eLearning future: Device independent

It was a single tweet about a university that was providing iPads for staff and students, followed by a Periscope session with a teacher whose school was providing iPads for all its students and teachers  that made my mind up to write this post. For years I have been espousing the need for educational institutions to build their IT infrastructures on a cross-platform, mixed device strategy and I think, at last, we are in a place where it not only makes sense but is actually easy to implement.

What follows is a brief overview of why and how you should look at your IT infrastructure strategy again.

Why

Most of us would agree that a successful learning environment is one that caters to the individual needs of the learner rather than the administrative requirements of the institution.

Even when I was young (many thousands of years ago!!) we all personalised our books by wrapping paper around them and drawing/writing on them. When computers arrived individuals personalised their computers by adding backdrops and moving icons around. Small things but important. Of course, when the first computers arrived pupils were thankful to get any time on a school computer as such time was rare and hopefully exciting.

But now we have many pupils from early ages with access to their own, powerful computing devices which they can freely personalise, manage and modify without any intervention from others.

Why then should we make young people, and indeed staff, who have invested time, learning and money in the use of a specific type of device/software and ask them to learn to use something that they will only see in school? Surely it is much better to build on their own personal investment in a device and create an environment that enhances their chances of success using a device that they already have some experience using?

Moreover, not only would such a strategy encourage the individual it would also take pressure off the IT support teams within the school. Users are much less likely to ask for support if they are using a device to which they have access 24 hours a day and which they have some personal investment in.

How

Let's be clear, this is not going to happen overnight (I hope - because that would be AWFUL). An institution needs to plan and prepare for a change to a more flexible, individual-centred approach.

Let's start with your core, cross-platform toolset. Many people choose between Office365 or Google Apps. I say, WHY CHOOSE??

Office 365 & Google Apps! 

Use both of these great software toolsets and you have a great deal of your learning and teaching needs covered. It's perfectly possible to combine both sets of tools together and to make use of each component as an when it is applicable. This has been made even easier recently by the great updates to Microsoft Office tools for a variety of platforms.

Use the web

Make use of the cross-platform features of the web. More and more great educational tools and resources are becoming available through the web and, for the most part a great deal of the curriculum, even computer programming and video editing can be carried out through a web browser.

Other Cross-Platform Tools

Start to develop your learning and teaching activities that can't be delivered through the above tools by using software that is available across platforms. Many educational publishers are now developing using cross-platform tools since it makes economic sense not to lock oneself out of a specific computing platform.

If all else fails - remote apps

If something is only available on a specific platform see if you can build a remote app server that can be accessed through a web browser (incredibly easy using systems such as Microsoft Azure) and deliver the functionality to users through their web browser.

Where could it take you ....

By moving towards a cross-platform, device independent learning environment you not only free yourself from the 'we must have the latest device' approach but also open up the possibility of removing the need to purchase devices at all in the future. Think about it, we already have Microsoft touting its ability for Windows Phone devices to be used like a desktop PC when connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. This is a trend that will almost certainly be adopted in different ways by other manufacturers and, if it takes you 2 years to move to a fully cross-platform environment you may well be in a position to say to staff that they can choose their own device and use that. Perhaps the following year this could be followed up by a similar scheme for some students. Over a five year period you could move the school from a provider, and supporter, of hundreds of devices to a place where personal, individually owned devices are enabled to be used on a high-speed, high-quality infrastructure that is a bonus for everyone.

Computer Science Teachers - Should they be required to develop an application for others?

For a while now I have been concerned about how Computer Science, and particularly programming, is being taught. This was brought into highlight when I met an enthusiastic young student who wants to get into computer game development. She is keen to learn and has enrolled in an FE College but was more than a little disgruntled when she was told that she would be learning ActionScript, a language that surely belongs in the dustbin of history, especially as Flash is rapidly making an exit from most developers toolbox.

This made me think about the issues we hit in the 80's, when computer programming lost it's 'fizz' in education. Back then we had few real 'programmers who could teach and few teachers who could program. A great deal of programming was taught from textbooks and worksheets using standard application templates, such as the pretty boring 'Video Store' development as a template for 'learning programming'. Computer programming became fairly stale as a subject, compounded by pretty awful exam structures that failed to address relevant and up-to-date topics and this, by and large, acted as a real 'turn off' for young people who wanted to learn how to code to satisfy their own needs.

The low levels of expertise, confidence and experience within the teaching profession and the generally boring lessons being taught (I saw so many that I nearly fell asleep in!!) pushed young people to develop on their BBC B's and Sinclair Spectrums in their own bedrooms rather than in the shiny, new computer suites that schools invested in.

IT COULD HAPPEN AGAIN!

What worries me is that it seems to be happening again. Yes, there are examples of keen teachers who produce great lessons and enthuse their pupils. But these are few compared to the army of teachers who are having to teach Computer Science with little or no experience of actually coding themselves.

Developing a computer program is more than just 'computational thinking' and learning some code structures. Unless you have actually developed a piece of software that actually solves a problem and/or adds some value, for yourself and others, then it is really hard to impart the knowledge required to empower young people to get the most from a Computer Science course.

Back in the 80's some of the best computer programming lessons were taught by teachers who had developed software for themselves, some of which made it into the Microcomputers in Education Programme packs that were shared with schools across the country.

Perhaps now is the time to get every computer science teacher to design, develop and ship an application that solves a problem ir adds value to their staff and/or students and share it with others on Github, perhaps with some prizes offered by computer companies? If the process of developing this application was seen as CPD and funded by the school as such - with time and perhaps some money put aside for support - then everyone, not least the students, may gain a great deal from the experience.

If nothing else, it would give CS teachers some real life experience of code development and may help them contextualise their teaching,