I had some wonderful, spirited conversations with teachers and tech-coordinators alike. I had a handful of Moodle folks come over and take a look "for curiosity's sake." Now, I am not sold that Edu20 is the final solution for a school or a district. I think all of this is still playing itself out. But one thing was inherently clear. Teachers absolutely loved it. They loved how it looked, and how easy it was to use. They loved that it didn't take 2 weeks of PD to use it. That really is saying something- technology often makes teachers cringe with the fear that it won't work in class, or that something will get them off their game. Take it from a teacher (me): we like it when technology works, and when it solves pedagogical issues in our classrooms.
Many of them came up to me the next day and said that they had signed up and started adding their classes to Edu20. Neat! The ease and freedom of Web-hosted services prevails. How about that! They didn't need to download anything or spend any time writing code. Edu20.org was made for teachers.
Not So Fast
Now, I did not hear the same thing from the tech coordinator side of things. Many Moodle folks asked me questions about, go figure, controlling content. In fact, I was grilled on the most interesting of questions:
"Can I download my gradebook using an ActiveX data object?" [not sure]
"When students send messages, is their a way to report abuse or filter content?" [sort of]
"If I don't like something or the look, can I change the color or the font type?" [not really]
"How are messages and classes archived, and can they be downloaded in [something I don't understand] format?" [answer too long to explain]
"Can I backup the gradebooks in one motion, or do I have to do that class by class?" [You can do it all at once]
Fascinating questions. Controlling the content. I get it. I did have some answers, but I don't have them all. What was clear was "the fear" was there. That fear was further validated when Miguel Guhlin wrote in his blog that:
"Moodle...enables powerful ideas to slay the fears our leaders hold."
This fear must be real. Mr. Guhlin says it's so.
The Cloud vs. The Walled Garden
Teachers and tech coordinators seem to be coming at this from two different points of view: pedagogy vs. content. Teachers want technology that works from a pedagogical standpoint: they want their lessons to flow, without being hampered by load times, unnecessary shut downs and the spinning wheel of death. They want less clicks, and easy sign up. I believe that is why the Apple platform works so well in the educational environment; teachers spend so much time managing children, projects, gradebooks- that they have an emotional and physical limit. The Apple frees that up. That's why Wikispaces is working well. Voicethread is a great example of the merging of design, user management, and flow. It's no surprise to me that when I show teachers this Web 2.0 solution to managing their classes, they seem ecstatic, like it fulfills a need they've had for a long time. That's how I felt when I started using Ectolearning a couple of years ago. It was freedom to a teacher who needed a solution to class and pedagogical management. In fact, I would describe the differences between a tech coordinator and an educator to be content vs. pedagogical management.
These Web-Hosted solutions appear to be breaking down walls, allowing classes to be mobile, allowing content to follow the user everywhere they go. Cloud computing- or simply, The Cloud- seems to be taking us into a place where someday, a student on Chicago's South Side is going to be able to enroll in a public school in Austin, TX because that school's curriculum will be something that holds that student's desires. Skype, Elluminate, Second Life and other online tools will allow that student to participate in any classroom across the world. This is possible now- technically- but not politically.
While the idea of Moodle as an open source vehicle and a solution to slay the fears of policy makers is understandable on the one hand, I'm worried about the overall message I'm receiving. While The Cloud offers more and more tools to students across the Globe, instead should we build a wall around our curriculum so that we can protect it? Copyright it, maybe? It seems like an oxymoron to use an open-source platform to build a digital wall around your curriculum or your school. Maybe for a higher ed institution, but for a public district?
The idea of building a "walled garden," as Miguel puts it, stems from fear. Is that fear really about student information, though, or is that fear really about digital ownership? Who owns the information? Who owns the
curriculum? Who owns the school? When you put something in The Cloud, it doesn't really belong to you anymore, does it? This unrealized fear about losing content is nothing more than a fear of not owning content. These are two fundamentally different ideas, but belong in the same conversation.The other day I downloaded an Episode of Fox's 24 from iTunes. It sits on my hard drive. I own that episode. Do I get the same satisfaction though, when I watch it for free on the Hulu website? Maybe not- maybe a little less. I don't own it, then. It's like watching Star Wars on the USA Network versus having the DVD Complete Trilogy sitting on a shelf. I can't smell the vinyl when I watch it on for free on TV.
I haven't one iota of a problem with our wonderful technology coordinators and educators figuring out how to develop a unique system that works for their districts. In fact, the work that is going into developing Moodle will most likely improve The Cloud offerings as well, and, in the future, may even offer a Cloud version of Moodle. But to the policy makers, who harbor this fear, a fear not even fully realized yet, this fear of losing content, I ask:
Are we afraid of losing content, or insecure in our digital ownership rights?
Tim Lee, Adjunct Scholar at The Cato Institute, in his blog referring to The Cloud, states "the cloud isn't going away, but hopefully we can clarify our thinking about it by talking about the different types of clouds." I like how his point of view includes a 360 degree view of cloud computing and reminds us that content management and digital ownership rights are very much in the same conversation.
To my part, I offer this: The Cloud is an absolute good, that the very idea of an open Internet that is available to everyone, does not discriminate, is not exclusionary, and allows information to grow and be exchanged without walls or economic status will further support a society of collaboration, sharing, and participation. Let children sign up for any school they desire, and let technology be their savior here, not their virus or...Trojan Horse.
Great Wall image courtesy of Phoenix Han
Berling Wall image courtesy of siyublog.
Darth Vader image courtesy of kennymatic.
