. Jeff Borden, VP of Instruction and Academic Strategy and Lead of the Center for Online Learning at Pearson, is also a consultant, speaker, professor, researcher, comedian, and trainer.See More