Laptops for every student?

by Andrew Wilson

Dear Colleagues,

I started teaching over twenty years ago, and since then, both as a teacher and a parent, I have seen many projects come and go. I'm sure I'm not alone in this ;)

Some projects were baked to perfection, some were so burnt that they were indigestible, while others, sadly, were quite half-baked. I have no doubt that they were all proposed and implemented with the best of intentions, and I mean this most sincerely.

I recently read an article (I'll include the link below) by Judy Siegel-Itzkovich in the JP about proposed plans for 'school computerization'.  Meir Shitrit, Knesset Science and Technology Committee chairman, is quoted as saying "Parents spend hundreds of shekels annually per pupil on buying schoolbooks, when an inexpensive laptop can be bought and used to download all the books from the Internet." The article then goes on to say that there will be an investment of a billion shekels to buy a new computer for each pupil.

Later on, Gila Ben Har predicted that "parents will pay half the cost of a digital book and will be able to purchase a laptop in easy installments for their children" - which slightly contradicts what MK Shitrit said, but never mind. First of all, if parents are expected to pay for the laptops in easy installments, I can already see the difficulties. At our school, there are many families who cannot afford to pay the regular school fees, never mind intsallments for laptops. Secondly, whether these laptops are supplied by the Ministry of Education or bought by parents, the problems are numerous. Our school buys books and lends them to students. No matter how hard we try to keep those books in good shape, there are always books which arrive back at the library in a very sorry state. There also those that disappear into thin air, and I understand that it is difficult to get parents to pay for their replacement. What will happen when a student breaks, drops or loses his laptop? Will the ministry repair or replace it? If not, I can't see parents doing this. Thirdly, let's assume students come with their laptops. I'm no computer expert, but if hundreds of students use the Internet at the same time, is is possible that this would put a strain on the infrastructure at some point along the line? Our school has one technician - I'm sure he'd be driven crazy in a very short space of time by requests from teachers and students to fix various problems. Finally, I have worked with students using the Internet in our computer room on several occasions and every time I have caught some 'poor lost soul' who found his or her way into Facebook  (or worse!) during the lesson. Imagine being in a class with forty students with their noses deep in their laptops. How much work do you think would really be done?

I also wonder how Ms Ben Har arrived at the conclusion that parents will pay half the cost of a digital book. Assuming that she means that digital books will cost half the price of a regular book (the phrasing is ambiguous in the article), I can't help comparing this to Kindle prices which are not so very much cheaper than regular books.
The article informs us that the ministry "will soon issue a directive to all curriculum developers that their work must be produced as digital as well as printed product". If every student has a laptop, etc., etc., then why do we need printed product? I hope it is not because they foresee problems in certain parts of the country (often referred to as "the periphery")...

It is very easy to stand on the sidelines and criticise, and that is not my intention. While not being a computer wizard, I would hope that I am not totally Neanderthal either. I personally like to teach from a book. I am aware of the need to use computers in school, and of the fact that they can complement books perfectly, but do we need to decide that every subject that is taught in school has to go over to complete computerization? I think that as far as English is concerned, the computer is a great tool. If there's so much money 'up for grabs', why not invest it in Interactive White Boards? At the moment, our school has one which is used only for designated classes. I would love to learn more about them. If we use IWBs, this will allow us to have each student focused on the same thing rather than each student working from his own laptop. My guess is that it would be more communicative, and less expensive.

I thought very carefully before writing this mail since, as I've already said, I'm not a computer expert, and it is possible that I have totally misinterpreted some points. If so, I'm sure someone will put me right. However, if there is something in what I say, it seems to me to be a (very expensive) recipe for disaster...

Andrew Wilson

Link for the article: http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=203044

Is Grassroots a dirty word?

by David Lloyd

Teachers have been greatly empowered over the last twenty years. This first started with a group of mavericks who stumbled across a new tool, something called the "Internet". I say "stumbled across" because -  up until the end of the 20th Century - no one in the Ministry of Education seemed to realize that the Internet existed. In the now infamous "Tomorrow 98 (Mahar 98)" campaign set up by the Israeli Ministry of Education to - among other things - computerize Israeli schools, there was only a half page mention of the Internet, in what was otherwise a very long and detailed document.

Actually, it wasn't so much that the Ministry of Education didn't know that the Internet existed, but rather it felt that this was a bad dream which would hopefully fade away. Why did they wish it away instead of seeking to harness its clear educational promise? Because it threatened the whole infrastructure on which the Ministry of Education is built - "top-down management" - in which a few at the top decide on policies that will dictate to all those below.

The rapid spread of Internet use didn't just threaten the authoritative control Ministry of Education, but also that of all types of organizations which, until then, had a monopoly over the distribution of information in their field. As Sir Francis Bacon once said - "Knowledge is power" - and the people in positions of authority had learned how to hoard knowledge in order to achieve and maintain power.

When I first presented the idea of a virtual English teachers' network to the CALL ("Computer Assisted Lanaguage Learning") Ministry committee in 1995, one member of the committee responded to my idea of having teachers share lesson plans and teaching ideas over the Internet by saying - "Teachers shouldn't do this. This should be left to us professionals."

Well, there was a reality check. Here I had thought that teachers were professionals. What constitutes a professional, then? Here we are, after going through teacher training, some of us have worked in the field for over twenty years ... when can we be considered professionals? Or is this something a teacher can never achieve in the eyes of the Ministry?

I was very fortunate at the time. Although the members of the committee didn't believe that a virtual English teachers' network could ever happen, for most teachers at the time didn't even have a computer at home and teachers ... well ... teachers weren't used to doing things for themselves other than following the suggestions laid down in teacher guides and ministerial commands ... I knew differently. I realized that there was already a rich infrastructure in place through which English teachers traded information about their teaching styles, lesson plans, and new ideas. This infrastructure was called ETAI (English Teachers Association in Israel) which, at the time, ran one or two conferences during the year where English teachers presented their ideas to other English teachers. A real "grassroots" organization. I remember hearing teachers say at the end of such conferences - "I wish we could have this sort of thing every day, and not just once or twice a year." And I thought to myself, "Why not?" At the time I had introduced the first Freenet into the Ramat Negev region and had set up the first website in Hebrew for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing aimed at serving as a framework for mutual assistance. Why couldn't I introduce this experience of a virtual community to English teaching as well, especially since teaching was my main calling.

And so ETNI came into being. And I truly believe that virtual grassroots movements, such as ETNI, have led to a greater democratization of the process. And although the Ministry still kicks and groans, it has been forced to recognize this new world and try to adapt itself to the new reality. Official information is no longer found at the end of dusty corridors, but can now be accessed at the click of a mouse. No longer are we totally dependent on information and ideas that are officially dished out - we have access to other sources. And there are many examples where teachers have had a say in new policies (such as the creation of the New Curriculum, where the Ministry asked for teacher input through the virtual airwaves) and where teachers have managed to successfully challenge Ministry policies which didn't take the teacher's input into account (such as the new Literature program and the decision to abolish the Immigrant teacher program).

So, although there are people who still cringe and shudder when they hear the term "grassroots", all in all, I think this term has served us well.